Binghamton Zoo Animals

Southern Two-toed Sloth

(Choloepus didactylus)
Order: Edentata
Family: Choloepidae
Genus: Choloepus
Species: Choloepus didactylus

HABITAT AND RANGE: The two-toed sloth is found in the rainforests of Central America, throughout northern South America, and in the Amazon Basin. They are primarily arboreal, only coming to the ground to defecate, or move to another tree.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Two-toed sloths are approximately two feet long with virtually no tail, and they weigh 9-18 pounds. They have long arms that end with curved claws (two digits per arm). Their hair is long, course and grooved with a brown or gray color. During the rainy season their hair is often covered in a blue-green algae, which helps with camouflage. Males and females are alike in appearance. They have no canine teeth, but their first premolars have sharp fang-like cusps giving the appearance of canine teeth. The difference between two and three toed sloths (besides the number of digits) are: Three-toed sloths have nine vertebrae, they have a small tail, and their forelegs are substantially longer than the rear ones, while two-toed sloths have six or seven vertebrae, they do not have tails, and their front and back limbs are closer to the same size.

ADAPTATIONS: These animals are almost completely nocturnal and arboreal in their habitat. They spend about 15-18 hours per day sleeping or resting. They are known for their extremely slow movements or for not moving at all. When they do come to the ground they can not walk on their feet, instead they have to drag themselves using their forelimbs. They are very vulnerable on the ground, moving at a pace of only about 15 yards per minute, and they usually travel less than 125 feet in a single day. Surprisingly, sloths can swim very well, and their fur allows for swift passage through the water. Due to its extremely slow movements, sloths use camouflage as their main defense. They are very good at hiding beneath branches, and may also curl up into a tight ball in a niche in their tree to resemble a termite nest or a knot in the wood (this is also their sleeping position). If they are caught in the lower canopy or on the ground, they are not completely defenseless: their sharp claws and their bite can cause considerable damage to predators. The most important sense for the sloth is smell. Sloths also have such little muscle mass that they can not shiver. On cold nights their body temperature may fall to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

DIET: Their diet consists of leaves, buds, tender stems, and fruits. A sloth’s metabolic rate is very slow. It is only about 40-45% of that of a comparably-sized terrestrial mammal. It may take up to a month for some of the vegetation to completely digest and pass through their system. Digestion takes place in a compartmentalized stomach containing cellulose digesting bacteria. They defecate about once a week, and in the wild they urinate only when rain can mask their urine stream.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: Very little is known about the mating rituals and communications between male and female sloths. It is known that the females reach sexual maturity at about 3 years of age while males reach maturity at 4-5 years of age. One offspring is usually born each year after a gestation period of 5-6 months. The newborn is about 10 inches long and weighs about 12 ounces. It clings to its mother until it is about 5 weeks old. Their lifespan ranges from 10-15 year in the wild, and to up to 30 years in captivity

ECOLOGICAL ROLE: Sloths are the most spectacularly successful large mammals in Central and South America. In many places they account for one fourth to two thirds of the total mammalian biomass, and half of the energy consumption of all terrestrial mammals. This success is largely due to the fact that the effect of competitors and predators are scarcely perceptible. They eat what very few other mammals want, and most predators do not detect them.

STATUS IN WILD: They still live in comfortably large numbers in the wild but deforestation poses a problem. Other dangers include predation by carnivores such as the jaguar. Humans also hunt the sloth for its meat and pelt.