At the recent Arias radio awards, Goalhanger was

"Some sloths are here with us today, some of them are at risk of extinction and one take home message is that we need to act now to avoid a total extinction of the group, said Dr Alberto Boscaini of the University of Buenos Aires, who led the study.Today, sloths are small, tree-dwelling mammals, known for their cute faces and unhurried demeanour, found only in the rainforests of South and Central America.

However, back in the ancient past there were hundreds of different sloths across the Americas, of all shapes and sizes, adapted to live in every environment. Sloths lived on the ground, in caves and tunnels underground and even in water, some growing as big as elephants and standing taller than a man.But around 15,000 years ago, sloths started to die out. Scientists have been split over their demise, with various factors blamed, such as human hunting, environmental factors such as changes in the climate, or a combination of both.In the new study, researchers analysed the body size of sloths across their evolutionary family tree and combined this with genetic data.

They found sloths adjusted their body size many times to cope with changes in the climate, without any long-term effects. Their "abrupt and precipitous decline" coincided with the time humans were spreading across the Americas hunting large mammals for food.Larger ground-dwelling sloths would have been a relatively easy target, and it was these that started to vanish, the scientists say.

In contrast, smaller sloths living in trees went largely unnoticed and have survived to this day.

"Living sloths are extremely slow and that's because they have a very low metabolic rate. This is their strategy to survive," said Dr Boscaini.So the government is meeting this pledge but it is worth noting that just 7,893 people were forcibly removed - which could involve being escorted on a plane by an immigration official.

The figures also show 8,511 failed asylum seekers were returned in this period but they do not say how many were enforced or voluntary.Separate government figures from January to March gave a fuller breakdown showing many of those who did leave voluntarily did so without government assistance or even its knowledge at the time,

.This is despite repeated claims from ministers that the government has "removed" or even "deported" this many people.