Oct 2, 2015
13 Insanely Cute Sloth Toys You Need In Your Life
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13 Insanely Cute Sloth Toys You Need In Your Life
Why do sloths have so few fingers?
Sloths don’t need to use computers or play instruments, they just need to cling to branches and stuff leaves into their face.
A wonderful and informative article by Craig Holdrege about sloths
Yes hello, can you please explain to me the biological coding of sloths along with their evolutionary history?
Well, the 2000 Academic Press says that Xenarthra (Edentata) is an extremely diverse mammalian order whose modern representatives are the armadillos, anteaters, and sloths. The phylogeny of these groups is poorly resolved.
This is particularly true for the sloths (phyllophagans), originally a large and diverse group now reduced to two genera in two different families. Both morphological analyses and molecular analyses of rDNA genes of living and extinct sloths have been used with limited success to elucidate their phylogeny.
In an attempt to clarify relationships among the sloths, DNA was extracted and mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences were determined from representatives of two extinct groups of sloths (Mylodontidae and Megatheriidae), their two living relatives (two-toed sloths [Megalonychidae], three-toed sloths [Bradypodidae]), anteaters and armadillos.
A consistent feature of the latter two species was the nuclear copies of cytochrome b gene sequences. Several methods of phylogenetic reconstruction were applied to the sequences determined, and the results were compared with 12S rDNA sequences obtained in previous studies.
The cytochrome b gene exhibited a phylogenetic resolving power similar to that of the 12S rDNA sequences. When both data sets were combined, they tended to support the grouping of two-toed sloths with mylodontids and three-toed sloths with megatheriids. The results strengthen the view that the two families of living sloths adapted independently to an arboreal life-style.
Regarding biological coding, The Broad Institute and Baylor College present the following data:
Assembly: choHof1, Sep 2008, Database version:73.1
Base Pairs: 2,060,419,685
Golden Path Length: 2,467,493,193
Gene counts
Coding genes:12,393
Short Non coding genes:2,030
Pseudogenes:1,637
Gene transcripts:16,102
Other
Genscan gene predictions:109,168
There’s further information at Science Daily!
Sloth Fact #2
Sloths are classified as folivores, as the bulk of their diets consist of buds, tender shoots, and leaves, mainly of Cecropia trees.
Sloth Fact #1
Sloths are medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae, classified into six species. They are part of the order Pilosa and are therefore related to anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.
Last night I was watching a documentary about the ice age, and they started talking about the Shasta Ground Sloth, which (for those of you who don't know) was a massive slothy thing about the size of a cow, and it was so awesome it could fight off a smilodon (sabre-toothed cat/tiger) and apparently loads of its poo is still hanging around all mummified near the Grand Canyon or somewhere.
I don't know, it was late and I wasn't really concentrating, but there is definitely a huge load of mummified sloth poo somewhere in the world.
The more you know.
Edit: I just checked, it is near the Grand Canyon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCk0Uma2m4