Sloths have double the grip strength of humans and other primates

Dangling from a tree with just a single foot, sloths can exert more gripping force relative to their weight than primates – and they are consistently, but mysteriously, stronger on their left side

Life 10 January 2023

By Jake Buehler

Finley, one of the sloths at The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica. Credit: Ignacio Moya

Finley, one of the sloths that had their grip measured, at the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica

Ignacio Moya

With a single foot, sloths can exert a pound-for-pound grip force far beyond what humans and other primates are known to muster with their hands and feet.

Sloths like to clasp onto the sides of your torso, says Melody Young at the New York Institute of Technology, who studies the languid danglers. To free herself of one of the cat-sized creatures, often “two other researchers have to grab each leg and pry [its] …

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