This is hearsay because I cannot remember the actual issue but National Geographic Magazine had an article years ago on the annual Amazonian floods. One of the photographs was of a sloth swimming.
Way back when I took Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, the professor said that all mammals could swim, but that some could not swim very well or long. Take that with a grain of salt, I couldn’t find anything to back it up. But, I have personally seen a 9 band armadillo cross a river that was waste high on me, so I would say they can swim.
Swimming animals was kicked about in GQ a while back under the title “Can elephants really swim?” (answer: yes):
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28551
See my link concerning the armadillo. Fascinating.
The thread
Obviously, the answer to the title question is no. Clams don’t swim. Or snails. Or sea ananomies (sp).
Detailed answer by Jill, although it’s a pity her sources were so contradictory.
whistles aimlessly
Looks around
What, still in Cecil’s section?
I have a feeling that the controversy may come down to a definition of swimming. Toss a Chimpanzee in the middle of a river and he thrashes and flails and makes it to the bank. One scientist says that is swimming, the other says it is not purposeful propulsion through water, therefore it is not swimming. So, if an armadillo walks across the bottom of a river, then it is not swimming by my definition, but it is definitely purposeful propulsion through water. So, perhaps we need a definitive definition of swimming.
PUN
oglesbyi, I also have seen that Nat. Geo. Issue, but can’t recall the volume/date. Also, the discovery channel had a picture of a sloth swimming in one of its Wild discovery episodes on the Amazon.
How are we defining “animals”? I know for a fact that tarantulas can’t swim (they sink like stones and drown, not necessarily in that order). I’m pretty sure scorpions can’t either.