The popular comparison “you crawl like a snail” is indeed justified - snails are considered the slowest animals on the planet. But it turns out that a slow person can also be compared with moles, sloths and even Virginia possums - the speed of these creatures is low.
In our today's selection - Top 10 slowest animals in the world... It should be noted that their leisurely manner of movement is very suitable for the established way of life.
10. Gavial
A notable feature of this crocodile species is a long, narrow muzzle, almost 5 times the length of the body in childhood. On land, gavials are unable to move at speeds exceeding 5 km / h, while in water they accelerate to 8-10 km / h.
9. Snakes
Snakes give the impression of dexterous and impetuous animals, but when moving in a straight line they rarely "give out" more than 10 km / h. Water snakes are much faster than their slow land cousins.
8. Virginia possums
These little dart frogs, with all their desire, are not able to exceed the speed threshold of 7 km / h. Therefore, they do not run away from predators, pretending to be dead, and even emitting an unpleasant smell.
7. Whale sharks
A ten-meter shark swims at a speed of about 5 km / h. These giants feed on plankton, which makes no sense to chase. By the way, this slowness makes the whale shark safe for humans.
6. Moles
Little builders of large tunnels move at a speed of about 5-7 km / h. But the moles work quite quickly - to dig a meter-long tunnel, the animal needs only 6 minutes.
5. Field mice
The slowest rodents in the world have a body length of just over 10 cm. Naturally, with such modest dimensions, it is almost impossible to move at a speed of over 4-5 km / h.
4. Greenland polar sharks
The cold waters of the northern seas clearly reduce the swiftness of their cold-blooded inhabitants. Huge sharks, weighing about a ton, move smoothly and unhurriedly, as if sleeping on the go. Their speed is about 1.5 km / h.
3. Land turtles
Sea turtles move much faster than land turtles - at speeds up to 35 km / h. Overland ones are rather clumsy and slow, they move at a speed of no more than 900 meters per hour.
2. Sloths
These animals fully justify their name. Even if you want to go down from a branch, sloths do not slide down the trunk, but simply fall down. On the ground, sloths literally crawl on their belly at a speed of about 150 meters per hour. However, many of them are good swimmers, developing speeds of up to 4 km / h in the water.
1. Snails
It will take a snail an hour to cover a distance of half a meter. Although, given the size of this slowest animal on Earth, this speed is quite justified. But special mucus allows snails to easily move along a vertical surface.
Cool information. Helpful. I didn't know before.