If you have studied biology, you must have learned about the Animalia kingdom. In Animalia kingdom, there are also several classifications to classify animals. It proves that there are various animals in this world.
According to the BBC, the number of animal species that live on this planet reaches 8.7 million species spread all over the world. Of the millions of species, each animal has its characteristics and uniqueness, one of them is the animal speed in moving. Cheetah has the title of the fastest animal in the world. Then, what about the world’s slowest animals? Let’s check them out!
1. Sloth
Sloth has been named as the slowest animal on Earth, where they prefer not to move much and tend to stay somewhere. Sloth inhabits a variety of tropical rainforests in Central America to South America. If you want to know more about the sloth and tropical rainforest, check this relationship between nature and animal.
Sloth is a herbivorous animal. It eats fruits, shoots, leaves and branches. Adult sloths range in length from 40 to 72 cm and weigh about 5.4 kg. Their bodies are covered with long and coarse hair.
In a day, this animal only moves as far as 37 meters. This slow movement is due to sloth having a shallow metabolic rate. This animal is also famous for its long sleep.
In a day, sloth can spend 15 hours to sleep. Sloths spend most of their time in tree branches. They only come down from the tree once a week.
2. Starfish
Starfish are only able to move as far as 32 meters per hour. This starfish habitat is on coral reefs, especially on reef slopes at depths of 2 to 6 m. Some are found in exposed reefs during low tide, and some found in coral reefs at a depth of 33 m.
On the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, these animals are found at all depths that do not exceed 60 m. Sea Starfish foods are clams, mussels, small fish, snails, and barnacles.
Starfish is one of the unique species that live in the oceans. This animal has no brain and blood. Besides, this animal is also able to regenerate its severed organs. If we imagine starfish, unquestionably what we imagine is they only have five legs.
In fact, there are more than 2000 species of starfish in this world. Some have more than five arms, one of which is a sun star that has 40 arms. Another uniqueness of starfish is that they can change genders.
3. Snail
The snail that has a soft and slimy body shape can only move as far as 50 meters in 1 hour. Because of its slow motion, the snail is vulnerable to being eaten by its main predator, the bird.
Another characteristic of snails is that they have a shell that is useful for protecting parts of their body when they feel threatened.
Snails have natural habitats in Western Europe and the Mediterranean, but inadvertently European explorers spread snails to all subtropical and tropical areas throughout the world.
Most snails are herbivores, although some species that live on land and sea can be omnivorous or predatory carnivores. Usually, they eat vegetables and fruit. Unfortunately, snails who live in the sea becomes sea turtle’s food. Here are facts of turtle in its feeding habit.
4. Giant Galapagos Tortoise
This giant tortoise is among the slowest animals, which is only move as far as 257 meters per hour. However, this reptile is one of the longest living animals in the entire world that reaches more than 100 years and weighs up to 415 kg and 1.3 meters long.
Galapagos giant tortoises inhabit two distant regions, on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean. Sadly, this animal is endangered. This slow animal is herbivorous. The metabolism is also slow so that they can live a year without water or food.
5. Seahorse
Seahorse is not the same as a horse on the land. If a horse on land can run fast, seahorse can only move as far as 804 meters per hour. Its small fins cause its slow-motion. Besides, their body structure is complex like armour.
Seahorse is also known as an animal that doesn’t migrate. This animal can be found in shallow and protected waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean Seas.
Seahorse is a carnivore that usually preys on crustaceans and invertebrates. They swim vertically and allow themselves to be carried by the current.
It is said that we can actually have seahorse as a pet. Seahorses are your new pets? A proper guide to take care of them.
6. Koala
Koala is a native animal in Australia. This animal can move at speeds of 10 kilometres per hour. Koalas are nocturnal mammals that like to take shelter for long periods in Australian trees.
One of the koala’s favourite trees is the Eucalyptus tree because the leaves of this tree are their favourite food.
Koalas are similar to wombats but have thicker and softer hair, larger ears, and longer arms and legs equipped with large and long claws to help them climb. The weight of the koala varies from 14 kilograms for large southern males to 5 kilograms for small northern females.
They are usually silent, but male koalas have loud towing shouts that can be heard almost a kilometre during the breeding season.
Although koala moves slowly, the koala is a fast climber when it comes to climbing trees. They not only move slowly but also can spend about 20 hours a day to sleep.
They are solitary animals. Apparently, there is bad news about the koala. The bad news is, the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) says that koalas may become “functionally extinct” and estimates that there are no more than 80.000 koalas left in the region. Are you about to travel or perhaps live in Australia? Spare some of your time to help koala from fully extinct.
7. Manatee
Manatees are not only known as slow animals but also adorable! They are more often seen floating and relaxing than swimming. Although it usually moves only 5 kilometres per hour, Manatee can go up to 30 kilometres per hour on certain occasions.
Manatees are herbivorous animals that enjoy life in shallow waters off the Atlantic coast of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Manatees also live in rivers and swamps in the Amazon Basin and West Africa.
They spend their days eating and resting. The reason they move slowly is that they don’t have predators. Manatee turns out to have a close relationship with dugongs. Manatees differ from dugongs in terms of skull shape and tail shape.
The Manatee’s tail is paddled-shape, while the dugong’s tail is branched. Manatee’s body can reach lengths of up to 4.5 meters or more. Manatees were hunted for their meat and oil, but now they are officially protected.