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Sloths Animal Themes

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Sloths
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.39

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		herbivorous, plant-eaters, snub, tropical, upside-down, hence, socialize, canopy, fate, locomotion, merely, vegetation, nocturnal, species, entire, thus
	content words:		South America

Other Languages
     Spanish: Los Perezosos

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Sloths

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¹     In the tropical rain forests of Central and South America, there lives the world's slowest moving mammal - the sloth. Tree dwellers, sloths carry out pretty much every activity in a suspended position high in the canopy. That's right! Sloths eat, rest, give birth, raise their young, and sleep upside-down in trees. They climb down to the ground only to use the bathroom (about once a week) or to find a different tree. So, exactly how slow do sloths move?
 
²     When sloths are in trees, their average speed is merely 360-480 feet per hour. In the case of an emergency, sloths can "accelerate" to 900 feet per hour. When sloths are on the ground, they move awkwardly and cover just 52.80 feet per hour!
 
³     Aside from the fact that sloths move no faster than a snail, they are also very inactive. They spend more than three-quarters of a day resting and sleeping. Thus, sloths can barely travel 125 feet in an entire day! Surprisingly, as slow and inactive as sloths are, they are pretty good swimmers.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

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Endangered Animals Theme Unit

Endangered Animals Theme Unit

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Mammals

Mammals

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More Lessons

Rain Forest

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Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

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