Sloth Fun Facts

The biggest problem with sloth stereotypes is both species of sloths are called by the same name; however, as I mentioned in my previous post, they are as closely related to each other as they are to ant eaters. Think of them as any other type of animal such as birds, dogs, or cats: they may look similar but they are actually different species.

The pictures of the gray sloth you see is Jojo. He is a three-toed sloth. They are the much slower of the two and do act very sloth-like. Their fur is much tougher and they develop a patch on their backs (why we don't know, but it's possibly there for identification or mating purposes). The three-toeds only each cecropia leaves here at the sanctuary, but can also eat certain flowers; they have a very basic diet.

Two-toeds, despite having the same common ancestor (which was twice as big as an elephant 80 million years ago), have a more varied diet in the wild but each mostly leaves and veggies here. Each day they receive carrots and potatoes, unripe mango (they hate when it's ripe), and water apple (imagine a red pear). And while these guys are called sloths, they can get from one side of their cages to another in just a couple of seconds. I'll go to place their food on their platforms and when I think they're still on the floor I'll turn around and a sloth will be right in my face.

Oddly enough they do not like each other at all. When we take out the babies to give them some space to roam around we are told to strictly keep them apart. Otherwise they fight and bite. They also have different facial structure. It's hard to describe, so just take a look for yourself. But three-toeds seem unreal almost, like they're mini robots trying to move around. I'll try and take some video for everyone to see.

So there you have it! And since there is very little research out there about these things, you can basically consider yourself an expert.