Sloths

The inexplicable position

I've always found sloths quite intriguing. Yes, my laziness has played a significant part towards my bias, but there's something else to it as well. Sloths mostly eat leaves and tender shoots, and hence you almost always find them on trees. That's fine.

But why do they cling on to the trees this way? Why would anyone cling on to the branch in such a way that if somehow a few fingers give way, they'd fall with a crash? Has it never occurred to them that staying above the branch is a lot easier? Would it not make sense to remain that way? Does this pose seem easy at all? I mean, why don't they just have a look at the rest of the animal kingdom and try to be on all fours like the others?

The (artificially created) Utopian position

What stops them, I wonder. Are they so kind to the tree that they're even willing to risk falling down at a moment's lapse, to avoid exerting pressure of any kind on the branches? Or are they foolish, as plain and simple as that?

I wish they were smart enough to get the picture rotated by 180 degrees. Or ruthless enough, maybe.