The slowest animals on earth. Records. The fastest and the slowest Which mammal is the slowest

Sloths are animals from the order of American edentates, differing from all other animals in the number of cervical vertebrae (6 or 9, in all other mammals - 7). There are three-fingered (ai) and two-fingered (unau). The three-toed sloth (Bradypus tridactylus) moves at a speed of only about 2 m per minute.

Ai, a resident of Brazil, reaches a total length of 52 cm, of which 4 cm is in the tail. The fur consists of thin, short and dense undercoat hairs and long, hard, rather smooth, hay-like guard hairs when dried. On both sides of the back, from the shoulders to the tail area, there is a wide longitudinal stripe of brownish color. The rest of the fur is pale reddish-gray, with silver-gray on the belly. If you cut the long hair on the back down to the underlying undercoat, the true color of the animal will come out, and then a black-brown longitudinal stripe running along the back and two white stripes on the sides will become noticeable. All three stripes are sharply defined, but due to the long hair it is impossible to accurately determine the boundaries of these colors. A wide white stripe runs above the eyes towards the temples. The eyes are surrounded by a black-brown ring, and the same stripe extends down from the temples. The claws are yellowish or brownish-yellow.

The greenish tint to the sloth's fur is given by the microscopic algae living in it, which creates good camouflage.

Sloths are found only in South America. Large forests in the humid lowlands, where the flora is so diverse, are their main habitat. The more deserted and shady the forest, the more it attracts these amazing creatures. Being true arboreal animals, like monkeys and squirrels, they, unlike the latter, have difficulty crawling from branch to branch. The space that light and playful monkeys freely traverse, perceiving it as a pleasure ride, becomes a long journey for the sloth. Sometimes united in a small family, these lazy creatures lead a boring, quiet life and slowly wander from branch to branch. They move very awkwardly on the ground, which cannot be said about their behavior in the trees. Their long arms allow them to reach far into branches, and thanks to their strong claws they can easily hold onto trees. Sloths climb, however, in a completely different way than all other animals living in trees. Hanging down with their bodies, they stretch out their long arms to the branches, grab them tightly with their claws and, slowly, move from branch to branch, from branch to branch. However, they seem lazier than they really are.

Being nocturnal animals, sloths spend the whole day without moving, but already at dusk they become more alert, and at night they wander. They feed exclusively on buds, leaves, young shoots and fruits, and in the abundant dew, which they lick from the leaves, they find a sufficient replacement for the water they lack. They undoubtedly show lethargy both when obtaining and eating food. Sloths are undemanding, content with little and are capable of enduring hunger and thirst for days and even weeks, as some eyewitnesses claim, without harm to themselves. To eat normally, they only need a very small space. They do not leave the tree as long as it provides them with food; and only when they begin to feel the lack of food do they decide to undertake a journey. Moving slowly, they find a place where the branches of other trees connect with the branches of their tree, and along this bridge, clinging to the branches, they move to the next tree. The luxurious fringe of forest, which stretches along the tropical rivers and, without interruption, extends deep into the interior of the country, consists mostly of species of trees, the tops of which are intertwined in a variety of ways and allow the sloths to move from place to place without ever touching the ground.

The question of great interest is: do sloths prefer certain types of trees over others, or are all kinds of trees suitable for them? Yes and no. The fact is that the female sloth feeds the baby only a few specific types of vegetation and, together with half-chewed leaves, passes on the corresponding microflora to it. Without microorganisms obtained in this way, the sloth is unable to digest food. Other females may feed their offspring leaves from trees of other species.

With the help of their long forelimbs, sloths pull more distant branches towards themselves and tear off leaves and fruits from them with their claws, then bring food to their mouths. They say that during the rainy season they drink a lot of water and to do this, according to the Indians, they descend relatively quickly from the trees to get closer to the river and quench their thirst.

