Animals
All the creatures have given some amazing gifts from nature to survive or live in their respective niches. Like, we all know that cheetah can run faster than any other animal in the land but on the other hand, there is some creature who is extremely slow, their actions and movement of their body like sluggish which makes them different from others creatures. We can find these creatures on terrestrial, aquatic and aerial.
Here are some of the top 5 slowest animals, which are described below and that may benefit you to know more about them.
#1 SLOW LORIS
They are found in Southeast Asia. In India Northeast mainly then Bangladesh and some are also found in a range of the Philippines, China, and the island of Java.
Slow lorises have mainly 9 species have been currently discovered - the Bengal, Greater, Hiller's, Kayan, Sody's, Pygmy, Philippine, and Bornean.
In 2012 each species of slow loris is listed as either vulnerable or endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Scientific Classification
Order: Primates
Family: Lorisidae
Subfamily: Lorinae
Genus: Nycticebus
Species Type: Nycticebus coucang
Features
Body small or medium-sized with nearly equal arms and legs which are flexible.
They have a round cranium with large forward-facing gaps.
They can be of various colors and patterns on their body.
To protect from predators like snakes, orangutans, etc they use toxic bites i.e a toxin obtained by licking the sweat from the body and mixed saliva.
They are omnivores eating insects, fruits, gum, and other animals.
Their average speed is 1.9 km/ hr.
Behavior
The slow loris is usually live lonely on trees and sleep during the day time.
They are shy when they get spotted by others like humans.
They make idle and deliberate activities that produce stillness in their environment or habitat.
Habitat
They inhabit many types of foliage. They live in the Tropical rainforest and Evergreen forest. To get food easily they used to live on the edge of these areas.
Breeding
Maybe Continuous throughout the years. Females reached sexual maturity at 18 to 24 months, which males are capable of reproducing at 17 years.
#2 GILA MONSTER
Native to the Northwestern Mexican state of Sonora and Southwestern United States. The Gila monster is named for the Gila River in Arizona. They are listed in IUCN Red Listed.
Scientific Classification
Order: Squamata
Family: Helodermatidae
Genus: Heloderma
Species: H.suspectum
Binomial Nomenclature: Heloderma suspectum
Features
The length of the body is about 60 cm (2.0 ft) long and the weight 7-1.4 kg (1.5-3 pound).
Body covered with beard-like scales called osteoderm.
Gila monster is the most extreme venomous lizard in the world. Its venom contains a mild neurotoxin which is deadly for other animals or a human.
They are generally slow-moving lizards and their average speed is 2.4 km/ hr.
They track their prey with the help of their tounges by which they can catch the scent particle of their prey in the air.
They can easily be recognized by the black body with bright color patterns in their body.
Behavior
For more than 95% of their lives, they spend underground borrow, appearing only to feed but in summer light they take the sun to bask.
The oversized their tail by store fat in their body to keep alive during this time.
Habitat
They inhabit the succulent wasteland and scrubland seeking shelter in a burrow and under the rocks is their best location.
Breeding
Breeding season is usually in early summer. They're sexually mature ages 3 to 5 years.
#3 SEA HORSE
Seahorse is a fish, due to its unique body structure, it appears like a horse. So its name is derived from the word hippocampus which means " Horse Caterpillar".
They are primarily found in some small Marine.
46 species have given this name.
Scientific Classification
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampinae
Species Type: Hippocampus heptagonus
Features
Their size is about 0.6 to 14 inches.
Have an exo- skeleton body framework which is made up of hard, bony plates that are bound together with a fleshy coating.
They have a prehensile tail, this prohibits them from being washed away by the strong water current.
They can be found in varied colors.
Their average speed is 0.015 km/ hr.
Behavior
They use to swim with their pairs, by tie their tail with their partners, and that form a faithful pair of bonds between them.
They use their tail to grab onto seaweed underwater for a long time.
They can camouflage with the surrounding perfectly so that they can hide from the predator.
