The sloth got its name from its slow movement. It is not lazy, just slow-moving. It used to be thought that sloths ate mostly cecropia leaves because they were often spotted in cecropia trees. It turns out that they also live in many other trees, but aren't spotted there as easily as in cecropia trees. This keeps their food and water needs to a minimum.
Sloths have small molars which they use to chew up their leafy food.
They sleep about 15 to 18 hours each day, hanging upside down. These mostly-quiet mammals live in the tropical rain forests of South and Central America. The sloth is the slowest mammal on Earth. They only rarely venture to the ground and walk on the ground in an upright position. Sloths can swim well.