Brown-Throated Sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
Sloth at EARJ: A Sloth Comes to Visit Pre School
By Cecilia Machado
It happened so fast!
“You should come outside your room to see what is here on the tree!” said Ms. Rosângela.
We went to check and…“WOW! A sloth! We need to get a camera!” said Ms. Anna while she called the children to come outside to see our visitor.
I ran as fast as I could, telling myself: “It is a sloth! It will not go further!”
Well, the sloth did not move as slowly as I thought it would. By the time I was back, the sloth was dragging itself forward with its claws trying to reach another tree, but going in direction of the stairs. Pretty quickly, the sloth was on the stairs, holding onto the handrail! Mr. Bernizoni came to place it back in the woods where it belongs. He took the opportunity to give a short ‘sloth class’ for our preschool and kindergarten children who were breathless staring at it!
Our students will never forget it!
Sloths are cat-sized mammals that live in the Central and South American rainforests.
The sloth is a mammal that spends nearly all its life hanging upside down from branches in the rainforest. It eats, sleeps, mates and gives birth in this position. The sloth got its name from its slow movement. It is not lazy, just slow-moving. The sloth is the slowest mammal on Earth. In total, there are six species of sloth, only one of which is currently endangered of extinction. Most have three toes on each foot, but some species have only two.
Sloths have a thick and slightly-greenish fur coat and are about the size of a cat. Sloths have a short, flat head, big eyes, a short snout, a short or non-existent tail, long legs, tiny ears and sturdy, curved claws are on each foot. Their claws are long, sharp, and curved like meat hooks. They use these claws to hang from trees. Sloths claws serve as their only natural defense. A cornered sloth may swipe at its attackers in an effort to scare them away or wound them. Despite the sloths apparent defenselessness, predators do not pose special problems. In the trees sloths have good camouflage and moving only slowly, do not attract attention. Only during their rare visits to ground level do they become vulnerable.
Some sloths have colonies of green algae encrusting their fur, both adding to the camouflage effect and providing some nutrients to the sloths, who lick the algae during grooming. Sloth fur exhibits specialized functions. The outer hairs grow in a direction opposite from that of other mammals. In most mammals, hairs grow towards the extremities, but because sloths spend so much time with their legs above their bodies, their hairs grow away from the extremities in order to provide protection from the elements while the sloth hangs upside down.
Sloths have a slow metabolic rate, so they keep a low body temperature in order to conserve energy. To regulate their temperature, they do a similar thing to the lizards: they move in and out of the shade.
Fast Facts
Type: Mammal
Diet: Herbivore
Size: about 60cm
Weight: about 4 kg
information found at: http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/rainforests/sloth.html
By Cecilia Machado
It happened so fast!
“You should come outside your room to see what is here on the tree!” said Ms. Rosângela.
We went to check and…“WOW! A sloth! We need to get a camera!” said Ms. Anna while she called the children to come outside to see our visitor.
I ran as fast as I could, telling myself: “It is a sloth! It will not go further!”
Well, the sloth did not move as slowly as I thought it would. By the time I was back, the sloth was dragging itself forward with its claws trying to reach another tree, but going in direction of the stairs. Pretty quickly, the sloth was on the stairs, holding onto the handrail! Mr. Bernizoni came to place it back in the woods where it belongs. He took the opportunity to give a short ‘sloth class’ for our preschool and kindergarten children who were breathless staring at it!
Our students will never forget it!
Sloths are cat-sized mammals that live in the Central and South American rainforests.
The sloth is a mammal that spends nearly all its life hanging upside down from branches in the rainforest. It eats, sleeps, mates and gives birth in this position. The sloth got its name from its slow movement. It is not lazy, just slow-moving. The sloth is the slowest mammal on Earth. In total, there are six species of sloth, only one of which is currently endangered of extinction. Most have three toes on each foot, but some species have only two.
Sloths have a thick and slightly-greenish fur coat and are about the size of a cat. Sloths have a short, flat head, big eyes, a short snout, a short or non-existent tail, long legs, tiny ears and sturdy, curved claws are on each foot. Their claws are long, sharp, and curved like meat hooks. They use these claws to hang from trees. Sloths claws serve as their only natural defense. A cornered sloth may swipe at its attackers in an effort to scare them away or wound them. Despite the sloths apparent defenselessness, predators do not pose special problems. In the trees sloths have good camouflage and moving only slowly, do not attract attention. Only during their rare visits to ground level do they become vulnerable.
Some sloths have colonies of green algae encrusting their fur, both adding to the camouflage effect and providing some nutrients to the sloths, who lick the algae during grooming. Sloth fur exhibits specialized functions. The outer hairs grow in a direction opposite from that of other mammals. In most mammals, hairs grow towards the extremities, but because sloths spend so much time with their legs above their bodies, their hairs grow away from the extremities in order to provide protection from the elements while the sloth hangs upside down.
Sloths have a slow metabolic rate, so they keep a low body temperature in order to conserve energy. To regulate their temperature, they do a similar thing to the lizards: they move in and out of the shade.
Fast Facts
Type: Mammal
Diet: Herbivore
Size: about 60cm
Weight: about 4 kg
information found at: http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/rainforests/sloth.html
World Distribution
Wikimedia Commons, Bradypus_Range.png
The Brown-throated sloth, B. variegatus, is the most widespread and common species of the three-toed sloth group, being found in many different kinds of environments, including highly perturbed natural areas. Its distribution is shown in green on the map to the left. The blue and the red areas indicate the distribution of two other species of three-toed sloths: B. tridactylus and B. torquatus, respectively. (Wikipedia)