The World of Sloths

Sloths are mammals classified in the families Megalonychidae (two-toed sloths) and Bradypodidae (three-toed sloths). There are six extant species of sloths. They are named after the capital sin of sloth because they seem slow and lazy at first glance; however, their usual idleness is due to metabolic adaptations for conserving energy. Aside from their surprising bursts of speed during emergency flights from predators, other notable traits of sloths include their strong body, the ability to swim, and the fact that they host symbiotic algae on their fur.

Sloths, the sluggish tree-dwellers of Central and South America, spend their lives in the tropical rain forests. They move through the canopy at a rate of about 40 yards per day, munching on leaves, twigs and buds. Sloths have an exceptionally low metabolic rate and spend 15 to 20 hours per day sleeping. And surprisingly enough, the long-armed animals are excellent swimmers. They occasionally drop from their treetop perches into water for a paddle.

Sidney "Sid" is a ground sloth in all five films who is dull-witted, talkative, friendly, carefree, naive, accident-prone, patient and funny herd member with a caring nature, and is voiced with a lateral lisp. Little is known from Sid's life other than that Sid once lived in a tree with other sloths that always wanted to leave Sid behind when the migration occurred, using several different ways to leave him behind. What is clear is that Sid's mother always told him that "bad news is just good news in disguise" prior to abandoning him for good.

He accidentally starts a fire in the first film and learns how to do it properly towards the end; he also shows this skill in the second film, where he is worshiped by a tribe of "mini-sloths" who call him "Fire King" and try to sacrifice him. In the third film, he adopts a trio of baby T-Rexes, and is forcibly taken to the underground dinosaur land by their mother, requiring the others to come and save him. In the fourth film, it is revealed that his full name is Sidney, though this name was also used in a deleted scene of the first film. When he, Diego and Manny are on the ice and are forced up by a water spout, they see a rainbow in the bright blue sky as he told them that "there is a rainbow at the end of every corner."

Flash is the fastest sloth working at the DMV, the Department of Mammal Vehicles. Given that he is a sloth, Flash moves, talks, and responds slowly. Despite his slowness, Flash is friendly, polite, gentle, social, and speaks quite professionally, which makes him sound more intelligent than he looks. Flash's outgoing and easygoing attitude gets him acquainted as he speaks to them in a casual, friendly way. Flash enjoys jokes and finds them hilarious. This can hinder his professionalism as he even goes so far as to retell them to his co-worker, Priscilla.

Flash also has a liking for street racing, driving a fast and fancy sports car and often speeding in it.