Three-toed sloth

Three-toed sloths[1]
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Suborder: Folivora
Family: Bradypodidae
Genus: Bradypus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Species

See text
Green: B. variegatus, Blue: B. tridactylus, Red: B. torquatus

The three-toed sloths are tree-living mammals from South and Central America. They are the only members of the genus Bradypus and the family Bradypodidae. There are four living species of three-toed sloths. These are the Brown-throated Sloth, the Maned Sloth, the Pale-throated Sloth, and the Pygmy Three-toed Sloth.

Although similar to the somewhat larger and generally faster moving two-toed sloths, the two genera are not particularly closely related.[2] Recent phylogenetic analyses support the morphological data from the 1970s and 1980s that the two genera are not closely related and that each adopted their arboreal lifestyles independently.[3] It is unclear what ground-dwelling sloth taxa the three-toed sloths evolved from; the two-toed sloths appear to nest phylogenetically within one of the divisions of Caribbean megalonychids,[4] and thus probably either descended from them or are part of a clade that invaded the Caribbean multiple times. Both types of sloth tend to occupy the same forests: in most areas, a particular single species of three-toed sloths and a single species of the larger two-toed type will jointly predominate. Famously slow-moving, the sloth travels at a top speed of 0.24 kilometres per hour (0.15 mph).[5]

Although they are quite slow in trees, three-toed sloths are agile swimmers. The offspring cling to their mother's bellies for around 9 months or so. They cannot walk on all four limbs, and so they must use their front arms and claws to drag themselves across the rain forest floor. They do not have a mating season and breed year round.

The three-toed sloth is arboreal (tree-dwelling), with a body adapted to hang by its limbs. It lives high in the canopy but descends once a week to defecate on the forest floor. Its long, coarse, grayish-brown fur often appears greenish, not due to pigment but to algae growing on it. The sloth’s greenish color and its sluggish habits provide an effective camouflage: hanging quietly, the sloth resembles a bundle of leaves. Large curved claws help the sloth to keep a strong grip on tree branches.[5]

Contents

Characteristics

Three-toed sloths are about the size of a small dog or a large cat, with the head and body having a combined length of around 45 centimetres (18 in), and the animal having a weight of 3.5–4.5 kilograms (8–10 lb). Unlike the two-toed sloths, they also have a short tail of 6–7 centimetres (2–3 in), and they have three clawed toes on each limb. They are frequently referred to as three-toed sloths, however all sloths have 3 toes, the difference is found in the number of fingers; meaning they are now more appropriately referred to as three-fingered sloths. This idea was first implemented by Judy Avey-Arroyo, co-founder of the world's only sloth sanctuary, but is now recognized in numerous publications as the correct terminology for these animals.[6] They move between different trees up to four times a day, although they prefer to keep to a particular type of tree, which varies between individuals, perhaps as a means of allowing multiple sloths to occupy overlapping home ranges without competing with each other.[7] Three-toed sloths have no incisor or canine teeth, just a set of peg-shaped cheek teeth that are not clearly divided into premolars and molars, and lack homology with those teeth in other mammals and are thus referred to as molariforms. The molariform dentition in three-toed sloths is simple and can be characterized as dental formula of: Upper: 5, lower: 4-5

The three-toed sloth, unlike most other mammals, does not fully maintain a constant body temperature, and this limits it to warm environments.

Members of this species tend to live around 25 to 30 years, reaching sexual maturation at 2 years of age.

Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of around six months. They are weaned at about 9 months of age, at which point, the mother leaves her home territory to her offspring and moves elsewhere. Adults are solitary, and mark their territories using anal scent glands and dung middens.[7]

Species

References

  1. ^ Gardner, Alfred L. (16 November 2005). "Order Pilosa (pp. 100-103)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=11800004. 
  2. ^ "3-Toed Sloths". http://xenarthra.org/sloth/bradypus/. Retrieved 2007-04-09. 
  3. ^ Hoss, Matthias; Dilling, Amrei; Currant, Andrew; Paabo, Svante (9 Jan 1996). "Molecular phylogeny of the extinct ground sloth Mylodon darwinii". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 93 (1): 181–185. doi:10.1006/mpev.2000.0860. PMID 11161746. http://www.pnas.org/content/93/1/181.abstract. Retrieved 2009-12-28. 
  4. ^ White, J. L.; MacPhee, R. D. E. (2001). "The sloths of the West Indies: a systematic and phylogenetic review". In Woods, C. A.; Sergile, F. E.. Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives. CRC Press. pp. 201–235. ISBN 9780849320019. http://books.google.com/books?id=kDchYICxSDsC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=The+sloths+of+the+West+Indies:+A+systematic+and+phylogenetic+review&source=bl&ots=nE1h0uppfJ&sig=4-pNcNeA5p17LC33-Zq38BeB0iY&hl=en&ei=OgwbS625CYLOsQOy27yRBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The_sloths_of_the_West_Indies%3A_A_systematic_and_phylogenetic_review 
  5. ^ a b http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004737.html
  6. ^ Judy Avey-Arroyo for Gage, L. J. (2008) Hand-Rearing Wild and Domestic Mammals, Iowa State University Press, 2002, pages 81-89. doi: 10.1002/9780470385005.ch12
  7. ^ a b Dickman, Christopher R. (1984). Macdonald, D.. ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 776–779. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 

External links