Sloth Facts Sloths are social media darlings. They are in viral videos and memes- they even make celebrities cry! The slowest animal on the planet is native in Latin America rainforests where they spend their days sleeping and hanging upside down on trees. But there is so much more to discover about sloths than just being couch potato gods in the modern world. Get ready to see these sloth facts you most probably did not know. Although sloths are classified as two-toed or three-toed, both have three toes. One of the lesser-known sloth facts is that all sloth species actually have three claws or toes. The two-toed species only has two claws on their front legs, but three on their back legs. Whereas the three-toed sloths have three at both the front and the back. Ancient sloths were as big as elephants before. According to San Diego Zoo, sloths from 10,000 years ago possibly reached an elephant’s size. Skeletons from the extinct species called “Megatherium” were found which led to this theory. A sloth's fur has natural camouflage. Since green algae naturally grow on a sloth’s fur for water and shelter, the algae provide natural camouflage for sloths and give off extra nutrients and vitamins via the sloth’s skin. Sloths spend 90% of their life hanging upside down on trees. Sloths have impressive biology with their organs being attached to rib cages. This means that they are weightless down to the lungs making it easy for them to hang and breathe naturally in an inverted position. It takes 30 days for sloths to digest a leaf. One of the most known sloth facts is that they are the slowest animal in the world. That also includes digesting food! A sloth’s stomach has multi-compartments which allows them to digest the cellulose that they consume, and that takes no less than 30 days.