I think they're very cute, but what do they do apart from walk and eat slowly and come to the ground to poo??
2007-01-11 03:18:36 · 17 answers · asked by littleone 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
What do they bring to the party? Like spiders eat flies and other cretaures have purposes, to Sloths help the world work in any particular way....?
It came up at work, and we are all baffled.
2007-01-11 03:25:24 · update #1
Obviously, I realise that they are only here to reproduce. I just wondered if they did anything else, purely by chance. Thank s for all the answers though. I like the ice age one the best. :o)
2007-01-11 04:09:39 · update #2
The movie "Ice Age" wouldn't be nearly as funny if there wasn't a sloth in it. LOL
2007-01-11 03:24:55 · answer #1 · answered by steve 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No animal has a purpose other than reproduction and the spread of genetic material. Natural selection does not work with purpose, it merely responds with the most successful creatures propogating and the least successful becoming extinct. In the rainforests of South America where sloths live, there is the most diversity found anywhere on Earth. This allows for more species of plants and animals to develop and gives more opportunities for greater diversity. This creates more niches to be exploited, and the sloth is able to do that as an aboreal mammal. The sloth is also a strong swimmer, which is a trait necessary in the flooded rain forests during the wet season. A sloth's purpose is the same as a human's: to maintain its existence in order to spread genetic material.
2007-01-11 04:02:47 · answer #2 · answered by Andrew E 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Organisms dont need a purpose, they dont need to contribute to the world as we view it, they dont need to do anything! An organisms place in the world, its niche, may well be viewed as beneficial from our perspective (we dont like flies, spiders eat them, we like eggs, chickens lay them) but it is just living as it has evolved to do, attempting to stay alive and reproduce (or help others to do so). View it from the other way. Animals evolve to be how they are not because of what they can contribute but what they can take away! They exploit resources not being used by other animals, and so become part of the ecosystem. All living things (including humans) are 'just' funnels for organic material - we eat the food the plants produce to stay alive so we can have babies, we poo out what we cant use and in time the babies we made will die and, like the poo, become soil from which new plants can grow. The sloth has evolved a way to survive which doesnt upset the ecosystem (otherwise it wouldnt be able to survive) and that's good enough for me!
2007-01-11 03:56:42 · answer #3 · answered by Stardust 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I'm sure there are a great many sloths out there pondering exactly that about humans. I mean all we seem to do is damage the environment for our own purposes, we don't actually do anything to improve the world we live in except for our own ends. The point of sloths, as with every other species, is to continue to exist, once it can't do that because it can't adapt sufficiently to the changing envirnoment, it dies out, and another animal that can adapt fills that niche
2007-01-11 03:41:02 · answer #4 · answered by gerrifriend 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think sloths spend the most time asleep than any other animal, there has to be some animal that sleeps the most so I suppose that is their purpose. they sleep for 15-18 ours a day
2007-01-11 09:55:04 · answer #5 · answered by Gordon B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They form an important link in their eco system. They disperse seeds of fruit. Their poo is fertilizer. They host algae growing on their skin and in their fur. They are food to a certain eagle species. and most important of all, they're the only living creatures who can create......baby sloths!
2007-01-11 03:45:03 · answer #6 · answered by Vango 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They are part of an eco-system.
They will germinate flowers whilst looking for fruit, and provide manure for the jungle.
They also provide a food source, I saw a programme where an eagle caught and ate one once.
On the whole they are probably more use to the planet than us humans.
2007-01-11 03:33:45 · answer #7 · answered by Corneilius 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yeah. It's like have you ever looked into a Sloth eyes, there's absolutely feck all going on inside. Reminds me a bit of my boss. The 'Sloth' man. heheh.
2007-01-11 03:30:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Eat and poop to fertilize the plants so they have more to eat and so on.
You could probably ask this question about every living thing including us and the answer is basically the same.
2007-01-11 03:28:11 · answer #9 · answered by Sean 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They are sloths.
They're not worried about it. In fact they're quite laid back.
So, be like a sloth.
2007-01-11 03:28:42 · answer #10 · answered by efes_haze 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