Can sloths strike quickly?

Question

Kind of a silly question, but I was just curious. Watching Ocean's Deadliest last night and was watching some quick strikes and got to thinking about most animals, even if not aggressive, when cornered or scared can lash out pretty quickly. Can and do sloths do this? How much does it take to annoy a sloth and how fast are they when it comes to defending theirselves. Anyone ever bitten by a sloth?

Answer 1

Can Sloths Strike Quickly? Only if they are in a good Union!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

No, but they aren't useless; they primarily rely on camoflage to avoid predators. Their fur grows algae in it that lets them blend in with their surroundings. They can however, slash and bite as they have ENORMOUS claws and sharp cutting cheek teeth.

Answer 2

Sloths use their legs for hanging from trees. While they do have claws, these help with hanging on and are not much use as weapons. Their teeth aren't much use as weaons either. Sloths' defence is to hang there and not move. Their fur grows algae so they appear to be green and just part of the vegetation. To get bitten by a sloth you would have to do something stupid with it - like put your fingers in its mouth.

Answer 3

Not too quickly, these guys:

"The sloth is a mammal that lives in the trees of South America. They have a slow and peculiar way of moving about. In fact, they are the slowest land mammals and travel very sluggishly on the ground (0.025 m/s - 0.050 m/s). However, when moving through the trees, they walk upside down hanging from branches and travel at a slightly quicker speed (0.050 m/s - 0.083 m/s). Their top speed is when climbing, and is used in emergency situations, (i.e. a distress call from a mother sloth's baby)."

Answer 4

Yes Sloth meat is great on a whole wheat bun with gravy Or in a meat pie Yes very tasty