Sloth

“I’m a sloth. I see a tree, eat a leaf. That’s my tracking.”

―Sid to Diego on his tracking abilities.[src]

Sloths were herbivorous mammals that lived during the ice ages.

Traits

Medium-sized mammals, sloths often inhabited trees, sleeping up in the branches, which they climbed using their sharp clawed hands and feet. Sloths, being herbivores, had mouths with flat teeth, notably a pair of large buckteeth at the front, coupled with a usually bulbous nose on an ovular head, atop a long, usually thin, neck. On either side of a sloth’s head were round eyes. Sloths, along with four limbs useful for climbing trees and holding onto objects, had short, often scrubby, tails. The sloths could not hibernate, thus to survive the freezing cold of the ice ages migrated south, stuffing their cheeks with vegetable foodstuffs such as turnips. As established by their name, sloths were slow-moving unless provoked otherwise, in which case they, being apt climbers, sought safety in trees, which they often laid claim to as property. Also, there’s some sort of difference between males and females. The males have a thicker neck, while the female’s neck are thiner than the male’s.

History

Among the scores of animals migrating south to escape the freezing winters brought on by the ice ages were sloths, who traveled in small family groups together, stuffing their cheeks with food for the long journey ahead. In time, the sloths reached the warmer southern regions, gathering sporadically in some locales.

Appearances

• Ice Age (First appearance)
• Ice Age: The Meltdown
• No Time For Nuts
• Surviving Sid
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
• Scrat’s Continental Crack-up Part 2
• Ice Age: Iced In
• Ice Age: The Hidden Treasure
• Ice Age: Where There’s Thunder
• Ice Age: Continental Drift
• Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade
• Ice Age: Collision Course

Behind the Scenes

The makers of Ice Age combined traits of both three-toed sloths and ground sloths in designing Sid and the other sloths.

In fact, the species on which Sid and the other sloths are based is the Megalonyx jeffersonii, that was 10 feet long, about 6 feet tall (on two legs) and had a maximum weight of 1000 kilograms; plus, it obviously, unlike the sloths seen in the movie, wasn’t able to climb trees. It could also hold its own against most predators.

Known Sloths

• Sid
• Brooke
• Granny
• Milton
• Eunice
• Uncle Fungus
• Marshall
• Francine
• Jennifer
• Rachel
• Rose
• Sylvia
• Sylvia’s father

References

Animal Species

Aardvark • Armadillo • Badger • Baptornis • Bat • Beaver • Bird • Blue-footed booby • Boar • Brontotherium • Chalicothere • Condor • Diatryma • Dodo • Dung Beetle • Elephant seal • Elk • Gazelle • Giant Butterfly Gigantopithecus • Glyptodon • Ground sloth • Hyrax • Macrauchenia • Mammoth • Mini-sloth • Molehog • Musk Ox • Palaeotherium • Penguin • Piranha • Platybelodon • Procoptodon • Narwhal • Neanderthal • Opossum • Rabbit • Rat • Reindeer • Saber-tooth tiger • Saber-tooth squirrel • Shark • Siren • Spider • Vulture • Weasel • Whale