On earth, these pitiful creatures feel like strangers. When walking, they drag their bodies with such difficulty that they always arouse compassion in the viewer. The sloth can be compared to a slow land turtle as it tries to move its lumbering body mass. With its limbs spread wide, resting on its elbows and slowly moving its paws in wide circular movements, the sloth moves forward very quietly; the belly almost touches the ground, and the head and neck slowly sway from side to side and seem to support the balance of this extremely helpless animal. When walking, the toes are raised upward and the claws are bent inward; As a result, the paw touches the soil with its outer edge and, moreover, almost exclusively with the flesh of the thumb. It is clear that such a movement must be carried out slowly. On earth, the sloth is well aware of its helpless position. If he is accidentally caught while he is walking, or if he is placed on a level place, he stretches his small head upward on his long neck, slightly raises the front part of his body and slowly, as if mechanically, makes a movement with his paw, as if wanting to grab the enemy with his paws. powerful claws.

Helplessness and slowness give him a peculiar, unhappy appearance. It is difficult to imagine that this creature, hobbling in such a pitiful manner, would be able to escape from the water if it fell into it due to some accident. Meanwhile, the sloth swims passably, and moves much faster than when climbing, holds its head high above the water, cuts through the waves quite easily and actually reaches land. Bathe and Wallace saw one sloth swim across a river about 300 m wide. It follows from this that the name “sloth,” no matter how correct it is in essence, refers only to the movements of this animal when walking. In the trees, his movements are not at all as slow as previously thought. The amazing precision with which he performs his climbing movements is remarkable. The sloth is able to hang by clinging to a branch with just one paw. Nevertheless, the sloth always tries to find reliable points of support for all four limbs and is almost afraid to remove one of the paws from the support before finding another point of attachment for it.

It is extremely difficult to tear a sloth away from a branch to which it has clung. During sleep and rest, the sloth assumes its usual hanging position. He places all four paws one next to the other, arches his body almost spherically and tilts his head towards his chest, but does not lean it against his body. In this position, the sloth hangs in one place all day without getting tired. Only in exceptional cases does he try to grab a higher branch with his front paws, lift the front part of his body and lean his back against another branch. As much as this animal is insensitive to hunger and thirst, it is just as sensitive to dampness and the coolness associated with it. In the lightest rain, he tries to hide as quickly as possible under a thick arch of leaves and even makes desperate efforts at this time, which do not correspond to his nickname.

It is extremely rare, usually in the evening or early in the morning, or when the sloth is alarmed, that his voice can be heard. It is not loud and consists of plaintive, long, high, short and sharp sounds; some observers convey it using the oft-repeated "i" sound. However, modern scientists have never heard a sloth make the "ouch" sound, from which the animal's French name comes. During the day you can only hear the deep sighs of a sloth; on the ground he does not scream, even if he is teased.

His eyes are weak and expressionless, like no other mammal. The fact that his hearing is far from excellent can be judged by the insignificant size and hidden position of the auricles. His undeveloped sense of touch is also known. Regarding the sense of smell, it is difficult to say anything definite, and only taste can be considered to be somewhat developed. The mental abilities of sloths are also at the lowest level. These animals are not intelligent, they are stupid, stupid and indifferent. Sloths are called harmless, but in reality they are simply not capable of emotional manifestations. They, as travelers say, do not have strong impulses of passion, they do not know fear, but they do not have courage and, apparently, do not experience either joy or sadness. Perhaps these messages are not entirely true. Most observers tend to forget that sloths are nocturnal animals whose abilities cannot be judged based on observations made during the day. The name "sloth" refers more to a sleeping animal; when awake it moves slowly, but not at all lazily. However, it cannot be said that the sloth does not at all understand the surrounding environment and the conditions prevailing in it, that he does not show love, hatred, does not show friendship towards his own kind or enmity towards other animals, that he is unable to adapt to changed circumstances.

