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Animal Series
Sloth
A richly illustrated cultural and natural history of the lethargic animal—from prehistoric ancestry to modern-day memes.
Sloths are perhaps the most recognized and loved Central and South American animals, but they are not well understood. This book offers a colorful and wide-ranging biological and cultural history of these fascinating mammals. Alan Rauch explores how today’s lethargic sloths evolved from gigantic prehistoric ancestors and earned their deadly, sinful names. In praise of both these beautiful creatures and their status as icons of a stress-free life, this book shows just how fascinating, engaging, and (more often than not) inspiring these animals can be.
Sloths are perhaps the most recognized and loved Central and South American animals, but they are not well understood. This book offers a colorful and wide-ranging biological and cultural history of these fascinating mammals. Alan Rauch explores how today’s lethargic sloths evolved from gigantic prehistoric ancestors and earned their deadly, sinful names. In praise of both these beautiful creatures and their status as icons of a stress-free life, this book shows just how fascinating, engaging, and (more often than not) inspiring these animals can be.
- GenresNonfictionAnimals
192 pages, Paperback
Published January 22, 2024
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 18, 2024
Great, easy read about sloths. Has chapters on everything from the evolution of sloths to sloths in popular culture throughout history. Includes lots of illustrations and photos, which is really nice!
June 17, 2025
This is a unique book all about sloths. It covers the modern sloth, the giant ground sloth that existed during the time of the dinosaurs, sloth anatomy, sloth (as in one of the seven deadly sins), sloths in current culture, and sloth conservation. While I LOVE sloths and was excited to read all about them, this book was disappointing. I felt like there was WAY too much focus on historic/giant ground sloth and not as many pictures as there could have been. I also feel like the chapter on sloth as one of the seven deadly sins didn't need to be included. That has nothing to do with the animal sloth. There was some good information but it wasn't amazing. I did appreciate that the author reiterated that any entity that allows people to hold sloths for money is NOT good for the sloths. Seeing them in person can be done but it is not good for them to be held, especially by hundreds of tourists/strangers.
"Recent studies have uncovered 'rod monochromacy' as part of the evolutionary development of sloths. What that means is that sloths, over time, have lost the cones that enable color vision and so the animals can only see the world in black and white." (p. 62-63)
"Recent studies have uncovered 'rod monochromacy' as part of the evolutionary development of sloths. What that means is that sloths, over time, have lost the cones that enable color vision and so the animals can only see the world in black and white." (p. 62-63)
February 5, 2025
Fascinating and very informative book about sloths. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews