On the ground, however, a sloth is the slowest mammal on earth. Its belly rubs the ground as it pulls itself along with its front claws. The animal's weak hind legs and long claws make walking impossible. Sloths spend almost all of their lives in the trees. Sloths eat, sleep and mate high above the ground.
Females give birth to young while they hang from tree limbs by their hooklike claws.
The animal lives up to its name. A sloth sleeps about 15 hours each day. At night, it travels through the trees in slow motion, feeding on leaves, shoots and fruit. It rarely drinks water. The sloth gets most of the moisture it needs by eating leaves and licking dew.