Is the reason why sloths move so slowly because their neurons naturally have less myelin on the axon? So nerve signals like action potentials move really slowly along the axon and thus cause slower movements?

Question

I think I heard about this in my biological psychology class but I can’t find anything when I try to search it online except for “low metabolic rates.” Is the reason in the title correct or am I misremembering?

In: 0

Answer 1

No that isn’t why sloths move slowly. Myelination of nerves would involve really fundamental genetic changes to sloths compared to other animals. Sloths move slowly because they aren’t trying to move fast, and even if they were they have very weak muscles and slow metabolisms that couldn’t support fast movement. The actual structure of their nervous system is similar to other mammals.