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Range: Two-toed sloths live in the forest canopies of northern South America down to the Amazon basin, occurring in Surinam, southern Venezuala, the Guyanas, southern Columbia east of the Andes and along both banks of the Amazon basin in Brazil.
Habitat: They live in tropical forests canopies (coastal to mountain). They are arboreal, solitary, nocturnal, and have a range of about 10 acres.
Conservation Status: As of October 2004 there are 38.56.6 Linnes Two toes Sloths in 53 zoos in North America. They still live in comfortably large numbers in the wild, but humans have destroyed their habitat indiscriminantly and run them over with cars as they slowly cross roads. Sloths are enthusiastically hunted, for their flesh has little fat and is similar to mutton in flavor. Their strawlike fur is desired for cool saddlecloths and the claws are worked by the Indians for necklaces.
Diet: Sloths m ove (slowly)from one tree to another and eat leaves, buds, slender twigs, blossoms, fruits and small prey.
They have no incisors or canines and simply crop the vegetable fare with their hard, horny lips. They have only 5 teeth (premolars) on the top and 4 teeth (premolars) on the bottom totaling 18 teeth. The chewing surfaces of their teeth are worn from grinding plants but the open pulp cavities permit the teeth to grow in continuously.
Sloths have an unusually low metabolic rate allowing them to live with little food or poor quality food. They have a stomach that is divided into right and left halves each of which are divided into several compartments. Because a sloth’s body temperature falls with the surrounding temperature, and proper digestion require warmth, sloths take a long time to digest their food. Food materials may spend up to a month in the stomach so that the sloth can extract every last bit of nutrient from its food. The interval between evacuations varies from 3-8 days and at the time of elimination the sloth may lose up to 30% of its body weight due to the passage of urine and feces.
Sloths get needed moisture through the juicy leaf diet and by licking dew drops or water collected inside bromeliads. The bladder is uncommonly large and possibly serves as a moisture reservoir. When they eventually come down to eliminate they will urinate large volumes.
Behavior: Sloths hang in the treetops by the curved claws of their four limbs. It is easier to for them to hang than to try to balance upright. Slowly they sway through the branches belly up. The sloth's main predators, birds of prey, look out for sudden movements. So a sloth in slow motion will not register as prey.
Only when the food supply fails will sloths move to a neighboring tree, preferably by way of branches. If that option is not available they will abandon their tree. They are extremely helpless on the ground and must lay prone, dragging themselves forward to the next tree. They are good swimmers however and take to water readily.
Sloths have a variable temperature fluctuating between 75 and 91 degrees depending on the ambient temperature. On the average, sloths spend 15 hours a day sleeping; they drop their head on their breast and hang with their arms and legs close together, thus protecting them against needless loss of body heat. A sloth has very little muscle so it cannot shiver to keep warm.
Reproduction: There is no fixed mating season. Births have been recorded in all months except April, September and November. When mating, the animals hang from a branch by their arms and turn to face each other. Gestation is 5-6 months with one young per birth. The infant is fully furred, with eyes open and dentition complete. Birth weight is 11-14oz (300-400g). The female giving birth will hang by her arms. The fully developed young is born head first and immediately begins to help itself until it is able to cling to the mother with its claws. The infant remains hidden in the fur of the mother’s belly for 4 weeks. Then it starts to show interest in its surroundings and will start to grab at nearby branches. At 10 weeks it starts to eat part of the mother’s meals. At 9 months it starts hanging independently from the mother. Adult size and weight is reached at 2 ½ years; life span is up to 40 years.
Social Life: Sloths are solitary by nature, and their interactions are subtle. The animals space themselves but do not defend territories. Females may group together in one tree.
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