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Various exceptionally fast birds can swoop on their food at astonishing speeds, and everyone is aware that the cheetah is the fastest land animal. But aside from the tortoise, snail, and sloth, would you be able to name any super-slow animals?
While for many predators and prey, speed might mean the difference between life and death, many other species live at a completely different pace.
Some animals simply don't need to hurry and have evolved to not do so.
We’ve pulled together a selection of nature’s slowest animals below, showcasing their top speed, and some interesting information about each of them.
In no particular order, below are 10 of the world's slowest animals.
The top speed of garden snails (Cornu aspersum) is roughly one meter per hour, or just 0.0o1 kilometres per hour, according to a study of 450 garden snails using LED lights, UV paints, and time-lapse photography.
All snails move by contracting the muscles of their single, boneless foot, generating a spray of mucus that eventually transforms into slime to lubricate their forward movement. This is similar to how slugs move.
Unlike slugs, snails don't need to move as quickly to evade predators since they can withdraw inside their thick, coiled shells on their backs.
A small species of seahorse that mates for life, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is found in the Bahamas and some regions of the USA.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the fish that moves the slowest, with an agonizing top speed of roughly 150 cm per hour.
Seahorses rely on drifting because their unusual body structure prevents them from moving very much in the water to go forward.
It’s this extremely slow movement that allows them to sneak up on prey (usually small crustacea) undetected when it then lunges to snap the prey into its mouth; successful hunter at 0.15km per hour!
Since their top speed is only 0.3 kilometres per hour and their shells are so hefty, giant tortoises (Chelonoidis nigra) rarely travel farther than a few kilometres every day.
They typically spend the majority of the day grazing and resting, only moving between their feeding locations in the early morning or late afternoon.
The "tortoise highways" of the Galapagos Islands are well-travelled animal trails that giant tortoises use to navigate the dense vegetation.
These creatures also have the distinction of being some of the longest-living creatures on the planet. Perhaps it’s something to do with their pace of life!
With over 1,000 species, sea anemones are part of the Actiniaria family and are related to coral and jellyfish. They come in a variety of forms, sizes, and hues.
They can move around on one foot, which is referred to as a pedal disc, but they rarely separate themselves from coral or rocks.
Instead, they prefer to hunt by waiting for fish to pass by near enough to catch.
Time-lapse photography has shown them to move at a speed of about one centimetre per hour when predators or environmental changes prompt them to go for a stroll.
This might be the world's slowest animal, depending on the criteria used!
There are about 2,000 different species of starfish (Asteroidea) that can be found in both tropical and arctic seas throughout the world's oceans.
The majority of starfish are known to move extremely slowly indeed, moving at speeds of about 15 centimetres per minute, or 0.009 kilometres per hour, using the wiggly tubes at the tips of their numerous arms.
Starfish move so slowly that they occasionally rely on ocean currents to cover greater distances more rapidly.
Slugs are slow gastropod molluscs that lack a shell. Perhaps because of this, they can outrun their cousins, garden snails, in a race.
Ariolimax costaricensis, the banana slug, is a very slow-moving species of slug, with a maximal speed of slightly over 8 millimetres per minute, or 0.48 kilometres per hour.
All slugs travel by using the muscles in their one foot to drive themselves forward while secreting slime-like mucus to lubricate their way.
Banana slugs may build a cord to rappel down from heights using a mucus gland at the end of their tail.
The slowest lizard in the world is the venomous Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), which is native to the southwest of the United States.
Being one of the larger animals on this list of slow-moving movers, they can grow up to 0.4 meters long. They can also kill and eat prey that is up to one-third their size.
They spend a lot of time underground, sleeping, and storing a lot of body fat so they can hunt less frequently and expose themselves to predators.
Despite their size and poison, Gila monsters are not a serious threat to people because they can only travel at a speed of 2.4 kilometres per hour when they are hunting.
The koala bear (Phascolarctos cinereus), like the sloth, has an extraordinarily slow metabolic rate and a diet high in fibre but low in nutrients.
The two main ways that koalas preserve energy are by sleeping and moving very slowly. Koalas nearly never store fat in their bodies.
They spend much of their time living on trees, eating eucalyptus leaves, and rarely moving around much. They have an excellent sense of smell but terrible eyesight.
The only venomous primate in the world is the nocturnal slow loris (Nycticebus) of South East Asia.
These animals cover their fur with toxins to both ward off predators and go after prey, and they have toxins in their mouths and elbows.
The slow loris has evolved into such a slow animal, attaining a top speed of barely 1.9 kilometres per hour and traversing up to 8 kilometres in a single night, thanks to its protection from predators.
This slow-moving predator, like the others on this list, can strike quickly when it is close to its preferred insects.
The three-toed sloth (Bradypodidae Bradypus), a native of Central America, is the world's slowest mammal and may move at up to 2.4 meters per minute on the ground.
These jungle animals can increase their speed to about 4.6 meters per minute when they are in their preferred canopy.
Their top speed is so slow that it’s algae growing on their coats that gives them a greenish tinge.
They also have the accolade that their name is a synonym for slow movement!
Sloths move slowly because they have extremely low metabolic rates, a slow digestive system, and a limited nutritional requirement of a few leaves and twigs.
Combining very long arms and narrow shoulder blades, the sloth's physical structure sets it apart from other mammals and contributes to its sluggish way of moving.
This allows them to reach far without exerting themselves excessively.
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