Three Toed Sloth

Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Suborder: Folivora
Family: Bradypodidae
Genus: Bradypus

 

OVERVIEW

              The tree-toed sloths are tree living mammals, living in the Central and South America. They are the only members of the genus Bradypus and the family Bradypodidae. 

CHARACTERISTIC 

              The three-toed sloths are about the size of a small dog or a large cat. They are around 18 inches (45 cm) in length and a weight of 3.5 to 4.5 kg. They  have short tails of  2-3 inches (6-7cm), and they have three clawed toes on each limb. They are frequently referred to as three-toed sloths, but all sloths have three toes; the difference is found in the number of fingers, meaning they are now more appropriately referred to as three-fingered sloths. This idea was first implemented by Judy Avey-Arroyo, co-founder of the world's only sloth sanctuary, but is now recognized in numerous publications as the correct terminology for these animals.

               They have no incisor or canine. teeth. just a set of peg-shaped cheek teeth that are not clearly divided into premolar and molar. Three-toed sloths have nine cervical vertebrae.

BEHAVIOR 

           The are agile swimmer, They are slow in trees. The offspring cling to their mother's bellies for around nine months. They cannot walk on all four limbs, so they must use their front arms and claws to drag themselves across the rain forest floor.

          Their long, coarse fur often appears greenish, not due to pigment, but to algae growing on it. Sloths' greenish color and their sluggish habits provide an effective camouflage: hanging quietly, sloths resemble a bundle of leaves. Large curved claws help sloths to keep a strong grip on tree branches.

           They move between different trees up to four times a day, although they prefer to keep to a particular type of tree, which varies between individuals, perhaps as a means of allowing multiple sloths to occupy overlapping home ranges without competing each other. 

           They are diurnal, although they can be active any time at the day. 

Green: B. variegatus, Blue: B. tridactylus, Red: B. torquatus

LIFECYCLE

           Members of this genus tend to live around 25 to 30 years, reaching sexual maturation at three to five years of age. Three-toed sloths do not have a mating season and breed year round. Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of around six months.

         For the first few months after giving birth, mothers remain at just one or two trees, and guide their young. At about five to seven months of age, when the young have become more independent, mothers expand their resources and leave their young in new areas. At the age of nine cubs do not need any breast milk for feeding. At this time the mother leaves her home territory to her offspring and move elsewhere. The home ranged for the mothers are larger than the those of young. After separation, only the mothers use the cacao agro forest, but both use riparian forest. Different types of trees are used by both mother and young, which indicates that this agricultural matrix provides an important habitat type for these animals. 

           Adults are solitary, and mark their territories using anal scent gland and dung middens. 

           Male three-toed sloths are attracted to females by their screams echoing throughout the canopy. Sloth copulation lasts an average of twenty-five minutes.

RELATION TO THE TWO-TOED SLOTH

          Although similar to the somewhat larger and generally faster-moving two-toed sloths, the two genera are placed in different families. the two genera are not closely related and that each adopted their arboreal lifestyles independently.  It is unclear from which taxa the three-toed sloths evolved or whether they retain their arboreality from the last common ancestor of sloths the two-toed sloths appear to nest phylogenetically within one of the divisions of ground-dwelling Caribbean megalonychids and  thus probably either descended from them or are part of a clade that invaded the Caribbean multiple times. Both types of sloths  tend to occupy the same forests; in most areas, a particular single species of three-toed sloths and a single species of the larger two-toed type will jointly predominate. Famously slow-moving, the sloth travels at an average speed of 0.24 kilometres per hour (0.15 mph).

SPECIES

Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth  (B. pygmaeus) (critically endangered species)

Maned Three-Toed Sloth (B. torquatus) (endangered species)

Pale Throated Three-Toed Sloth (B. tridactylus)

Brown Throated Three-Toed Sloth (B. variegatus)