Sloths give birth to one baby. He is born completely covered with hair and even already has significantly developed fingers and claws, and immediately after birth he grabs his mother’s long hair with these claws, wrapping his paws around her neck. The mother carries it with her everywhere in this way. At first, she apparently treats the cub with great tenderness, but maternal love soon cools down, and the female no longer cares for him, does not feed or clean him. She indifferently allows him to be torn from her breast and only briefly reveals the anxiety that she has lost something important. The female recognizes her offspring only when it touches her or she touches him. She doesn’t seem to hear his scream. It often happens that the female goes hungry for two days or at least does not care about food. Despite this, she continuously feeds milk to her cub, who clings to her as tightly as she clings to a tree branch. Travelers report all this, perhaps passing on the stories of the Indians, but how true this is is a big question.

It cannot be said that these helpless creatures have many ill-wishers. Thanks to their life in trees, they avoid their most dangerous enemies - predatory mammals. In addition, their fur, in general, is exactly similar in color to the branches on which they hang motionless, like fruit on a tree, so that the habitual hawk-eye of an Indian is needed to find a sleeping sloth. However, these animals are not as unarmed as they might seem at first glance. On a tree, it is naturally difficult to reach them, and if sloths are caught by surprise on the ground and try to catch them, they quite quickly flip over onto their backs and grab the attacker with their claws; the strength of their hands is, in any case, very significant. Even a strong person finds it difficult to free himself from a sloth that has grabbed him or to tear this animal away from the tree branch to which it is attached. If you do not unhook one paw after the other and do not hold them, then this will not be possible at all.

In some areas, Indians and blacks eat sloth meat, the smell and taste of which is unpleasant to Europeans. Tires for saddles and bags are made from the very tough, strong and durable skin of these animals. These animals cannot cause any harm. They are also on the list of animals nearing extinction. Sloths can live only in the most remote forests, and as long as the ax of the ever-further penetrating European spares the majestic trees that provide them with shelter and food, so long will they enjoy life.

It should not surprise us that many superstitions and tales have been spread about these strange animals. The first stories about them belong to Oviedo, who says approximately the following: “Perico ligero is the laziest animal that can be seen in the world. He is so clumsy and leisurely that it takes him a whole day to walk just 50 steps. The first Christians who saw them jokingly gave the sloths the name “agile dogs.” This is one of the most amazing animals. An adult animal is two spans long and slightly less thick. It has four thin legs, the toes of which are fused together, like those of birds. Neither the claws nor the paws are designed so that they can support the heavy body, and therefore the belly almost drags along the ground. The neck is stretched straight up, the same thickness as a mortar pestle; the head is almost indistinguishable from it, the face is round, similar to the face of an owl and surrounded by hair, so that it is only slightly longer than wide, the eyes are small and round, the nostrils are like those of monkeys, the mouth is small.

The sloth moves his neck first one way and then the other, as if surprised by something. His only desire and pleasure is to hang himself on trees or anything where he can climb; and therefore it can often be seen on trees, up which it slowly climbs. His voice is very different from the voices of other animals. The sloth always sings only at night, emitting from time to time six sounds each time, quieter and quieter: la, la, salt, fa, mi, re, do. Then he screams six times - ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Having chanted, he waits for a while and repeats the same thing again. I consider it a nocturnal animal. Sometimes Christians catch a sloth and bring it home, where it crawls slowly as usual, and cannot be forced to move faster either by threats or pushes. If an animal finds a tree, it immediately climbs onto the highest branches and remains there for 10, 12 and even 20 days; what it eats is unknown. I kept it at home, and from my observation it must be fed by air. Many other observers are of the same opinion, since no one saw the sloth eat anything. He mostly turns his head and mouth in the direction from which the wind is blowing; it follows that the air must be very pleasant to him. The sloth does not bite, and cannot bite, since its mouth is very small; it is also non-venomous. In general, I have never met such a stupid and useless animal like him before.”

Much of what the narrator reports is absolutely true. Exaggerations occur later, for example in Stedman. He says that it takes a sloth two days to reach the top of an average-sized tree, and that he does not leave the tree until he finds some food in it. On the way up, the sloth supposedly eats as much as he needs to complete his journey, but when he gets to the top, he completely eats it up. He does this so that he does not die of hunger when he returns to the lower branches in search of another tree. If the sloth ate the lower part of the top, it would naturally die from the difficulties associated with traveling to other trees. Some also claim that the sloth curls up into a ball and falls from the tree, as if in order to save itself from the labor of moving its limbs.

