10 Slowest animals in the world

25 May 2023

Three-toed Sloth

Three-toed sloths are some of the slowest and seemingly laziest creatures in the world. Instead of evolving to eat more, they evolved to do less.

Garden Snail

The snail is one of the slowest animal, as a matter of fact, it is one of the top ten slowest creatures on the planet. Did you know that Garden Snails can only move one meter per hour? A speed of approximately 0.0006 miles per hour!

Starfish

Most starfish are very slow indeed, using their wiggly tubes at the bottom of their many arms to crawl at speeds of around 15 centimeters per minute, or 0.009 km per hour.

Gaint Tortoise

Giant tortoises (Chelonoidis nigra) don’t usually move more than a couple of kilometers each day, and it’s easy to understand why when their top speed is just 0.3 kilometers per hour and their shells are so heavy. They tend to walk around between their feeding areas in the early morning or late afternoon, spending the rest of their time grazing and resting.

Banana Slug

The banana slug (Ariolimax costaricensis) is an exceptionally slow slug species, however, topping out at just over 8 centimeters per minute, or 0.48 kilometers per hour.

Slow Loris

The nocturnal south-east Asian slow loris (Nycticebus) is an unusual animal, as they are the world’s only venomous primate.It’s this protection from predators that has allows the slow loris to evolve as such a slow animal, reaching just 1.9 kilometers per hour at maximum speed, and covering up to 8 kilometers over the course of a night.

Sea Anemone

The sea anemone is  related to coral and jellyfish, and with over 1,000 species sea anemones come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Whilst they rarely detach themselves from coral or rocks, preferring to hunt by waiting for fish to pass by close enough to catch. 0.0001 km per hour

Manatee

Manatees usually mull around at about 5 miles an hour, but can motor up to 15 miles per hour in short bursts. Because they are such slow-moving animals most of the time, algae and barnacles can often be found on the backs of manatees.

Sea Horse

Seahorses are very slow swimmers. In fact, they are the slowest of all fish species. Unlike most fish, they do not have a caudal fin (a tail fin). Instead, they use one small fin on their back to propel themselves.It is recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the slowest moving fish with a top speed of just 60 inches per hour!

Gila Monster

The top speed a Gila monster can run is 1-1.5 miles per hour. This is a very slow speed, especially for a land reptile.