Sloths

NOTE: WE HAVE SOLD OUR SLOTH BUT LEFT THE PAGE TO HELP.

PEOPLE LOCATE US FOR INFORMATION ON ORPHANED SLOTHS ETC. AS THERE ARE FEW PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THAT KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM

Meet Xena Slo-Mo our two-toed sloth. She has been dazzling audiences for years. Xena Slo-Mo had a baby five years ago, and they were both featured on Discovery Channel's ANIMAL PLANET.

Mama sloths create a cradle for their babies which when born, are the size of a thumb. Sloths vertebrae are connected by three joints. This puts them in the same Order as armadillos and anteaters. At top speed, sloths move through high vegetation at the rate of 100 feet per minute. Their muscles cannot support their weight to stand and are ungainly slow on the ground and move about 10 feet per minute. They pull themselves along the ground with their forearms and long claws.

Sloths are excellent swimmers. They can cross a river at speeds of 45 feet per minute doing a sloth-stroke. They are capable of drifting miles downstream faster in a current. Large snakes and caiman stomachs have been found to contain sloths that did not make it downstream or across the river.

The jaguar, man, harpy eagle and the ocelot are sloths' main enemies. Sloths sound off danger to other sloths using ultrasounds, the acoustic frequencies inadubile to a human's ear.

Baby two-toed sloths are weaned from their Mamas milk after six weeks but remain with their Mothers for another five months. Sloths have a keen sense of smell are rely entirely upon smelling and touching.

Hoffman's baby two-toed sloths are much more active and faster moving than baby three-toed sloths. Two-toed's quickly flee a predator by climbing to thin branches that will not support the enemy. They also use their long claws to slash at the enemy and will not hesitate to bite with their canine-like teeth. Baby sloths feed for nine months with their Mothers developing a liking for her food preferences. When Mama sloth reaches for food, so does the baby sloth.

Two toed sloths have seven vertebrae in their necks while three-toed sloths have nine vertebrae. These vertebrae enable sloths to turn their heads 3/4 of the way around. A baby two-toed sloth has a body temperature of 85 degree Fahrenheit. They practice thermoregulation (as a reptile would) using the sun to warm up, and moving to shade to cool down. This slows down their complex digestive rate. During the rainy season when sloths are under cover of leaves more to stay dry,if the weather is too cool, they often starve to death even though their bellies are filled with food.

Adult three-toed sloths feed on various species of tender new leaves, while two-toeds feed on various fruits, stems, leaves, etc. In the rainy season when no tender new leaves are available, sloths often die of starvation even though their bellies are full. The baby sloth has spent its first two months with at least one foot and claw in its Mother's fur at all times. If the baby falls to the ground, the Mother may be unable to climb down and retrieve it before a predator (jaguar, human) does. Baby three-toed sloths stomach's are much more complex than a two-toed sloth's stomach is. Being obligatory folivores (eating only leaves), three-toed sloths stomach's have pouches which store batches of bulky food in different stages of fermentation.