SOME TOOTHLESS MAMMALS 



47 



Another form, the megalonyx, was as large as a rhi- 

 noceros. These giants were sloths, and they reared their 

 ponderous forms against the trees and tore them down, 

 stripping them of verdure for food. They were the 

 ancestral forms of the strange sloths found in South 

 America to-day 



(Fig- 33)- 



These sloths 

 are peculiarly 

 adapted to life 

 in trees, their 

 long claws en- 

 abling them to 

 clingto the limbs 

 and hang pen- 

 dent. When on 

 the ground they 

 are very help- 

 less and at the 

 mercy of any 

 enemy. Their hind Hmbs dragging upon the ground, 

 their movements are very slow. But once in a tree they 

 can swing from limb to limb with great cleverness and 

 speed, and so closely do they resemble clumps of moss 

 that it is difficult to distinguish them. The body is cov- 

 ered with long gray and black hair. The head is small 

 and blunt. Some are two-toed, while others have three 

 toes. 



Sloths are rarely seen out of the trees in which they 

 feed. They even sleep at night clinging to the branches 

 by their powerful claws, recalling the bats. Sloth hunters 



Fig. 33. — The Sloth. 



