Sloths : a celebration of the world's most misunderstood mammal
(Book)

First published in hardback in Great Britain in 2018 by Atlantic Books.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

How old is the sloth? How do sloths have sex? How did a sloth save Dublin? The answers to these questions, and more, are found in this wonderfully entertaining celebration of the sloth. Walking readers through the sloth's evolutionary history - from the prehistoric ground sloth to modern pygmy - William Hartston reveals the sloth's fascinating journey from maligned mammal to cause célèbre. Playfully peppered with science and filled with factoids, Sloths is a love-letter to the most anachronistic, and just a little bit ridiculous, of animals.

In public estimation and scientific investigations, sloths have undergone an astonishing transformation in the course of the past few years. Thanks largely to YouTube clips posted by the sloth orphanage in Costa Rica, sloths have attracted a vast audience of admirers. Instead of seeing them as ridiculous anachronisms of which we know little, they have turned into creatures considered by many to be the most endearing on earth. Over much the same period, scientific investigations have also changed our view of sloths. No longer are they seen as total misfits in the modern world but, in the words of one specialist sloth investigator, they are 'masters of the alternative lifestyle'. While giving plenty of opportunity with its illustrations for the sloth-lovers among us to enjoy their smiles and apparent vulnerability, this book will also cover the fascinating history of the sloths, from the prehistoric Ground Sloth to modern pygmy sloths in Panama, the current state of the science of sloths and will reveal the truth behind sloth behaviour.