Three are two kinds of tree sloths, the two- toed and the three-toed. Both are found in Central and South America. They were given the name sloth because of their very slow, sluggish movements. Unless they are disturbed, sloths spend three-quarters of the day sleeping. Normally they sleep hanging from the branch of a tree, holding on with their strong claws. The rest of the time they spend eating the leaves and buds of trees. Even their eating is done in the slowest of slow motion.
Sloths have algae, tiny microscopic plants, that grow in their long hair. During the rainy season in these animals’ tropical home, the algae in the fur turn green. It is then almost impossible to see the “green” sloths among the dense vegetation of the forest. However the keen eyes of the harpy eagle can sometimes spot a sloth and this big bird then swoops down and captures the sloth in its strong talons. Sloths are capable of protecting themselves by slashing out at a would-be predator with their strong claws. But their greatest protection probably comes from their immobility—they are simply not seen by other animals. They are regarded as inedible by most people in Central America; in South America they are eaten by some tribes of Indians.
It is almost impossible for the three-toed sloth to move on the ground since it cannot stand upright. The two-toed sloth is somewhat more active. If they are forced into water, sloths are good swimmers and can even swim rapidly.
Scientists who have studied the sloths in theft native habitat have found that these slow animals have what seems to be the lowest body temperature of all the mammals. Their temperature may reach a low of 75°F., although the normal range for them is from 85°F. to 91°F.
The coarse hair of sloths parts in a peculiar manner, compared to that of other mammals. Apparently sloths have lived upside down for so many centuries that theft hair parts on the underside of theft bodies and hangs down toward their backs. Most other mammals have hair parts on their backs, with hair falling down their sides. The mating season is the one time when sloths are seen together. Normally they live entirely alone. In captivity it is not possible to keep two females together; they bite and slash each other.
The baby sloth clings to its mother’s fur during the first few months of its life and is carried about in the trees hanging to her body. The two-toed sloth will actively defend her baby if she is forced to. Sloths have lived in the world for a very long time. During the Pleistocene Epoch there were giant ground sloths living in both South and North America. They ate leaves and plants. One ground sloth was twenty feet long. In South America, remains of these ground sloths have been found in caves with man-made objects. This would indicate that these sloths became extinct fairly recently.
Sloths Pictures
