I was so excited to see the sloths hanging from the branches and I squealed a little when I saw how cute they were. But they were sleeping (they are nocturnal) so I tried to keep my “ooos” and “awwws” quiet. Sloths are one of my favorite animals, so it was amazing to see one so close. I have seen sloths a couple time since then. They are so common in Panama that you can even find them in the forested areas of the city. I attached some pictures that my good friend, Jennifer Gil, took of a sloth walking on the street near her apartment!
The two-toed sloth lives in the cloud forests and tropical jungles of Central and South America. They live only up in the trees and only come down about once every week to go poop.
Everything that sloths eat, they find in the trees they live in. This means their diet is made up of leaves, stems, buds, and some fruits. This is one of the reason sloths move so slowly and sleep so much. They use a lot of energy to digest these foods. Some foods can take up to a month to digest! Sloths have special bacteria in their stomachs to help them digest these harsh foods. I mentioned before that in the rainy reason, algae can grow on their fur and they can turn a green-ish color. Not only does this help them blend into their surroundings, but when they groom themselves, they get extra nutrients.
Predators to the sloth are forest animals like jaguars, large birds like eagles, and large snakes like anacondas. Luckily, they have very sharp claws and teeth to defend themselves. The two-toed sloth is not currently endangered.
