Sloths have grip twice as strong as humans

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Sloths have a grip twice as strong as humans and other primates, reveals a new study.

Researchers found that, with one foot, sloths can exert a force "far beyond" the grip of man, relative to their body weight.

Melody Young, a Ph.D. candidate at the New York Institute of Technology, and her team measured the grip of each foot on five brown-throated sloths at The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica.

As they dangled from a measuring device, the sloths squeezed each fore and hind foot with a force averaging as much as 100 percent of their body weight.

That is roughly twice the proportional grip strength of humans and primates.

Some individual foot tests registered nearly 150 percent, according to the findings published in the Journal of Zoology.

Dr. Edwin Dickinson, also of the New York Institute of Technology, says sloths have reduced musculature in their core compared with other mammals,

But he explained that muscles near their feet have fast-contracting fibers associated with heightened strength.

Dr. Dickinson said: "That power can be crucial given their leisurely pace."

Unlike a nimble monkey, Professor Adam Hartstone-Rose, of North Carolina State University, said: "A sloth might be in a situation where if a branch fails, they may only be able to get one hand or foot on."

He added that the study also revealed a surprise in that the sloths had a consistent and unexplained left-side bias in their strength, opposite to primates.