Inked Mag Staff
September 8th, 2020
Take Things Slow with 40 Charming Sloth Tattoos
Are you as crazy about sloths as we are?
When you hear a tattoo artist works like a sloth, this is rarely a good thing. Sloths are known for being the slowest animals in the world, moving at a glacial speed of 0.003 miles per hour—if they even move at all. Sloths inhabit tropical rain forests in South and Central America, with the two main genus being three-toed and two-toed sloths split into six extant species. Because of their incredibly slow movements, sloths have evolved to have extremely low metabolisms and go undetected by predators through camouflaging green algae that grows on their fur.
Three-toed sloths are divided into four species: Pygmy, Maned, Pale-throated and Brown-throated three-toed sloths. Their diet consists of leaves and they have the slowest digestion of any animal on the planet. Three-toed sloths are the only surviving relatives of the Megatheriidae, a family of extinct ground sloths that lived 23 million years ago. They weighed more than five tons and reached up to 17 feet in height, making them taller than the African bush elephant.
Two-toed sloths are divided into two species: Linnaeus’s and Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths. Their diet consists of insects, carrion, fruit, leaves and small lizards. They spend most of their lives hanging upside down in trees and said to be the descendents of the Mylodontidae, an extinct ground sloth that lived 23 million years ago.
In honor of all the sloth lovers out there (we’re looking at you, Kristen Bell) take a look at 40 of our favorite sloth tattoos from talented tattooers around the world.
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