Brown-throated
Three-toed Sloth
© Lee Dingain
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
Scientific name is Bradypus variegatus
The Brown-throated Three-toed sloth can be
found throughout southern Central America
into much of South America.
Click
here
to find outBolivia,
which countries
this sloth is Costa
found inRica,
In
these
countries:
Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
Venezuela.
What habitat do they live in?
What habitat do you think they live in?
Click
here to find out.
Brown-throated
Three-toed Sloths live in
tropical forests.
© Kirsty Burgess/WLT
They are very fond
of these types of
trees.
Why are they threatened?
All tropical forest living mammals are
vulnerable to habitat destruction.
Here a large area of
rainforest has been
cleared so that a holiday
home can be built
© Kelly Jacobs/WLT
One
theguess
placesthe
this
animal
lives
is calledin
the
Canofyou
name
of the
rainforest
Atlantic
Rainforest.
This is further south
than the
Brazil where
the Brown-throated
Three-toed
Sloth
Amazon
in Brazil
into Paraguay and
lives? Click
here toand
find stretches
out
Argentina, this habitat is very endangered.
Natural hunters of the sloth
1) Harpy Eagles can pluck sloths
Click here to
see a picture of right out of the tree
a Harpy Eagle
© Kirsty Burgess/WLT
2) Jaguars can catch
sloths when they come
down to the ground
Click here to see a
picture of a Jaguar
© Silvia Centron
How do they communicate?
© Alan Martin
Sloths live alone (they are solitary) and do not
need to communicate with other sloths very often.
• Baby
if they
are having
difficulty
climbing
Can
yousloths
guessmay
whathiss
noises
a sloth
might use
to communicate?
• Females
may
Click
here to
findmake
out a high pitched cry to attract a mate
• Male sloths may make noises if they fight
What do they eat?
© Alan Martin
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths are
herbivores.
What
think
this means
that they
eat in
Theydo
eatyou
tree
leaves,
flowers,
shoots
the
Click here to find out
andrainforest?
some fruit.
How long do they live?
Brown-throated Threetoed Sloths live about
20 years or more in the
wild.
Brown-throated
Three-toed Sloths
are about the size of
a cat, 40 – 80 cm
long.
© Lee Dingain
How big are they?
What do they look like?
The three long curved claws on the front feet of
Brown-throated Three-toed sloths are very strong
and support them hanging upside down, or sitting,
high up in trees.
They look as though they
are always smiling.
They have longer arms
than legs.
They have short stubby tails.
© Lee Dingain
They have long, coarse
grey-brown hair.
Tell me about their babies:
Brown-throated
Three-toed Sloths
give birth to one baby
a year.
© Alan Martin
The baby will be
carried about on its
mother’s stomach for
about 6 or 9 months.
Interesting facts:
• A simple plant called
Algae, grows on the fur of
the Brown-throated Threetoed Sloth. This can make
the sloth look green, and
camouflages it among the
leaves of a tree.
© Lee Dingain
• Sloths will move in to a
patch of sunlight to warm
up, and move out of
sunlight to cool down.
A story from the wild:
One of the conservation organisations working to save the Atlantic
rainforest in Brazil is called REGUA. The Director of REGUA is called
Nicholas.
Because
cannot
walk
they
drag
Why dosloths
you think
the
sloth
was
in
themselves along very slowly and this
danger here? Click to find out
sloth was in danger of getting run over.
© Alan Martin
One day Nicholas left the forest to go into the town. When he was in
the town he saw a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth on the road.
This is a picture of the sloth being released
from a sack next to a tree. The sloth climbed
the
tree
andtoby
theanext
dayofit what
had
Click
here
see
picture
disappeared
into the forest.
happened next
© Alan Martin
Nicholas
rescued
the sloth
and took
What do
you think
Nicholas
did?it to the forest reserve where
heClick
works.
here to find out
© Alan Martin
If you choose the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth as
your fundraising focus, your donation will go towards
World Land Trust projects for the conservation of
wildlife habitat in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil.