Top 10 List:

The Slowest Animals in the World

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This is a list of some of the slowest moving animals in the world. It is not comprehensive. This list is just to show the extremes of animal movement, and to compare to the list of the fastest animals.

Sloth in Costa Rica Sloth in Costa Rica

There may be other slow animals that could match these, and the numbers are not necessarily accurate. Animal speed is not always easy to measure, particularly when they move this slow! The speeds are measured over various short distances.

Other slow animals to consider include: starfish, koala, Nematodes, sponge, slugs, sea anemone and worms.

Animal speed
(mph) 		speed
(km/hr) 		notes
1. coral 0 0 Coral are animals, but they do not move. There are many other 'animals' that live a very stationary life, such as mussels and osyters.
2. Garden snail 0.03 0.048  
3. Three-toed sloth 0.15 0.24  
4. Giant tortoise 0.17 0.27 the world's slowest reptile
5. Spider (Tegenearia atrica) 1.17 1.88  

More slow animals

Animal speed
(mph) 		speed
(km/hr) 		notes
  Sea Horse     the world's slowest sea creature
  American Woodcock     The World's slowest bird

Other animal speed lists include:

Old Comments

  • Is there other snail aside garden snail? (from David Oluwatobi, Jan 2013)
  • Also a camel should be on the list (from munazzah, Dec 2012)
  • starfish should be on the list
  • the slowest animal is coral (from tobi olukotun, July 2012)
  • Why ostrich not in the top ten fastest animal on land? (from Francis, April 2012)
  • -.- If it doesn't move anyway, it doesn't count. (from Pantherebony, Feb 2012)

 

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