Two-Toed Sloth

Choloepus didactylus

Range

• The forests of Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil.

Habitat

• Rain forests

Diet

• Leaves
• Fruit

These nocturnal herbivores’ slow pace and algae-toned fur make them difficult for predators to spot.

They sleep 20 hours a day hanging upside-down among connecting vines; movement along the vines gives early warning of trouble. Their fur is adapted to an inverted lifestyle too; it grows in a belly-to-back direction which sheets water when it rains. A mouthful of leaves hides their self-sharpening, triangular teeth.