What is the slowest animal on the planet? If you think about it, there may be several options: a snail, a sloth, a turtle. It turns out that scientists conducted a comparative analysis. As a result, it became clear that the slowest animal on earth is the three-toed sloth (and its two-toed brother).

It wasn't hard to win

He won on many counts. Moreover, they analyzed not only the speed of movement, in which the sloth, by the way, is not the slowest. Scientists have paid close attention to such life processes as sleep duration, attitude towards bearing and raising offspring, and method of nutrition. The winner of the competition sleeps a lot, about 15 hours a day. The infancy period, when the baby just hangs on his mother and feeds on her milk, lasts four months. The food for the sloth is leaves, fruits, and flowers of the tree on which it lives. Long paws allow animals to freely reach food, so they do not need to move often.

They will stay in one place until there is no more foliage around that they can reach. Moreover, digestion of food is the only activity on which the animal spends its life. Therefore, it has a huge stomach and a small brain without convolutions. In order to drink, you need to come down from the tree. But the sloth has no desire to do this. There are dangers waiting below, and he is not an expert at moving on the ground. Although observations have shown that sloths love water, including that they can swim well. But most often they have to be content with dew from the leaves in order to quench their thirst.

Basics of existence

The slowest animal reacts to changes in the world around it with the same slowness as it moves. Their fur provides an excellent breeding ground for insects and algae, which turn the sloth green during the rainy season. They are also in no hurry to protect their own. They remain calm even when the baby falls, unable to hold on to the mother's fur. Laziness reaches the point that they do not even descend from the tree in the usual way, crawling from branch to branch, but fall, curled up in a ball. But this is not their own desire. Low-calorie foods promote slowness. It does not give the sloth a large amount of energy and forces it to save its reserves, reducing the number of movements. The blood of this animal has a low temperature because all processes in the body are in “sleep” mode.

Why doesn't he die?

Sloths are in no hurry to run away from the enemy. Yes, they can’t do it. On the ground they move so slowly that their speed cannot even be called a turtle’s, because a turtle moves almost five times faster. Such slowness only plays into the hands of hunters who catch the slowest animal in order to prepare a delicious dish from its meat, which resembles lamb. If a sloth dies of its own accord, it simply falls out of the tree. The finder of the corpse can use the claws to make a necklace. The slowest animal in captivity, where nothing threatens it, can live 32 years, but in the wild only about 10-20 years. At the same time, it is distinguished by amazing endurance, the ability to heal wounds that would be fatal for other species. The sloth is immune to poison.

What does the slowest animal in the world look like?

The photo makes it possible to understand that the sloth looks like a small monkey with bulging eyes. It has a large head and long fingers with strong claws, with which it clings to branches when moving. Its fur is very thick and grows in the direction from the belly to the back. This is necessary so that rainwater cannot wet the fur coat. Nature itself took care of protecting the slowest animal. The color of its fur allows it to blend in with tree branches and hide in the foliage. This makes the sloth invisible, especially since it eats at night and only sleeps during daylight hours.

Even though these animals don't do anything interesting, they are interesting to watch. If you wait until the sloth decides to make a movement, you can see how it does it so slowly that it feels like watching a slow motion film. And their appearance is funny. These are not monkeys at all, although they look like them. In our region they can only be seen in zoos. The sloth's natural habitat is the forests of South and Central America. Don’t think that life is bad for them in captivity. In the zoo they are devoid of enemies and live almost three times longer than in the wild.

Everyone understands well that the high speed that animals use is both a means of escape from predators and a means of successful hunting. But our planet is inhabited by numerous creatures for whom high speed has become an unattainable goal, and they actually don’t really need it.

Lifestyle, environmental conditions and structural features do not allow many animals to use high speed at all. They already have a good life, since over centuries of evolution they have developed their own tactics that allow them to survive in the harsh world of the wild. So what kind of animals are these? Which one is the slowest?

