Three-toed Sloth
Fast Facts• 4 species• Mammal• Completely arboreal• Use long claws to hang from
trees• Size of a small dog• Weigh 7-10 lbs.• Algae grows in fur• Go to the ground to urinate and
defecate about once a week, digging a hole and covering it afterwards
Cannot maintain their body temperature, so they must live in warm, humid climates
Feeding
• Sleep 15-20 hrs per day• Forage on plants at night• Eat leaves, shoots, and fruit from the
trees • Get most all of their water from juicy
plants
Reproduction
• Mate and give birth while hanging in the trees
• Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of around 6 months
• Babies are often seen clinging to their mothers• They travel by hanging on to them for the first
nine months of their lives
Fun Facts• Travel at a top speed of
0.15 mph• Are surprisingly good
swimmers• Sometimes fall directly
from rain forest trees into rivers
• Have extra neck vertebrae that allows them to turn their heads 270 degrees
Conservation
• Maned Three-toed sloth is listed as Endangered
• Threatened by loss of habitat from destruction of the rainforest
• Majority of sloth deaths in Costa Rica are due to contact with electrical lines and poachers
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