Sloths are known for their relaxed pace, sleepy eyes, and gentle way of life. But beneath that laid-back exterior, they have a pretty remarkable secret—they can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes. Yes, really.
Photo by Zdeněk Macháček for Unsplash.
To put that in perspective: humans start to feel dizzy after holding their breath for just a minute or two.
Dolphins, some of the best swimmers on the planet, can only hold their breath for around 10 to 15 minutes underwater. But the humble sloth? It blows them all away.
So, how do they do it?
It turns out sloths have a unique way of slowing their heart rate—by up to 50%—when they’re underwater.
This drastic slowdown helps them conserve oxygen and allows them to stay submerged far longer than you’d ever expect from such a slowpoke.
Via BBC Wonderstruck
They don’t need to surface for air often, which is handy when you spend your life in trees hanging over rivers and rain-soaked forests.
But why would a sloth ever need to hold its breath in the first place? While they’re not aquatic animals, sloths are surprisingly good swimmers.
This clip from the BBC below shows the swimming prowess of these tree-dwellers, who often swim to new locations, looking to mate.
They also occasionally take to the water to move between trees or escape predators.
Their long arms and buoyant bodies make them surprisingly graceful in the water—gliding gently like furry, slow-motion mermaids.
But for the most part, these sloths remain up in the tree tops, moving at a… sloth’s pace.
Photo by Zdeněk Macháček for Unsplash.
The more we learn about sloths, the more we realize how beautifully adapted they are to their unique jungle lifestyle.
From their algae-covered fur (which helps with camouflage) to their upside-down digestion and now their deep-diving breath control, sloths continue to surprise us.
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