EXTINCTION beaten by being lazy and lowered metabolic rates

If you're always being criticised for being lazy, it seems you could have a good excuse. A study suggests idleness is an excellent survival strategy – and the sloths among us may represent the next stage in human evolution. Scientists believe they have uncovered a previously overlooked law of natural selection based on'survival of the slacker'. This suggests that laziness can be a good strategy for ensuring the survival of individuals, species and even whole groups of species. Although the research was based on lowly molluscs living on the floor of the Atlantic, the authors believe they may have stumbled on a general principle that could apply to higher animals – including land-dwelling vertebrates.