Sloths risk their life every time they poop
Sloths only poop once a week — and they risk their life every single time.
The short version
Instead of going safely in the treetops, a sloth climbs all the way down to the ground where predators wait, does a wiggle scientists call the 'poop dance', and can lose a third of its body weight in one go.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Sloth only poops about once a week.
- ✓The Sloth climbs all the way down to the ground to poop, right where predators wait.
- ✓The Sloth does a slow wiggle scientists actually call the 'poop dance'.
- ✓The Sloth can lose up to a third of its body weight in a single bathroom trip.
The full story
Sloths only poop once a week, and every single time they do it, they literally risk their lives. Here is why. Sloths are incredibly slow and basically defenseless, so being high up in the trees is by far the safest place for them to be. But for some strange reason, when it is finally time to go, they refuse to just go from up there. Instead, the sloth slowly climbs all the way down to the base of the tree, which is exactly where predators like jaguars and snakes are waiting. Then it digs a little hole and does a slow wiggle that scientists actually call the poop dance. And in one single go, a sloth can lose up to a third of its entire body weight. A weekly bathroom trip that could genuinely get it killed. Follow for more weird animals.
Watch the 45-second version
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