1 place. Snail

According to the latest research conducted by scientists, the average speed of a snail is about 1.5 mm/s, that is, in one minute it can cover a distance of approximately 6 cm (3.6 m/hour). Such a low speed of movement of the snail is due to the peculiarities of its structure.

Interesting fact: it turns out that these animals need mucus for traction exclusively for moving on vertical surfaces. When the snail moves horizontally, it does not use mucus, although it secretes it: moving horizontally, the snail bends and straightens individual sections of its “leg,” just like caterpillars. With this movement, friction is much less.

2nd place. Three-toed sloth

The speed of a snail’s movement does not surprise us as much as the speed of a sloth, and this is understandable, because a snail is a small creature, but a medium-sized animal, but despite this it also moves very slowly. Its average speed on the ground is only 150 m/hour.

It is worth noting that the sloth is not able to move on land, relying on its paws, like all other animals, due to its long claws. He has to pull up the back of his body, clinging to the surface with the claws of his front paws. At the same time, he literally crawls on his belly. Therefore, his low speed is not at all surprising.

3rd place. Turtles

We often hear the expression: “You crawl like a turtle.” However, these reptiles are not as slow as they might seem at first glance. Many of them can develop good speed, especially for turtles that live in water. Such reptiles are capable of reaching speeds (in water) of up to 25-35 km/h, and if they are semi-aquatic turtles, which sometimes go onto land, then when moving on land their speed is 10-15 km/h.

But huge sea and land turtles are really very slow and rightfully occupy 3rd place among the slowest animals. Their large size and structure do not allow them to develop high speeds, which is why they are so slow and clumsy. So, the speed of these giants living on land and in the waters of the World Ocean averages 700-900 m/hour.

4th place. Greenland shark

Greenland polar shark (lat. Somniosus microcephalus) is another inhabitant of the World Ocean that prefers cold waters. However, it is quite natural that the colder waters this predator swims into, the slower its speed. Weight is about 1 ton, and body length is 6.5 meters.

Living in such cold waters, it inevitably has to conserve energy and heat, which is why it is forced to move so slowly. Sometimes it even seems like she is falling asleep while walking. The speed of this shark is only 1.5 km/h - and no more. This shark feeds on the famous harp seals, whose speed is much higher, but in this case it does not need swiftness, since it sneaks up and attacks sleeping seals at night.

5th place. Harvest mouse

The vole is a small rodent whose body length is only 12 cm. Although the vole is an agile creature that can crawl into any gap, its speed is no more than 4-7 km/h, but despite such a low speed, it manages to run away from her potential enemies, of which she has more than enough.

6th place. Moles

The mole is a small but very strong animal with strong limbs and long claws, which the animal needs to live underground.

Precisely because the mole spends its entire life underground and rarely comes to the surface, its eyesight is poor, but for that reason it has an excellent sense of smell and hearing. Not only does it create a lot of long passages, it also moves along them quite quickly: the average speed of a mole is 5-7 km/h.

7th place. Whale shark

Whale shark (lat. Rhincodon typus) is another inhabitant of the seas and oceans. It is one of the largest fish on the planet; its length can exceed 10 m. However, despite its impressive size, its speed is low - about 5 km/h. Its diet consists of plankton, so it does not need high speed.

8th place. Virginia opossum

Virginia opossum (lat. Didelphis virginiana) is a leisurely animal, covering distances at a speed that rarely exceeds 7 km/h. When he is in danger, he also does not accelerate much.

The Virginia opossum has found a more effective defense against enemies: it falls to the ground, pretending to be dead, while emitting a disgusting odor from it, secreted by special anal glands.

9th place. Snakes

Who doesn’t know snakes, because these reptiles are distributed throughout the planet. When we see a snake crawling, we involuntarily think that it is moving very quickly, but in reality this is not the case. The snake's speed rarely exceeds 10-12 km/h; it can be compared to the speed of a fast-walking person.

10th place. Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil (lat. Sarcophilus harrisii) is the last (on our list) representative among the slowest animals. He does everything slowly - with feeling, sense, and arrangement.

