Sloth

Animal Series

by Alan Rauch

Sloths are perhaps the most recognized and loved Central and South American animals, but despite their renown and popularity as cartoon characters, toys and memes, they are not well understood. This book offers a colourful, richly illustrated and wide-ranging account of the biological and cultural history of these fascinating mammals.
Alan Rauch explores sloths’ gigantic prehistoric ancestors and their evolution into the lethargic, green-hued creatures that live and survive in forest canopies today. From the tale of how sloths were named after a deadly sin to their current status as unflappable icons of a stress-free lifestyle, Sloth shows how fascinating, engaging and inspiring these animals are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

189 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2023

Reviews

[Ashley Lay · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

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)

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and very informative book about sloths. Highly recommended!

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25