We had a tree topple in our backyard last year during a rainstorm. Several days later I was working with a crew, cutting it up; one of the gardeners working on the top branches of the tree waved at me and beckoned me over, and when I got there pointed out a sloth, still tightly gripping a limb of the fallen tree. We cut the branch that it was on, and then carried branch and sloth over to the nearest large tree. The sloth relatively rapidly transferred to the trunk of the tree, and then relatively rapidly ascended into the canopy, where we lost sight of it.
However… their diet is so calorie low that they can actually really harm themselves by exerting too much energy, basically can’t replace it quickly enough.
They are so evolutionary evolved to move slow, I saw one scared and struggling against a vet that it was still moving in a slow motion defense.
Side note, that vet only had 4.5 fingers on one hand. A sloth bit half of one off years ago in a slow motion amputation. Very sharp teeth (they move slow) and very powerful jaws.
