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Two Toed Sloth

Range: Rainforests of tropical Central & South America.

Natural Diet: Fruits, occasional insects and small vertebrate.

Diet at Rain Forest: Prepared monkey chow with fresh fruits and vegetables.  Bananas and corn on the cob are a favorite of our sloth at RainForest.  Virtually all tropical fruit is consumed by a healthy sloth. 

Keepers Notes: The two-toed sloth is one of only two species of sloths, the other is the three-toed sloth.  Remarkably slow, this animal is so sedentary that green algae may actually grow on the fur of the sloth allowing it to better hide from predators in the rain forest canopy.

Actually related to cows the sloth is a ruminate, or an animal with multiple chambers in its stomach for the purpose of digestion. 

Preferring to hang up side down, the sloth may actually sleep for upwards of 20 hours per day.  Waking time for the sloth is generally spent foraging for food.   The primary diet of this herbivore is plant foliage and the corresponding flowers and fruits of the trees they inhabit.   If the sloth is able to obtain enough moisture from the food it eats it will rarely need to find a source of water for drinking. 

An extremely slow digestive system, coupled with the plant matter the sloth eats, actually affects the weight of the animal by as much as 40 percent.  The sloth only defecates one time per week on average, the size of the fecal matter can actually be as much as 30 percent of the sloths weight!!

Interestingly the sloth is an amazing swimmer, this in spite of the fact that the animal can not walk on land due to the structure of it's limbs.   The rain forest home of the sloth is prone to flooding with seasonal rains, the fact that the sloth can swim allows it to survive in the event it is displaced from it's tree due to the seasonal flooding.

Not much is known of the actual wild population status of the sloth. Loss of habitat has no doubt reduced the number of wild sloths but their numbers appear to be stable in remote areas that have not been affected by clear cutting. 

Size: 10-15 pounds.  A surprisingly long body and legs allows the sloth to stretch to lengths of almost 5 feet!  The two-toed sloth does not have a tail, their cousin the three-toed sloth does have a tail.