The speed of movement of these animals does not exceed 13 km/h, and if it exceeds, it is extremely rare. Their aggression and foul smell will scare away anyone who wants to attack them.

Our planet is a place of grandiose achievements, where every detail is a cog in a huge living organism. We often do not notice beautiful and visible things, miss incredible scenes, and do not pay due attention to nature. Let's take a look today at the side of the coin that we often ignore. There we will discover an incredible world - a world of measured calm and discreet serenity.

Here are the top 10 slowest animals in the world.

10 American Woodcock

The ranking of the slowest animals on the planet opens with the slowest bird in the world, whose speed is about 8 km/h. The American woodcock is a truly unique animal. Despite the motley plumage, it prefers to fly exclusively during the mating season. The rest of the time it stays on the ground and leads a nocturnal, even solitary lifestyle. It has large eyes that are unusual for its body and a long beak, which helps to find its favorite delicacy - earthworms.

9 Arizona snaketooth

It has always been believed that snakes are the most poisonous reptiles on the planet. However, this statement holds true until you come across the Arizona serpentine (although in appearance it looks more like a magic dragon from cartoons than a formidable lizard). The Arizona serpent is considered the slowest reptile in the world. Named for its teeth, from the grooves of which poison flows. Just a few drops are enough to kill an adult dog in just an hour! They say it is better to die than to experience pain from a poisonous tooth bite. It can be found in the arid areas of southwestern North America. This lizard loves to steal eggs and feed on small rodents. Avoids crowded places and prefers to live alone.

8

These leisurely aquatic creatures are also called “sea cows,” although they were long considered mermaids (until the 20th century). Compared to marine mammals, which have a normal speed of movement, these animals are very slow (one of the slowest animals in the world). Manatees are quite large representatives of their species. They live in shallow waters off the coast of Africa and America. The weight of individual individuals can reach 1800 kg. These representatives of the “siren” order love warm water, so they can often be found in the areas of thermal power plants in large cities. Manatees are big gluttons that continuously eat for 7 hours a day. They need to eat up to 50 kg of various foods (plants, tree leaves, algae). Even with a subcutaneous layer of fat of 5 cm, manatees are sensitive to temperature changes. There have been cases where manatees died in water at 18 degrees.

An interesting fact is that scientists have found that, despite the very small brain volume for an animal of this size, their level of intelligence is approximately equal to the level of intelligence of dolphins.

The most famous manatee, named Snoopy, lives in a Florida water park. His age is 65 years old. Sadly, manatees are on the verge of extinction.

7

The seahorse is the seventh slowest animal in the world. The body features of this animal resemble a chess piece floating vertically in the sea. The speed of such a “figurine” is only 1.5 km/h, which makes skates the slowest fish in the underwater kingdom. Seahorses are interesting because males bear offspring, and females, in turn, fight for the favor of the opposite sex. The uniqueness of the body of such an animal lies in the absence of a stomach and teeth. They live in tropical seas, feeding on small shrimp and crayfish. The massive catch of seahorses off the coast of Southeast Asia has brought the animals to the brink of extinction.

6 Koala

Now let’s talk about the leisurely marsupial “bears”. Among the ten slowest animals, koalas are the only representatives of their kind. The place where you can find them is the east coast of Australia. And although these furry animals look like bears, in fact they do not even belong to this genus. They grow up to 80 cm and weigh about 15 kg. They have different colors - from gray to reddish shades. They prefer to sleep for a long time (up to 20 hours!), grabbing onto trees with their powerful claws. And they very rarely descend to the ground to move to another tree in search of food. They feed on shoots and leaves of eucalyptus, mainly at night. They are quite slow, however, if they are in danger, these animals can show decent speed, reaction and even know how to swim! By the way, koalas can be easily tamed.

5

Lory lemurs are considered the cutest creatures among all the slow animals on the planet. This species of primate lives in trees in the forests of southeast Asia. They grow up to 20 cm. They travel long distances in search of food, mainly at night. They feed on nectar, eggs, fruits, and various insects. They can often be found as pets. They are most common in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, where the business of selling these animals is widely practiced. Many consider lemurs great fun, but animal rights activists are sounding the alarm and protesting against the sale. It turns out that captivity is killing lemurs.

