How Many Sloths Are Left In The World? Fun Facts For Kids

Brown-throated three-toed sloths are the most common extant sloth species occupying Central and South American tropical forests.

Female sloths produce one baby per year. The baby learns to eat by licking the mother's lips.

Sloths are recognized as an arboreal Neotropical group of mammals within the Folivora suborder. Many sloth species lived between the Early Oligocene and Holocene epochs. Famous for slowness in movement, sloths spend most time hanging upside-down from trees in the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America. These animals are closely related to anteaters. There are currently six species of sloths. These animals were named sloths because of their deliberate movements and very little metabolism. Sloths translate to 'laziness' and have names in other languages that translate to 'lazy'. The slowness of sloths' movement permits them to stay on a low-energy diet consisting of leaves and avoid detection from predators like cats and hawks hunting by sight. Although sloths can swim, they are helpless on the ground. Their shaggy coat has grooved hair that hosts symbiotic green algae that camouflage this animal on tress and also provide nutrients.

The conservation status of species ranges from Least Concern, Vulnerable, to Critically endangered as per the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Sloth Institute in Costa Rica, Central America care, rehabilitates and releases sloths back into the wild. The average life expectancy of sloths in captivity is 40 years and the life span in the wild is not known.

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Types Of Sloth

Types of sloths are two-toed sloth, three-toed sloth, and ground sloth.

Choloepus genus consists of two-toed sloth species with two species, Hoffman's two-toed sloth and Linneaus's two-toed sloth. Although this group is named two-toed sloth to differentiate it from the three-toed sloth group, it is a misnomer. The genus name means 'lame foot'. Choloepus species have three digits on their pelvic limbs or hindlimb with two digits on their thoracic limbs or forelimbs. These tree sloths are larger than three-toed sloth species, growing up to 23-28 in (58-70 cm) and weighing around 8.8-17.6 lb (4-8 kg). The three-toed sloth group (Bradypus) consists of maned, brown-throated, pale-throated, and pygmy three-toed sloths. Three-toed sloth species measure 18 in (45 cm) with a weight of around 8-10 lb (3.5-4.5 kg). Both species can be found hanging on trees in a similar forest habitat range. So, both are closely related. Ground sloths are an extinct group of the extinct family Mylodontidae. There are 80 recognized genera of ground sloths and all these species are extinct.

Sloth Population By Species

There is no data on the exact number of species of sloths. There are fewer than 100 pygmy sloths in the world.

There are four of these slow tree animals that are given the conservation status of Least Concern. Hoffman's two-toed sloths, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths, brown-throated sloths, and pale-throated three-toed sloths. So, these four species are known to be quite common in their forest habitat ranges. Although they do face various threats by humans. The exact population number of these sloths is unknown. Maned three-toed sloths are given the conservation status of Vulnerable. These animals are found in southeastern Brazil's Atlantic forest. There are only 100-200 of these sloths. Lastly, the conservation status of pygmy sloths is Critically Endangered. These slow island species of Panama are relatively smaller. As per a 2012 census, there are only 79 pygmy three-toed sloths left in the world.

What sloths are endangered?

The maned three-toed sloth and pygmy three-toed sloth are given the conservation status as Endangered.

The pygmy three-toed sloth is restricted to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small island off the coast of Panama. The conservation efforts for pygmy three-toed sloths are getting impacted by conflicts between the government and local people. The population of these sloths has mainly declined due to changes in the environment. Pygmy sloths resemble brown-throated sloths but weigh a lot lesser than brown-throated species. Maned sloths are only found in Brazil and are currently Vulnerable. Maned sloths are the largest species among the three-toed sloths. There is not much information available about how well they do in captivity. These species are named so because of their lion-like mane.

Reasons For The Decline Of Sloth Population

Reasons for the decline of the sloth population are deforestation, fungi and algae attack, electrocutions, vehicle collisions, illegal trafficking, and poaching, and habitat loss.

The extinction of sloth species started when humans evolved on Earth around 12,000 years ago. However, climate change also made an impact on their population. The habitat range might be limited but that environment has been successfully providing a healthy home to sloths. 70% of the biomass among arboreal species is estimated to be sloths on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The maximum population decline of sloths was due to habitat loss. Continuos rainforests hold sloths and sloths are unable to travel long distances. They get on the ground for defecating and to reach the next tree. So, getting off of trees to poop makes them vulnerable to predators and increases their chance of getting killed. Also, due to decreasing trees sloth population has declined. This also forces them to cross roads through crawling due to a lack of canopy bridges, which causes roadkill. The survival rate after electrocution of sloths is only around 25%. The use of pesticides or habitat fragmentation is resulting in birth defects and genetic deformities. Now that homes are being built in between forests, sloths are attacked by domestic dogs.

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