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