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Well, that was a pleasant surprise, there were so many requests to maintain the monkeying that I shall not cancel the emails I shall email, blog, and twitter. But don't forget you can always unsubscribe as directed below if you are sick of my nonsense.
As promised, AOTW is back. AOTW is weekly. AOTW is Bradypus pygmaeus (pigmy three-toed sloth). This slow-living tree-dweller has been singled out by the EDGE (Evolutionary Extinct and Globally Endangered) project as being particularly unique and particularly threatened. Pygmy three-toed sloths live on just one tiny island, Isla Escudo de Veraguas, off the Caribbean coast of Panama, where they live only among the mangrove swamps that encircle it. Estimates suggest there are only three hundred or so pygmy sloths left, their endangerment is largely related to their very limited range, although poaching and habitat destruction by fishermen who sometimes use the island as a camp also threaten the species.
Sloths are fascinating animals of which there are only six living species. The three-toed sloths (four species) and their larger cousins the two-toed sloths (two species) are part of an group of mammals including the anteaters and armadillos that split from the rest of the true (non-marsupial non-monotreme) mammals early in their history. Within this group, the individual species themselves are all distantly related to each other with both three-toed and two-toed sloths likely being descended from separate lineages of ground-dwelling sloths that split many millions of years ago -- so the outward similarity of the two types is likely due to convergent evolution.
Because they spend so much time hanging upside down, sloths' fur grows in the opposite direction to that of other mammals -- if you think how your dog's, cat's, or your own back hair grows largely towards the feet, sloths' fur grows the other way. Perhaps the best known fact about sloths' fur is that it is sometimes green as it is often colonised by algae; sloths welcome this as this helps them blend into the forest making them hard for predators to spot. Because of the algae, sloths fur contains whole tiny ecosystems with moths, flies, beetles, worms and so on all living off the algae. Human hunters tend not to view sloths as prime targets since if shot while they are hanging in a tree, their toes are so well designed to cling on that a dead sloth will remain anchored in the canopy. Sloths' diet of unnutritious leaves means that they have an enormous complicated stomach filled with symbiotic bacteria to enable them to digest huge quantities of food and up to 50% of a sloth's bodyweight can be its stomach contents.
The pygmy three-toed sloth was described by western scientists in 2001. Having been isolated for perhaps 9000 years they have become 40% smaller than their mainland relatives. An example of the island dwarfism that might have created the hominid hobbits of Flores. No joke I am afraid. Maybe next week.
As promised, AOTW is back. AOTW is weekly. AOTW is Bradypus pygmaeus (pigmy three-toed sloth). This slow-living tree-dweller has been singled out by the EDGE (Evolutionary Extinct and Globally Endangered) project as being particularly unique and particularly threatened. Pygmy three-toed sloths live on just one tiny island, Isla Escudo de Veraguas, off the Caribbean coast of Panama, where they live only among the mangrove swamps that encircle it. Estimates suggest there are only three hundred or so pygmy sloths left, their endangerment is largely related to their very limited range, although poaching and habitat destruction by fishermen who sometimes use the island as a camp also threaten the species.
Sloths are fascinating animals of which there are only six living species. The three-toed sloths (four species) and their larger cousins the two-toed sloths (two species) are part of an group of mammals including the anteaters and armadillos that split from the rest of the true (non-marsupial non-monotreme) mammals early in their history. Within this group, the individual species themselves are all distantly related to each other with both three-toed and two-toed sloths likely being descended from separate lineages of ground-dwelling sloths that split many millions of years ago -- so the outward similarity of the two types is likely due to convergent evolution.
Because they spend so much time hanging upside down, sloths' fur grows in the opposite direction to that of other mammals -- if you think how your dog's, cat's, or your own back hair grows largely towards the feet, sloths' fur grows the other way. Perhaps the best known fact about sloths' fur is that it is sometimes green as it is often colonised by algae; sloths welcome this as this helps them blend into the forest making them hard for predators to spot. Because of the algae, sloths fur contains whole tiny ecosystems with moths, flies, beetles, worms and so on all living off the algae. Human hunters tend not to view sloths as prime targets since if shot while they are hanging in a tree, their toes are so well designed to cling on that a dead sloth will remain anchored in the canopy. Sloths' diet of unnutritious leaves means that they have an enormous complicated stomach filled with symbiotic bacteria to enable them to digest huge quantities of food and up to 50% of a sloth's bodyweight can be its stomach contents.
The pygmy three-toed sloth was described by western scientists in 2001. Having been isolated for perhaps 9000 years they have become 40% smaller than their mainland relatives. An example of the island dwarfism that might have created the hominid hobbits of Flores. No joke I am afraid. Maybe next week.
*Photo appreciated in good honour by Bryson Voiron from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_Escudo_de_Veraguas
Peter Hayward
Head Keeper
Animal of the Week
Revisit old Animals of the Week at http://aotwanimaloftheweek.blogspot.com/.
You have been added to the AOTW mailing list because a friend nominated you. If you no longer wish to receive these mails, please reply to this email putting the words "Don't monkey me no more, you fool" in the subject line. Counterclockwise, if you would like to nominate a friend (or enemy) to receive animal pleasure, reply with their address in the body of the email and the words "Monkey this badass, too" in the subject line.
Peter Hayward
Head Keeper
Animal of the Week
Revisit old Animals of the Week at http://aotwanimaloftheweek.blogspot.com/.
You have been added to the AOTW mailing list because a friend nominated you. If you no longer wish to receive these mails, please reply to this email putting the words "Don't monkey me no more, you fool" in the subject line. Counterclockwise, if you would like to nominate a friend (or enemy) to receive animal pleasure, reply with their address in the body of the email and the words "Monkey this badass, too" in the subject line.
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