Do sloth bears eat humans?

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asked Jan 7, 2022 in Other- Pets by Damgp999 (1,230 points)
Do sloth bears eat humans?

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answered Jan 7, 2022 by nickboy9922 (1,060 points)
Sloth bears have attacked humans although they rarely eat humans.

Sloth bears are not really human eaters but they will eat a human if they are hungry enough.

A sloth when full grown can get as big as 2.5 feet and weigh between 9 to 17 lbs.

The sloth will max out at about 2.5 feet and weigh between 9 and 17 pounds (about the size of a small dog).

The sloth has a coarse, brown fur, long limbs and curved claws for hanging tightly onto tree branches — the adaptation to upside-down tree living.

And they're one of the slowest-moving animals on earth!

A sloth cannot walk upright really good although a sloth can stand upright especially when they need to poop.

Although sloths have long claws that make walking on land difficult, they can move up to three times faster when they swim which is also surprising for such a typically slow-moving animal.

Sloths have a purpose which is to eat leaves from trees which allows sunlight into the rainforest.

Sloths also fertilize trees by defecating at the base.

And sloths also have an ecosystem in their fur which allows creatures to grow, and could provide a cure to some diseases.

They are food for predators such as jaguars.

Sloths are easy prey as they have low energy and if they climb down from the tree they burn some more of that energy so they become easier prey.

Some types of sloths can cause earthquakes because they can emit strong and low level frequencies which leads to earthquakes.

Sloths are becoming endangered although some sloths are becoming more endangered than others.

The ongoing destruction and fragmentation of its habitat, exploitation for food, the presence of feral cats, and lack of sufficient legal protection for pygmy three-toed sloths and their habitat have caused a sharp decrease in the sloths population.

Sloths don't usually attack but they can defend themselves and do some serious damage when they do defend themselves.

Sloths have large and strong claws that can do quite a bit of damage to their attacker.

Sloths can be dangerous and could attack and harm a human.

Although sloths are pretty slow animals and they are pretty gentle animals as well and as long as you treat the sloth correctly then they will usually be friendly to you or other humans.

The reason a sloth is so slow is because the sloth naturally has a slow metabolic rate.

The sloth moves slow to conserve energy.

Sloths are somewhat like a bear but a sloth is not actually a bear and more similar to an anteater.

Sloths, which are related to armadillos and anteaters, have the lowest energy requirements of any living mammal.

They can spend up to 30 days digesting a single meal.

Living off a diet of just leaves, three-toed sloths have to eat almost continuously.

Some sloths die when they poop as they climb down to the ground to poop and then get attacked and killed.

And some sloths die when they grow old and die of natural causes.

Sloths are gentle animals although they can be aggressive as well.

It's not a good idea to try and test their patience either.

Well at least not with two-toed sloths as they are known to be quite aggressive and can do some serious damage with their claws.

Three-toed sloths are generally more easygoing, but still don't appreciate having human hands all over them.

Sloths aren't lazy although they seem to be.

The sloths slowness and what seems like laziness is actually a survival thing for the sloth as they have a slow metabolic rate.

Three-toed sloths are some of the slowest and seemingly laziest creatures in the world.

Instead of evolving to eat more, they evolved to do less.

Sloths are blind especially in the daylight although they can see somewhat but very poorly in dim light.

The sloth is blind in the bright daylight because sloths have a very rare condition called rod monochromacy which means that they completely lack cone cells in their eyes.

As a result all sloths are color-blind, can only see poorly in dim light and are completely blind in bright daylight.

A sloth is pregnant with a baby sloth for around 6 months before they give birth to the baby sloth.

Female sloths give birth to one baby a year after a gestation period of six months.

The baby sticks with the mother for about six months, grasping its mom's belly as she moves through the trees.

Sloths give birth upside down so if the baby sloth falls it won't fall far and and the mother sloth can easily climb down to retrieve the baby sloth.

When it's time for the mother sloth to give birth, the mother sloth will usually descend to the lower canopy branches and give birth while hanging upside down.

In this position, if the baby sloth falls to the ground, it won't fall far, and the mother sloth can climb down to retrieve her young.

Sloths are born just like other animals and humans are.

Sloths come out as a baby sloth and are attached with an umbilical cord.

Sloths give birth to the baby sloth just like a human gives birth to a baby.

The sloth gives birth to a baby sloth that has an umbilical cord like humans do.

However when a baby sloth is born it's born in the tree and then dangles from the mother sloths umbilical cord for a few seconds.

Then the mother sloth reaches down and grabs the baby sloth and pulls it back up the tree and cradles it and takes care of it.

The mother sloth then removes the umbilical cord themselves and then cares for the baby sloth.

The sloth mates with another sloth in the tree and then also gives birth to the baby sloth in the tree.

A sloths ancestors are the West Indian sloths, known as megalocnids, diverged from the ancestor of both megatherioids and mylodontoids more than 30 million years ago.

Sloths belong to the superorder Xenarthra, a group of placental mammals believed to have evolved in the continent of South America around 60 million years ago.

One study found that xenarthrans broke off from other placental mammals around 100 million years ago.

Sloths are not able to move fast.

Sloths only move slow and they move slow to help conserve their energy.

Sloths are a group of arboreal Neotropical xenarthran mammals, constituting the suborder Folivora.

Noted for their slowness of movement, they spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America.

Sloths have an extremely low metabolic rate, which means they move at a languid, sluggish pace through the trees.

On average, sloths travel 41 yards per day which is less than half the length of a football field!

Sloths cannot move fast at all.

Sloths do not have the energy to move fast so they move slow and cannot run away or move fast away from any predators.

That's one reason Sloths are mostly seen hanging up in trees although the sloth comes down really slow to poop and then goes back up the tree.

Also you cannot hold a sloth in Costa Rica or at any other place.

Holding Sloths in Costa Rica is not allowed as it's not good for the sloths health to be held by a human and most sloths do not like to be held anyway.

Sloths also get stressed out quite a bit when humans are holding them.

Also sloths can transmit bacteria to humans which can make the humans sick.

So you should never hold a sloth although it would be great to do so.

When I was in Costa Rica I saw signs that said that the sloths could not be held.

If anyone at any sanctuary tries to let you hold a sloth then they will get into trouble.

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