# Sloths can swim! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 28, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloths-can-swim/106120 "2002-04-28T15:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloths-can-swim/106120/1 "2002-04-28T15:16:06Z")
Regarding the penultimate paragraph of the answer to the question about whether camels cannot swim ([http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcamelswim.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcamelswim.html)) … I just saw a Discovery channel series called _Violent Earth_, the “Wild Waters” episode, and in one segment it showed a flooded forest in the Amazon. So there I was, watching innocently, when WHAM!, the ugliest sloth I’ve ever seen came swimming right at the camera. This was quickly followed by a full-body underwater view of the sloth’s swimming technique, which was … idiosynchratic, to say the least. The narrator said something like “The most unlikely of creatures turn out to be good swimmers when the need arises. Sloths actually move faster in water than they do in the trees where they live.” It was a surprisingly disturbing thing to see… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloths-can-swim/106120/2 "2002-04-28T20:26:39Z")
Welcome to the board, **chorpler**! The topic of swimming sloths actually prompted my own very first post to the board, in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=41778&highlight=camel+swim). Additional discussion on the Staff Report in question can be found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=41778&highlight=camel+swim) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=48195&highlight=camel+swim). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloths-can-swim/106120/3 "2002-05-02T22:10:38Z")
I assume the sloth’s favourite swimming stroke is … (wait for it)… the crawl. …cause, y’know, they’re kinda slow… ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloths-can-swim/106120/4 "2002-05-02T22:26:36Z")
O hell - that means I, being unable to swim, am actually **lazier** than the average sloth? ☹