Habits: The two-toed sloth eats, sleeps, breeds, and nurses its young upside down. It usually avoids coming down to the ground because it is at such great risk from predators, such as jaguars and ocelots. The sloth can stand, but has lost the use of the muscles that it needs to walk, and it can only move on the forest floor by pulling itself along with its claws. The two-toed sloth is nocturnal, sleeping during the day and eating at night. When sleeping, the sloth places its head on its chest and becomes a hanging ball of fur. Moving slowly and deliberately, it uses its acute sense of smell and touch when foraging for food. Its eyesight and hearing are comparatively poor.

The two-toed sloth is so named because each forefoot has two clawed toes bound together with skin. The hind feet have three toes. Two species of two-toed sloth exist. Their only differences are in markings and color. Adult sloths are solitary, except when mating. Hen two meet on a branch they will fight, using their teeth and powerful claws until one retreats. The sloth’s body temperature is variable and low, around 85-90 degrees. The sloth swims as an adaptation to annual floods in the forest.

Sloth and Man: In many parts of South America the two-toed sloth is hunted by local people for its meat. Otherwise this animal has little commercial value and is left alone by man. The greatest risk to the two-toed sloth if deforestation. The maned sloth, a close relative, is mow endangered.

Food and Feeding: Eating mainly leaves and shoots, plus some fruit, slothw have compartmented stomachs. similar to cattle. A meal may take more than a month to pass through the digestive tract. Feces and urine are passed about once a week. This is done from the upside down hanging position. A young sloth inherits its mother’s preference for foliage native to its range. Other sloths living nearby may eat other types of foliage. In this way several sloths can occupy a range without competing for food. The sloth’s main diet is leaves. It also eats fruit and berries when it finds them.

Breeding: The male two-toed sloth attracts a female by scent marking an area, using both an anal gland and his penis. Both sexes have a strong musky smell. A single young is born, above ground, after a seven to ten month gestation period. Implantation of the egg may be delayed so that young are born when food supplies are plentiful. The young sloth rides on its mother by hooking itself to her breast fur for a period of six to nine months. In the first month it is weaned. First, it eats leaves that the mother chews. After a month or so it picks its own supply of leaves while still clinging to its mother. If separated from its mother a young sloth will cry out.

Key Facts:
Sizes:
Length: Up to 2 ft.
Weight: 8-25 lb.

Breeding:
Sexual Maturity: Male, 4-5 years. Female, 3 years
Mating: Year round
Gestation: 7-10 months
Litter Size: 1

Lifestyle:
Call: Bleat or hiss
Habit: Solitary, slow moving
Diet: Leaves, shoots, and fruit
Lifespan: 12 years

Related Species: Related to the three-toed sloth. This genus contains 3 species, all of which are slightly smaller and lighter in weight than the two-toed sloth.

Distribution: Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, north-central Brazil, and northern Peru

Conservation: The two-toed sloth is in no immediate danger of extinction, but its habitat is continually being destroyed as a result of the deforestation of tropical rainforest.

Features of the Two-Toed Sloth:
Coat: A short and fine underfur is covered by a longer coat of coarse hairs. Two different species of algae grow in grooves running the length of this longer hair and color the sloth’s fur. In dry weather the algae growing in the grooves turns yellow, and in wet weather a blue-green, camouflaging the sloth to match the foliage of the trees from season to season.
Claws: The forelimbs have two claws, bound together with skin, while the hind limbs have three. These feet provide a safe, powerful grip on the branches where the sloth hangs for much of its life.

Did You Know:
Because the sloth hangs upside down most of the time, its hairs lie from belly to back so that rain will run off them.
Sloths are more adept at swimming than walking. They use their forelimbs to propel themselves in the water.
Although they do not look similar, the sloth, armadillo, and anteater all belong to the same order, Edentata, meaning “without teeth.”

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