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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
Linné's two-toed sloth |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Mammalia |
| ORDER: |
Xenarthra |
| FAMILY: |
Megalonychidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Choloepus (lame or maimed foot) didactylus |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
Grayish-brown animal with a lighter face, has two
long claws on the front feet, and three on the hind
feet |
| MALE |
text |
| FEMALE |
text |
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| SIZE: |
50-75 cm (21-29 in.) total head and body length
|
| MALE |
text |
| FEMALE |
text |
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| WEIGHT: |
4.5-9 kg (10-20 lbs.) |
| MALE |
text |
| FEMALE |
text |
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| DIET: |
Leaves, twigs, and fruits |
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| GESTATION: |
5-6 months; one offspring |
| ESTRAL
PERIOD |
text |
| NURSING
DURATION |
text |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
text |
| MALE |
4-5 years |
| FEMALE |
3.5
years |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Averages 15-20 years, but ages of over 30 are possible
in managed situations |
| MALE |
text |
| FEMALE |
text |
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| RANGE: |
Areas east of the Andes in Columbia, Venezuela,
the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru and northern Brazil |
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| HABITAT: |
Tropical forest tree canopies |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
There are no exact population counts available;
however, these animals are commonly found within
the existing habitat within their range |
| LOCAL |
text |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Data Deficient (DD) |
| CITES |
Not
listed |
| USFWS |
text |
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| 1. |
Sloths
are often classified under the order Edentata, along
with anteaters and armadillos - their closest relative.
Edentata means "without teeth" though
anteaters are the only members of this order truly
lacking teeth. |
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| 2. |
Sloths are extremely slow moving animals. Their
slow speed, along with their nocturnal lifestyle,
makes them very hard to notice. It is believed that
sloths obtained their common name from one of the
biblical "seven deadly sins". |
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| 3. |
The sloth has a very unusual symbiotic relationship
with algae. It has specialized hair that encourages
algae growth, which aids in camouflaging the animal.
It is also believed that the sloth will eat some
of the algae and, interestingly, it will absorb
some of the nutrients from the algae through its
skin. |
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| 4. |
The
scientific name Choloepus means lame, or
maimed, foot. That is a direct reference to the
fact that this genus only has two toes on each of
its front feet. |
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| 5. |
Sloths
have an extremely slow metabolism and have the lowest
variable body temperature of any mammal. Unlike
most mammals, their body temperature and metabolism
will fluctuate throughout the day according to environmental
temperatures - ranging from 24 to 33 degrees Celsius.
Because of their slow metabolism, it is necessary
for sloths to defecate and urinate only once a week. |
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| 6. |
Sloths
spend their entire lives hanging upside down in
trees: eating, sleeping, mating, and even giving
birth in an upside down position. Because their
body is designed to hang upside down, they are physically
incapable of truly walking; they basically crawl
when on the ground, usually on the way from one
tree to another. They can, however, swim extremely
well. Another adaptation to life upside down is
that their hair has a natural part on their belly
(as opposed to their back) that allows water, in
frequent rainstorms, to run off. |
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Because of their unique metabolic activity, sloths
are restricted to the constant warm temperatures
of tropical forests. Under pressure from an alarming
rate of deforestation in the world's tropics, sloths
and other tropical forest species numbers are at
risk. Because of their fruit diet, sloths are very
important propagators of tropical plants. Several
species of plants germinate only after they have
passed through the sloths' digestive system. Sloths
are a food animal for indigenous people as well
as for large carnivores, such as jaguars and birds
of prey. |
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| |
|
|
| Grzimek,
Bernhard (ed.). Grzimek's Encyclopedia Mammals.
Vol. 2. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.,
1990. |
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Macdonald, David (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Mammals.
Vol. 2. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1984. |
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Nowak, Ronald M. Walker's Mammals of the World.
Vol. 1. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1991.
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| text |
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