World's Slowest Animals: These Creatures Aren't in a Hurry

Some animals are not just in a haste. From tortoises to slugs, sloths to snails these are some of the world's slowest animals. While creatures like the cheetah and greyhound display their fast speed, these animals are satisfied with ambling and creeping, at times moving just a few feet every minute.

These creatures are slow to the extent that some of their names have become a synonyms for idleness. Here are some of nature's most sluggish creatures.

(Photo : Getty Images)

Three-Toed Sloth

Sloths spend most of their time on treetops, and they hardly move. Blame their sluggishness on their extremely low metabolic rate. Them having slow metabolism implies they only need not too many leaves and twigs for nutrition. These creatures crawl at a breakneck speed of 1 foot every minute, reports National Geographic, propelling so slowly that algae develop on them.

Garden Snail

When you just possess one foot, it becomes difficult to change your position very quickly. The common garden snail possess a flat, muscular organ that moves it very slowly along its desired path. The snail discharges a stream of mucus so that friction will be reduced, with this it can move easily, reports the Dudley Zoo.

This is the reason you always spot a trail of slime in a garden snail's wake. The highest speed of a garden snail is 1.3 centimeters (1/2 inch) per second, but it can propel as slowly as around 1/10 of an inch (.28 centimeters).

Also Read: Underwater Cannibalism: Hungry Baby Starfish Devour Each Other For Survival

Starfish

Starfish, also called sea stars are hard on top with lots of little wiggly tube feet below. Those tiny feet assist the starfish hold surfaces and propel around. But these creatures are slow in movement. A mature sunflower sea star can propel at the whirlwind velocity of one meter, as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Giant Tortoise

There are different subspecies of giant tortoises inhabiting diverse islands, but the giant Galapagos tortoise is the most popular. Galapagos, the largest existing tortoise species can live for about 150 years or even more. 

In 1835, when Charles Darwin was on the Galapagos he studied the tortoises. He was thinking they moved quite quickly. "One large one, I found by pacing, walked at the rate of 60 yards in 10 minutes, or 360 in the hour," Charles Darwin wrote in Zoology Notes. "At this pace, the animal would go four miles in the day & have a short time to rest."

(Photo : Getty Images)

Banana Slug

There are not so many agreements about the animal that is totally the slowest. But biologist Branley Allan Branson from the University of Eastern Kentucky voted for the banana slug to win the prize. "A large banana slug has been observed to cover 6.5 inches in 120 minutes," Branson wrote. "At that rate, a tortoise would seem fleet-footed."

Related Article: Supposedly Extinct Galapagos Giant Tortoise Species Confirmed to Have Resurfaced in the Island

For more news, updates about slow animals and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!