Brown-throated Brown-throated Three-toed SlothThree-toed Sloth

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Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

Scientific name is Bradypus variegatus

The Brown-throated Three-toed sloth can be found throughout southern Central America into much of South America.

In these countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela.

Click here to find out which countries this sloth is found in

What habitat do they live in?

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths live in tropical forests.

They are very fond of these types of trees.

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What habitat do you think they live in? Click here to find out.

Why are they threatened? All tropical forest living mammals are vulnerable to habitat destruction.

One of the places this animal lives is called the Atlantic Rainforest. This is further south than the Amazon in Brazil and stretches into Paraguay and Argentina, this habitat is very endangered.

Here a large area of rainforest has been cleared so that a holiday home can be built

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Can you guess the name of the rainforest in Brazil where the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth lives? Click here to find out

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Natural hunters of the sloth1) Harpy Eagles can pluck sloths right out of the tree

2) Jaguars can catch sloths when they come down to the ground

Click here to see a picture of a Harpy Eagle

Click here to see a picture of a Jaguar

How do they communicate?

Sloths live alone (they are solitary) and do not need to communicate with other sloths very often.

• Baby sloths may hiss if they are having difficulty climbing • Females may make a high pitched cry to attract a mate• Male sloths may make noises if they fight

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Can you guess what noises a sloth might use to communicate? Click here to find out

What do they eat? Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths are herbivores.

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What do you think this means that they eat in the rainforest? Click here to find outThey eat tree leaves, flowers, shoots and some fruit.

How long do they live?

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths live about 20 years or more in the wild.

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How big are they?

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths are about the size of a cat, 40 – 80 cm long.

What do they look like?

They have long, coarse grey-brown hair.

The three long curved claws on the front feet of Brown-throated Three-toed sloths are very strong and support them hanging upside down, or sitting, high up in trees.

They have short stubby tails.

They look as though they are always smiling.

They have longer arms than legs.

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Tell me about their babies:

The baby will be carried about on its mother’s stomach for about 6 or 9 months. ©

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Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths give birth to one baby a year.

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Interesting facts:

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• Sloths will move in to a patch of sunlight to warm up, and move out of sunlight to cool down.

• A simple plant called Algae, grows on the fur of the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth. This can make the sloth look green, and camouflages it among the leaves of a tree.

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One day Nicholas left the forest to go into the town. When he was in the town he saw a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth on the road.

A story from the wild:One of the conservation organisations working to save the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil is called REGUA. The Director of REGUA is called Nicholas.

This is a picture of the sloth being released from a sack next to a tree. The sloth climbed the tree and by the next day it had disappeared into the forest.

Because sloths cannot walk they drag themselves along very slowly and this sloth was in danger of getting run over.

Nicholas rescued the sloth and took it to the forest reserve where he works.

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What do you think Nicholas did? Click here to find out

Click here to see a picture of what happened next

Why do you think the sloth was in danger here? Click to find out

If you choose the Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth as your fundraising focus, your donation will go towards World Land Trust projects for the conservation of wildlife habitat in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil.

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