Research
A new genetic discovery points to how sloths manage to survive while using so little energy
Earth.com · By Eric Ralls ·
The Brief
- Sloths can run their entire bodies on less than half the energy expected for mammals of their size, according to the source.
- Biologists have not yet explained how sloths achieve this low energy use.
- A new genome of the two-toed sloth points to one possible explanation, based on genetic findings.
Why it matters
The finding offers a possible genetic route to understanding how a mammal achieves unusually low energy use, which bears on how metabolism is studied across species.
Who’s affected
- biologists studying metabolism and genomics
- general science readers interested in animal biology
- #sloths
- #genomics
- #metabolism
- #energy efficiency
- #mammals
Hanging motionless in trees, sloths are doing something no other mammal on record does. They can run their entire bodies on less than half the energy expected for animals their size, and biologists still can’t explain how. A new genome of the two-toed sloth points to one possible…