Kingdom animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order hairy
Sloth animals are animals found only in the Americas, divided into two families: the Bradypodidae, which contains three-toed sloths; and Megalonychidae, with two fingers. In all, there are six species, five found in Brazil.
They are nocturnal animals, of medium size, presenting around eight kilos in mass and a body measuring approximately sixty centimeters. So it is short, like its head and tail, but its limbs are long. Thanks to the eight or nine cervical vertebrae they have, they can rotate their head 270 degrees without moving the rest of their body.
The color varies between gray and brown, with or without spots, which can be light or dark. In their fur can be found green and cyanophyceous algae, which help in their camouflage, and also serve as food for caterpillars of some species of moths that live associated with sloths.
Thanks to their long claws, they live hanging on vegetation, usually in treetops, feeding on leaves, new fruits and sprouts of species such as embaúbas (Genus Cecropia), ingazeiras (Genus Inga) and fig trees (Genus Ficus); found in its territory. Reproduction also takes place in the tops of trees, giving rise to a single offspring, which can live for around thirty-five years. The water that sloths' organism needs is taken from their food and from the dew contained there, since such animals do not ingest this substance.
Sloth animals do not usually use their claws for other purposes, since they are not very agile and very slow animals; these characteristics, together with the habit of sleeping approximately 14 hours a day, earned them this name. Thus, they resort to camouflage so as not to be noticed by their main predators: jaguars, some snakes and the harpy eagle. As puppies are carried by their mothers, on their backs, during approximately their nine first months of life, such behavior confers additional protection to these individuals, plus vulnerable.
However, what provides real risk for declining sloth populations are the human interventions, mainly habitat destruction, hunting, and capture for trade clandestine. Thanks to these factors, there is a species of sloth threatened with extinction and another critically endangered.
Below are sloth species, geographic location and conservation status, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN):
BRADYPODIDAE FAMILY (three-toed sloths):
Common sloth (Bradypus variegatus).
Distribution: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
conservation status: minimal risk.
Bentinho sloth (Bradypus tridactylus)
Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.
conservation status: minimal risk.
Maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus)
Distribution: Brazil
conservation status: in danger
Dwarf sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus)
Distribution: Panama
conservation status: critically endangered.
MEGALONYCHIDAE FAMILY (two-toed sloths).
Royal sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
Distribution: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
conservation status: minimal risk.
Two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus)
Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru; Suriname and Venezuela.
conservation status: minimal risk.
CURIOSITIES:
Sloths have a slow metabolism and, therefore, are not very agile animals, compared to many others;
When the weather cools, sloths go into a state of lethargy;
Sloths sleep hanging from the branches, by all four feet, with their backs to the ground.
By Mariana Araguaia
Biologist, specialist in Environmental Education
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/animais/bicho-preguica.htm