Facts About the Three Toed Sloth

Three-toed sloths dwell in the tropical forests of Central and South America. The animal spends almost all of its time hanging from tree branches, using a grip provided by long claws so powerful that when one dies, it often still hangs from the limb upon which it perished.

Types

There are three types of three-toed sloth. The maned three-toed sloth has a thick mane of blackish hair on its neck. This sloth lives in Brazil in the tropical forests close to the Atlantic Ocean. The brown-throated three-toed sloth and the pale-throated three-toed sloth differ primarily by the color of the fur on their throats. These types have a distribution from Honduras southward through much of South America.

Identification

The major differences that separate the three-toed sloth from the two-toed variety, other than the number of toes, are bone structure and tails. The three-toed sloth has eight or nine neck vertebrate, while the two-toed sloth has seven as most mammals do. The three-toed sloth has a small tail, a feature the other types lack. Its forelegs are much longer than its rear set, which is not the case with a two-toed sloth.

Function

Sloths move so slowly that their best defense when they hang from a branch is to go unseen. This is helped by a growth of green algae that develops during the rainy season on their fur. These algae blend in with the gray and brown colors of their fur to make it difficult for a predator to distinguish the sloth against the background of leaves and limbs. Sloth predators include the harpy eagle, snakes, ocelot and jaguars.

Diet

The three-toed sloth has a strictly vegetarian diet of twigs, buds and leaves of the trees it lives in. It has a stomach with multiple chambers, somewhat like that of a cow. This allows the animal to digest and garner nutrition from plant matter. The sloth’s rate of metabolism is only about half of that of mammals of similar size. The sloth gets all the water it requires from the vegetation it consumes.

Mobility

The same long claws that enable the three-toed sloth to hang effortlessly from branches limit their mobility on the ground. The sloth only comes to the ground to defecate or to move to another tree if the branches on the one it is in do not overlap with another. The hind legs are so weak that the animal must literally drag itself along the ground using its curved front legs and claws. Oddly enough, the sloth is a fine swimmer.

Considerations

Female sloths have a single baby each year on the average, with the gestation period being about six months. The baby sloth will hold tight to its mother for its first five weeks but is fully independent in 11 months. Biologists believe that sloths have a life expectancy in the wild in the 30 to 40 year range. The maned three-toed sloth is an endangered species, as loss of habitat threatens its existence. The other two types are considered "species of least concern" as of June 2010.

References

• Edge of Existence: Maned Three-Toed Sloth
• National Geographic: Three-Toed Sloth
• Sloth Industry: Three-Toed Tree Sloths
• Sloth Industry: Sloth Info Page
• Animal Planet: Three Toed Sloth