Splash! A pygmy sloth drops out of a red mangrove tree, falling into the crystal-blue water. It starts swimming by leisurely paddling its long arms. Minutes later, the sloth reaches a nearby tree root. It slowly pulls itself up. Then the sloth begins its slow climb up to the top branches of the tree in search of its next meal.
All sloths can swim. But off the coast of Panama lives the only sloth known to swim in salt water—the pygmy sloth. Pygmy sloths are the most recently identified species of sloth. No one is sure how many there are, but there aren’t a lot. Because they are so rare, scientists didn’t determine they were a distinct species until 2001!
Splash! A pygmy sloth drops out of a red mangrove tree. It falls into the clear blue water. It slowly paddles its long arms to start swimming. Minutes later, the sloth reaches a nearby tree root. It carefully pulls itself up. Then the sloth begins its slow climb up to the top branches of the tree. It's on its way to find its next meal.
All sloths can swim. But pygmy sloths are the only sloths known to swim in salt water. The small sloths live off the coast of Panama. No one is sure how many of them there are. But scientists know that there aren't many. Because pygmy sloths are so rare, scientists didn't even know they were their own species until 2001!