Habitat
Seahorse lives in Tropical and Temperate coral water or mangrove forest and seagrass floor.
But when winter arrived they move into deep water to avoid the tough weather.
They are relatively immobilized.
Breeding
Their breeding season is from February to October in a year.
They are monogamous.
Seahorse is the rare species on the earth in which female seahorse deposits up to 1500 eggs in the male pouch to reproduce the unborn young.
#4 KOALA
They are also called Koala bear but are not bear, Koala is an arboreal tree-dwelling marsupial.
Native to Australia, and are found in the coastal region of the mainland's eastern and southern region, occupying Subtropical Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.
Their species are also listed in the venerable IUCN List.
Scientific Classification
Family: Phascolarctidae
Genus: Phascolarctos
Species: P.cinereus
Binomial Nomenclature: Phascolarctos cinereus
Features
Their body length of 60-35 cm(24-33 in) and weight 4-15 kg (9-33 lb).
The body is stout and a wide head with a spoon-shaped leathery nose, small yellow eyes, big fluffy ears, and an almost tailless.
Fur colour spectrum is Silver grey, pale yellow, and chocolate brown.
Due to the smaller brain, they have less capability to perform arduously.
In the male, a scent gland called a gland oozes i.e an oily, strong musky fluid is present on their chest, they usually rubbed on branches to attack the female.
The female has a permanent pouch to raise their young one.
The average speed is 10 km/ hr.
Behavior
They engaged only 15 minutes a day on social behavior.
They get insufficient energy from their diet because it contains high protein but low fiber and ligin.
For most of the period they sleep up to 20 hours a day and are particularly active at night.
On a hot summer day, they searching for the coolest part of the tree and hug the tree to lose heat.
During the cold or moist period, it curls itself into a tight ball to conserve energy.
Habitat
Koala typically lived in eucalypt woodland because of the leaves of these trees.
Their climate ranging from tropical to cool temperate. In a semi-arid climate, they prefer riparian habitat.
Breeding
During the breeding season, the male koala may bellow at any time of the year.
Male begin mating at 3 to 4 years of age and females begin mating at 2 years old, generally giving birth once a year for the next 10 to 15 years.
The baby koala is called a joey.
#5 SLOTH
Sloth being related to the word slow because of its extremely low metabolism and slow activity.
Found in Central and South America of the tropical rain forest.
There are mainly 6 species are found they are- Pygmy three-toed sloth, Pale- throated sloth, Maned sloth, Linnaeus two-toed sloth, Hoffman's two-toed sloth, Brown-throated sloth.
Due to deforestation, their forest is lost, and also they are hurt by predators so their population is also decreasing like Pygmy sloth is critically endangered, and Maned sloth is venerable.
Scientific Classification
Superorder: Xenarthra
Order: Pilosa
Binomial Nomenclature: Folinara
Features
In a 3- toed sloth the average head and body length is about 58 cm(23 in) and the tail is round, short, and movable.
In a 2- toed sloth the head and body are about 60-70 cm(24-27 in)long.
The outer layer of shaggy long hair is a pale brown to gray and cover a short, dense coat of black and white underfur. During the rainy season, a greenish tint is formed in their body.
The sloth has long arms for swimming, hanging, or clawing and a sharp sight to hide from predators.
Their average speed is 0.008 m/ hr.
Behavior
They mainly stay in solidarity.
They are generally very aggressive towards others of a similar sex.
They usually spend 15 to 20 hours of sleep per day.
According to physiology, sloth is heterothermy they are very sensitive to temperature change of their body.
Habitat
They can easily found in the high of the trees of canopy forest. Due to their low metabolism, they usually saw as resting, hanging, or feeding on leaves of the trees.
Breeding
In the brown and pale throated spices reproduction is seasonal but in maned sloth may breed throughout the year.
Sexual maturity of two-toed sloth is for female 2 to 3 years and male 4 to 5 years and for three-toed, pale- throated sloth is reversed of this.
