The photograph shows a two-toed sloth. These slow-moving organisms cannot outrun or outclimb predators, so they spend most of their time hanging from branches in trees. The sloths eat the leaves and flowers from these trees. Two-toed sloths often have a greenish tint on their fur because algae grow on their bodies.

image

Which of these is the most likely reason the algae are able to help two-toed sloths survive?

A.
by allowing the sloths to blend in with the trees to hide from predators

B.
by providing sloths with easy access to another food source

C.
by making sloths more attractive to other sloths to encourage mating

D.
by helping to keep the body temperatures of sloths cooler during hot weather