

These creatures are very shy and do not come into contact with humans, particularly because it is nocturnal. The three-toed sloth is an arboreal mammal found throughout Central and South America. There is not a lot of information known about the young. The baby immediately attaches itself to its motherĪnd stays there until old enough to leave. After a gestation period of 17 to 26 weeks, a single baby is born. Their enemies include the jaguar and ocelot. They do not walk well on the ground but shuffle along dragging themselves with their hands. Their diet is trumpetwood leaves and fruit which it locates by smell. God designed the sloth’s hair to lie in the opposite direction to that of most mammals allowing rain to run off of its body.

There is also a moth that lives in its hair.ĭetails are important to the Creator. The coat of the sloth is dense and coarse, gray-brown in color with white and orange markings on its back. The neck of the two-toed is shorter than the three-toed but is still quite The sloth’s head is round and can turn 270 degrees, so it can hold it almost upright while the rest of its body is upside-down. These teethĬontinue to grow throughout their lifetime. They have nine teeth on each side of their cheek. Besides using the claws to hang, they can defend themselves by slashing out with their long, curved claws. The two-toed sloth get their name because they have two claws on the front foot and three on

Their legs are long, particularly the front legs. They hangīy means of long, curved claws that resemble meat hooks. Lifespan: About 12-15 years in the wild and up to 31 years in captivity. Conservation Status: Least concern according to IUCN Red List. Two species of sloth belong in this genus, Choloepus didactylus and Choloepus Hoffmanni. Technically, two-toed sloths should be called two-fingered sloths as they have three toes on their feet, but just two fingers on their hands, while three-toed sloths have three toes and three fingers. Both move so slow that some people say they can live all their life in the same tree. It is often referred to as the southern two-toed sloth. The two-toed sloth is nocturnal and lives in slow motion but is a little more agile than the three-toed. The two-toed sloth lives from Venezuela to Brazil in South America. The sloth lives in woodland areas and along riverbanks in areas where the plant “trumpetwood” grows. There are seven species of sloth divided into two and three-toed varieties. They spend most of their time hanging upside-down in a tree. Send us feedback.The two-toed sloth is one of the strangest mammals in the world. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'two-toed sloth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2021 According to a release from the Massachusetts zoo, on June 22, Sandy the Hoffman's two-toed sloth gave birth to a healthy baby - the first baby sloth born at the zoo in its 127-year history. 2022 In an adorable video posted to the Florida zoo's YouTube page on May 10, the mother Hoffman's two-toed sloth, named Grizzy, crawls towards her mate, Teddy, with their baby holding onto her stomach.Īlexandra Schonfeld,, The Linne's two-toed sloth is native to the tropical forests of South America. Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 17 June 2022 The new arrival is the first Linne's two-toed sloth to be born at Dudley Zoo in its 85-year history. 2022 Hanging from a tree branch, Jennifer Lawrence, the Brookfield Zoo's slow-moving two-toed sloth, received the royal treatment for her seventh birthday. Sam Zlotnik, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Aug. 2021 This unusual species, which is called the Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, doesn’t hesitate to deploy teeth or its two large foreclaws when threatened. 2022 According to a release from the New England zoo, the facility's Linne's two-toed sloth named Lunesta gave birth to her fifth baby with mate Nero on July 31. Recent Examples on the Web Just in time for International Sloth Day on Thursday, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden announced that the two-toed sloth is pregnant again and due in early summer.Įmily Deletter, The Enquirer, 20 Oct.
