Why Sloths Are Awesome
The sloth is the world's slowest mammal, so sedentary that algae grows on its furry coat.
Amazing Facts About the Three Toed Sloth
- Sloths are identified by the number of long, prominent claws that they have on each front foot. There are both two-toed and three-toed sloths.
- There are four living species of three-toed sloths; these are the brown-throated sloth, the maned sloth, the pale-throated sloth, and the pygmy three-toed sloth which was only recognised as a distinct species in 2001.
- The pygmy three-toed sloth can only be found on Isla Escudo de Veraguas which has been separated from mainland Panama for 9,000 years. The major threat to the pygmy three-toed sloth is habitat destruction which is reducing the size of its already small habitat.
- Being the world’s slowest mammal, the sloth travels at a top speed of 0.24 kilometres per hour (0.15 mph). They are so sedentary that algae grows on their furry coat.
- Sloths make a good habitat for other organisms, and a single sloth may be home to moths, beetles, cockroaches and fungi aswell as algae.
- The three-toed sloth is arboreal (tree-dwelling), with a body adapted to hang by its limbs; the large curved claws help the sloth to keep a strong grip on tree branches. It lives high in the canopy but descends once a week to defecate on the forest floor.
- Sloths sleep in trees – some 15 to 20 hours every day. Even when awake they often remain motionless.
- At night they eat leaves, shoots and fruit from the trees and get almost all of their water from juicy plants.
- Dead sloths have been known to retain their grip and remain suspended from a branch
- Sloths will move between different trees up to four times a day, although they prefer to keep to a particular type of tree, which varies between individuals, perhaps as a means of allowing multiple sloths to occupy overlapping home ranges without competing with each other.
- Although they are quite slow in trees, three-toed sloths are agile swimmers.
- On land, sloths’ weak hind legs are not very powerful and their long claws are a hindrance. They cannot walk on all four limbs so they must use their front arms and claws to drag themselves across the rain forest floor.
- If caught on land, these animals have no chance to evade predators such as big cats and must try to defend themselves by clawing and biting.
- In trees the sloth’s greenish color and its sluggish habits provide an effective camouflage; hanging quietly, the sloth resembles a bundle of leaves.
- The three-toed sloth, unlike most other mammals, does not fully maintain a constant body temperature, and this limits it to warm environments.
- Sloths mate and give birth while hanging in the trees. Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of around six months.
- Three-toed sloth babies are often seen clinging to their mothers — they travel by hanging on to them for the first nine months of their lives.
- Once sloth babies are weaned, the mother leaves her home territory to her offspring and moves elsewhere.
- Adults are solitary, and mark their territories using anal scent glands and dung middens.
- Sloths have extra neck vertebrae that allows them to turn their heads some 270 degrees.
- Extinct sloth species include many ground sloths, some of which were as big as elephants.
- Two-toed sloths are rising in popularity as exotic pets. They are very calm, slow-moving creatures that eat special diets, are quiet, and need lots of trees for climbing.
- You might ask why a sloth would ever need to swim. A rain forest is wet overall but not usually very wet at the tops of its trees. Sloths have to move from tree to tree and area to area in search of food and mates. If they were unable to swim, then any stream would be impassable.
Photo: www.animalstown.com
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Quick Facts
- Type: Mammal
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lifespan: 25-30 years
- Size: 56-60cm
- Habitat: Tree dwelling in rain forest
- Range: South and Central America
- Scientific name: Bradypus
First it was the lolcats, then came the bald eagles; now make way for the advent of the sloth.Sloths have fast become an online sensation, and it's not expected to end any time soon, with plenty of sloth lovers heading to volunteer in places like the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Project to interact with these slow moving creatures.
Hello friends, I'm Trace thanks for tuning in to DNews! As you're likely aware, it'sSLOTH WEEK! Obviously, we're all aware sloths are cute, slow-moving, and extremely photogenic-- but let's drill down a little further into these South American darlings. Why do somesloths have two toes and some have three? Because evolution.First, both two-toed and three-toed sloths have three ACTUAL toes. Yes, two-toed slothshave three TOES, but only two FINGERS. 35 to 40 million years ago, the 2-toed and 3-toed
sloth were one species, Tara talked about that in a different video about ancient slothancestors -- go watch if you missed it -- but at some point they mutated into these twodistinct groups. The 3-toed megatherium -- or great beast, which was the size of an elephantand the 2-toed megalonyx -- or great claw.
As they evolved the sloths shrank in size and spread themselves through North and SouthAmerica -- probably to conserve energy, because leaves aren't THAT nutritious. Though it couldalso be because movement attracts predators. 23-percent of the diet of Harpy Eagles ismade up of two-toed sloths, and only 8.4-percent by the three-toed ones. I think you can guesswho moves more. Two-toed sloths may move for several hours throughout the day, while somespecies of the three-toed sloth won't move at all.In case you ever run into a sloth, the two-toed guy are larger, faster, nocturnal, and canrotate their head 90 degrees [[pause]] the three-toed ones are slower and more docile,and can rotate their head 270 degrees and can be either nocturnal or diurnal. Get allthat? Great. More importantly for you on the internet. The three-toed are more often theones you see taken as pets, BECAUSE they're cute, they don't bite and, like I said, theytend to be more docile. That doesn't help with their natural existence however, becausepeople keep TAKING THEM HOME.There are four species of the three-toed sloth: The Maned, Pale-Throated, Brown-Throated andPygmy. The three-toed sloths have a blunter muzzle, and simpler, peg-like teeth. The cutestof those is definitely the pygmy. As it's name suggests, it's real tiny. It separatedfrom the other three species almost 9,000 years ago and lives solely on Isla Escudode Veraguas off the coast of Panama. Because it only lives in that ONE PLACE, it's definitelyendangered.
The two-toed sloth is ALSO really cute, I am sure you can see a theme here... But becauseit has a more defensive temperament it will be to defend itself. There are only TWO speciesof two-toed sloth: The Linnaeus's and Hoffman's. The Linnaeus' sloth has a HUGE land area andsuper a strong population because it's got great camouflage and is solitary, but theHoffmans... is a victim of it's own cuteness. It's population is strong as well, but theHoffmans tend to venture onto farmland where they can be killed. They're also hunted andcaptured for the exotic pet trade, again, because cuteness.How Many Sloths Are Left
Another big difference between the two, is the three-toed sloth, like humans, has a sexratio at birth of about 1-to-1 female-to-male. But that two-toed devil has 11-to-1! Eleven
females for every male. When you spot a two-sloth in the wild, look for others, because thefemales form small groups, and the males are solitary. In the end, whether it be two or
three toes -- the sloths are fascinating natives to the Americas with a rich history and prettycomplicated family life.Which is your favorite, the two or three toed sloth?Tell us in the comments below! And in case you didn't hear before: it's Sloth Week! Checkout all the awesome sloth videos on our sister network: Animalist. You can find more sloths