Sloths Are Built to Hang Upside Down

           A recent study by Rebecca Cliffe of the Swansea Laboratory for Animal Movement has discovered that sloths were anatomically built to be able to hang upside down. For example, if a human tried to hang upside down for a long period of time, the weight of the intestines, liver, stomach, and other innards would put a substantial amount of weight on the lungs, making it very hard to breathe.

          Sloths, however, have a series of adhesions that attach their innards to anchor the organs in place and prevent them from resting on their lungs. This especially important for the sloth because their stomach and intestines take up a considerable amount of their body mass. Also, with the sloth's slow metabolism it is even more critical for the sloth to conserve its energy whenever possible.

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Link: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-sloth-guts-upside.html