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Two-toed Sloth - CHOLOEPUS DIDACTYLUS
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Sloth": "Sloth" comes from Middle English "slowthe" which meant "slow." "Didactylus" means "two-toed."
Location: Northern South America.
Habitat: Arboreal. Tropical forests.
Description: The face of the two-toed sloth is quite flattened and hairless. Its eyes are small, set within black rings, and the ears are almost completely hidden beneath the long, bristly, gray-brown coat. Its tail is little more than a stump. The front legs are slightly longer than the hind legs, and the feet have long curved claws, but only on the second and third toes of the front feet, which is why it is called a two-toed sloth. Also unlike the three-toed sloth, the underside of the two-toed sloth's foot is hairless. It reaches about two feet in length and weighs about 20 lbs.
Behavior: This species has a vegetarian diet that is less specialized than that of the three-toed sloth. It moves about more swiftly than a three-toed sloth, although it is still quite slow. It lives in trees, rarely descending to the ground, and spends much of its time hanging from branches, or resting in the fork of several branches.
Reproduction: A single offspring is born after a five or six month gestation period. In the first month of ifs life the young sloth remains firmly attached to its mother, hidden in her coat. At 9 months of age it is almost completely independent, but does not reach full maturity for almost two more years.
Go to the Xenarthra Page to get a general discussion of this order of animals.
Go to the Three-toed Sloth to study the other sloth included in America Zoo.
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