4

All over the world, the word “turtle” is associated with slowness. But this is really, true! This order of reptiles is very slow (especially the giant Galapagos (elephant) and Seychelles tortoises) and ranks 4th in the ranking of the slowest animals in the world. They are rightfully considered the longest-livers of our planet. Can travel the world for 200 years. They definitely have nowhere to rush, especially with a mass of 300 kg! They feed on vegetation. Each individual has its own characteristic pattern on the shell (like fingerprints in humans). Just before the 20th century, about 200,000 thousand Galapagos tortoises were caught.

3 Starfish

One of the most unusual, ancient, mysterious and beautiful creatures on our planet. Researchers agree that they existed at the beginning of the Paleozoic era. Starfish are among the top three slowest animals and are the slowest sea animals in the world. They live in the depths of the sea in every corner of the Earth. Scientists came across some species at a depth of 8 km. Their dimensions can exceed one meter. They feed on small crustaceans, sea worms, oysters, mussels, etc. The most extraordinary thing about starfish is that they can change their gender. But these creatures have no brain. They are considered bottom attendants, clearing it of carrion and other remains of living organisms.

2

The three-toed sloth is the slowest mammal on the planet. The “super speed” of these animals is legendary. As they say in the well-known cartoon - “speed without limits”! Sloths are the most common mammals in South America. However, they are very difficult to spot as they hide high in the trees. They are covered with thick fur, in which other life is also seething: algae, moths and other various insects. These animals move through the trees with great difficulty, but they swim very quickly. The fact that these animals are one of the slowest on the planet can be judged by the fact that sloths travel only 40 m per day.

You can often hear people compare a slow person to an animal. For example: “With your snail’s speed, we will definitely be late” or “You crawl like a snail” or “Why are you moving like a sloth...” Let’s give a rating of the slowest animals in the world and find out which of them is the slowest?

Since the starfish does not have legs for movement, it can rightfully be called the leader among the slowest animals. The starfish moves with the help of the current. The maximum speed of the star is 30 km/h.

2. Sloths.

Although they have limbs that allow them to move, they are on a par with starfish in the ranking of the slowest animals. Sloths move at a speed of 0.46 m/sec and spend most of their time hanging upside down on a branch. In this position, the sloth feeds, sleeps, mates, and even is born. Sometimes they still go down to the ground to defecate, but this happens no more than once every 3-9 days.

The characteristic method of movement for most snails is slow sliding along the substrate on the sole of the foot, and the movement itself is carried out thanks to waves of contraction running along the sole of the foot from back to front. The abundant mucus secreted by the skin softens friction and facilitates sliding on a hard substrate. The snail's movement speed reaches only a few meters per hour.

Because these animals wear extremely heavy shells, and also because of their legs, turtles move at a “snail’s” speed. Fortunately, turtles have the ability to go for long periods without food or water.

These animals are slow and phlegmatic. Even if the koala is not sleeping, it usually sits completely motionless for hours, grasping a branch or tree trunk with its front paws. The slowness of these animals is associated with their feeding habits.

6. Slugs.

Slugs are gastropods that do not have a shell. The speed of movement of slugs is extremely low and can reach approximately 300 meters per hour.

Although seahorses are considered a special type of fish, unlike other fish, they lead a sedentary lifestyle. They spend their time hiding in the thickets, as if “hovering” in the water, motionless waiting for their prey.

For a long time, due to the extreme slowness of movement, lorises were considered sloths, and only in 1766 the French naturalist Buffon established that they were in fact prosimians. Loris really move very slowly and carefully, moving paw after paw and freezing for a long time at the slightest sign of danger. This makes them invisible to both enemies and potential prey.

An adult serpentine can eat up to 35% of its body weight at one time. When fed abundantly, it quickly accumulates fat in the tail. Perhaps this is precisely what explains his unhurried rhythm of life.