In the matter of personal appearance nature has not been kind to the SLOTH, though it certainly is true that there are many uglier animals- not including those, such as some of the Monkey Tribe and certain of the Swine, which are positively hideous. The mode of life of the sloth is certainly remarkable, for almost its whole existence is passed among the highest trees of the densest South American forests,, and passed, too, in a perfectly topsy-turvy manner, inasmuch as it moves from bough to bough with its legs up in the air and its back towards the ground. It walks and sleeps suspended beneath the boughs instead of balanced above them, securely holding itself by means of powerful hooked claws on the fore and hind feet. This method of locomotion, so remarkable in a mammal, coupled with the deliberate fashion in which it moves, and the air of sadness expressed in its quaint physiognomy- large-eyed, snub-nosed, and earless- on which there seems to dwell an ever-present air of resignation. Walking beneath the boughs comes as natural to the sloth as walking on the ceiling to a fly.
The sloth sleeps suspended from the bough. During this time the feet are drawn closely together, and the head raised up and placed between the fore legs. In the sleeping position the sloth bears a striking resemblance to the stump of a lichen-covered bough, just as the cobego resembles a fruit. Thus is protection from enemies gained. The resemblence to lichen is further aided by the fact that the long, coarse hair with which the sloth is clothed becomes encrusted with a peculiar green algae- a lowly form of vegetable growth- which lodges in certain grooves or flutings peculiar to the hair of this animal. Such a method of protection is unique amongst the Mammalia. As the sloths sleep by day and feed by night, the usefulness of such a method of concealment is beyond question.
The strange form of locomotion of the sloths renders separate fingers and toes unnecessary, and so the fingers and toes have come to be enclosed in a common fold of skin, extending down to the base of the claws.
The sloths stand out in strong contrast to the volatile spider monkeys, with whom they share the forest; these have added a fifth limb in the shape of a prehensile tail, by which they may suspend themselves at will. The sloths, on the contrary, have no tail; they move deliberately, and o no require it. The monkeys move by prodigious leaps, taken not seldom by gathering impetus by swinging on their tails.
The great naturalist Bates writes of the sloth: "It is a strange sight to watch this uncouth creature, fir production of these silent shades, lazily moving from branch to branch. every movement betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution. he never loses his hold from on branch without first suring himself to the next.... After watching the animal for about half and hour, I gave him a charge of shot; he fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough in his descent with his powerful claws, and remained suspended"
In past ages gigantic ground-sloths roamed over South America. The largest of these, the Megatherium, rivalled the elephant in size. Descendants of these giants appear to have lingered on till comparatively recent times, as witness the wonderful discovery by Moreno, made during the year 1900, in a cave in Patagonia. This was nothing less than a skull and a large piece of the hide of one of those monsters in a wonderful state of preservation, showing indeed undoubted traces of blood and sinew. That the hide was removed by human hands there can be no doubt, for it was rolled up and turned inside out. Immediately after this discovery was announced, an expedition was dispatched from England to hunt, not so much for more remains, but for the animal itself. Time will show whether these efforts will prove successful.
