MAMMALS. 



r.sr, 



for some support, and the chances are that its fall will he stopped ere it 

 reaches the earth, and then if death ensue, the long claws will not let go 

 their hold. Poisons, too, are slow in taking effect on them. But slow as 

 they are in these respects, they are seen at their worst when placed on 

 level ground. Their feet are like pot-hooks, only adapted for hanging to 





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Fig. 479. — Three-toed sloth {Bradypus tridactylus). 



some branch, and when on the ground they are almost perfectly useless. 

 If there be some stump or stone, they may pull themselves along by its 

 aid, but without such they are almost perfectly helpless. And yet they 

 are able to swim, and to make pretty good progress ; for Wallace and Bates 

 saw one in the region of the Amazon, swimming a river where it was a 

 thousand feet broad. 



