There are two main types of sloths in the world, which can be told apart by the number of claws they have on their front limbs. Two-toed sloths, as their name implies, have two long, curved claws on each of their front limbs, while three-toed sloths have three claws on all four limbs. Two-toed sloths are a bit bigger than three-toed sloths, and they belong to different families in the animal classification system. There are six sloth species found in the Americas, mostly living in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America.
The six species are:
Hoffman’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus)
Pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus)
Maned three-toed sloth (Bradypus torquatus)
Brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
Pale-throated sloth (Bradypus tridactylus)
Currently, four of these sloth species are considered “least concern” by the IUCN Red List, meaning they are not at immediate risk of extinction. However, the maned three-toed sloth is classified as “vulnerable”, and the pygmy three-toed sloth is “critically endangered”, making it the most at risk of disappearing.
Everything about sloths moves slowly, including how they digest their food
Sloths mostly eat leaves, fruits, and tree sap. They have a special multi-chambered stomach that helps break down tough, fibrous leaves. Because their metabolism is very slow, they can only eat more leaves when there’s enough space in their stomach, which can hold up to 37% of their body weight. As a result, sloths eat only a small amount of food each day, and digestion can take a long time, sometimes days or even weeks, to finish.
Sloths spend almost their entire lives hanging out in trees. They are specially adapted to living in the trees, using their long, curved claws to either hang still or slowly move from branch to branch. They do everything in the trees, eating, sleeping, resting, mating, and even giving birth. However, sometimes they have to come down from their tree homes and go to the ground.
Sloths are very particular about how they go to the bathroom
They usually need to poop about once a week. Even though it might seem simpler to poop while hanging upside down, sloths are very fussy about cleanliness. In the wild, they make a slow and careful trip from the top of the tree down to the forest floor just to poop or pee.
Sloths might struggle on land because their long, curved claws and short, weak back legs make it hard for them to walk on all fours. However, they are unexpectedly strong swimmers. Sloths that live near mangroves or rivers will sometimes drop into the water and swim long distances quickly. They do this to find potential mates or explore new areas.
Sloths are known for their slow movements
They often stay still on branches for up to 15 to 20 hours a day, whether they’re eating or sleeping. This slow pace is actually a smart survival tactic. Since their diet mainly consists of low-energy leaves, they move slowly to use as little energy as possible. Plus, the fact that sloths have been around for 65.5 million years, right before the dinosaurs went extinct, shows that their slow lifestyle is a successful strategy for surviving in the wild.
When we look at the sloth’s family tree, we find that its ancient relatives included some massive creatures. These extinct sloths were as big as elephants and also fed on tough, fibrous leaves. This gave both the ancient and modern sloths an edge, as they faced less competition and were well-suited to various environments, including land and even the sea.
Fossil records and genetic studies show that today’s three-toed sloths are related to these giant ground sloths, like the enormous Megatherium and the smaller Megalonyx, which lived in Central and South America about 10,000 years ago. There was also a now-extinct genus called Thalassocnus, which specialized in eating seagrass along South America’s western coast.
A sloth’s fur is like a tiny ecosystem all its own, home to many different organisms, including microbes, insects, fungi, and algae. Some moth species, like Cryptoses Choloepi Dyar, rely almost entirely on sloths for their lifecycle. Female moths lay their eggs in the sloth’s droppings on the forest floor. When the moths hatch and become adults, they fly up to the sloth’s fur to mate, and the cycle starts again.
Sloths also have a special relationship with green algae
The algae help to supplement the sloth’s diet, while the sloth’s fur provides the algae with shelter and water because it retains moisture well. The algae-covered fur helps sloths blend in with their surroundings. This makes them less noticeable to predators like harpy eagles, ocelots, and jaguars, who mostly track their prey by movement.. By hanging motionless and having algae on their fur, sloths can stay hidden from these predators.
The longest any sloth has ever lived is 43 years
On average, two-toed sloths typically live up to about 20 years. It’s hard to determine the exact average lifespan for sloths in the wild because there haven’t been many studies. However, in captivity, a Hoffman’s two-toed sloth named ‘Miss C’ lived to be 43 years old, which is double the usual lifespan for this species in the wild.
Sloths are highly at risk from deforestation. While most sloth species are currently classified as “least concern” on the IUCN Red List, they still face serious threats. Habitat loss and fragmentation, along with illegal wildlife trade, are major problems. In places like Colombia and Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, some sloth populations are decreasing because of deforestation and habitat destruction.
Since sloths depend on tropical rainforests for their food, shelter, and living space, the loss of trees leads to a shrinking rainforest and impacts its slow-moving residents, including the sloths.
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