Are marino sheep or sloths native to Australia?

Merino sheep (often misspelled “marino”) are not native to Australia—they originated in Spain—and sloths are also not native to Australia; sloths live naturally in Central and South America.

Merino sheep: introduced, not native

Merino sheep are a globally important wool breed developed from Spanish stock. They were introduced to Australia during the colonial period and adapted well to the environment, becoming the backbone of the Australian wool industry. 

Because of their economic importance, people sometimes assume they are native. They are not. In Australian ecology, a native or endemic species is one that evolved on the continent or arrived naturally long before modern human introduction. Merino sheep arrived with European settlement and are therefore classified as introduced livestock.

Sloths: New World mammals

Sloths belong to a group of mammals native to the Americas. Their modern distribution is primarily in Central and South American tropical forests. Australia’s native mammals are dominated by marsupials (such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats, quolls) and monotremes (platypus and echidnas). Sloths are neither marsupials nor monotremes; they are placental mammals of a different lineage and do not occur naturally in Australia.