Usually, attention is focused on animals that amaze with their speed, but there are species in nature that live at a completely different pace. Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have compiled a list of the slowest creatures and explained why their slowness does not prevent them from surviving. This was reported by Live Science.
Among marine life, the record holders are the sea anemone, which can move only 10–25 cm per hour, and the dwarf seahorse, which takes about an hour to travel one and a half metres. Another unhurried ocean animal is the Greenland shark, which drifts in icy waters at a speed of only 3 km/h.
On land, the leaders are the banana slug (0.0096 km/h), the garden snail (0.048 km/h) and the giant Galapagos tortoise (0.26 km/h). Among primates, slow lorises stand out, moving through trees at speeds of up to 1.8 km/h.
However, according to scientists, the absolute ‘champion of slowness’ is the three-toed sloth. It usually moves only tens of metres per hour, and all its movements are so unhurried that they resemble tai chi. This strategy is linked to their extremely low metabolism: sloths get little energy from food, but they are excellent at camouflage and possess exceptional strength.
Experts emphasise that slowness is not a disadvantage for these animals, but a successful evolutionary strategy that allows them to survive on minimal resources.
