Friday Anteater blogging – Sloth #1

Posted on March 2, 2007 in Xenartha

Anteaters come from a group of mammals called the [[Edentata]] which has nothing to do with heavenly qualities, but the fact that they have no teeth. Actually, classifiers broke up the Order Edentata, separating the Giant Anteater from the covergently similar aardvarks and pangolins and grouping them with strictly American species such as the armadillo and the sloths.

The [[sloth]] received its name from Spanish missionaries who thought it embodied the most depressive of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]]. As time passed and no one sought to name a creature a “Pride” or a “Wrath” or a “Glutton” etc., the sloth approached extinction with the distinction of being the only creature named for cardinal deficits.

Here is a video of a baby sloth. Sigh. I want one. Do you think they are cat compatible?