Sloth
Appearance
All sloths look the same.The sloth has a cool appearance. The sloth has a small head and long legs. Sloths have flat faces, small ears and big black eyes.These animals have gray, brown and tan bodies, but in the rainy seasons, the sloth’s fur is green because algae grows in its fur. They have long, sharp claws to hook onto tree limbs. These animals’ claws are three to five inches long. The average sloth is 50-60 centimeters (20-24 inches) long with a tail of 7 centimeters (3 inches). The two main species of sloths are the two-toed sloth and the three-toed sloth.
Habitat
These animals are found in South America in the Amazon Rainforest. This tree dweller can be found in Columbia , Brazil and Venezuela. Sloths sleep 15 hours each day and they are active during day and night. This animal moves faster in trees than on ground. This species can move up to 100 feet per minute faster in trees, than they do on ground.
The sloth can be found in the thick leaves of the canopy. Sloths are surprisingly good swimmers. Sloths are lazy and sluggish. Wild sloths survive for 12 to 15 years, and sloths that live in zoos, have a lifespan of 40 years.Prey
The sloth is an omnivore that eats plants and meat which is its prey.
This animal eats plants such as twigs, leaves, berries, and vegetables and fruit. It drinks from juicy leaves. The two toed sloth also eat, birds, bird eggs, bugs, rats, mice and small reptiles. However, leaves and buds are its favorite foods. They mostly eat leaves because leaves have more energy and nutrients. . For a newborn sloth, the mother sloth chews the leaves and the baby sloth eats the chewed leaves. The sloth mostly eats at night and hunts for food in the canopy. They can feed from 50 different trees in their habitat. Sloths only travel 125 feet or less each day and only hunt in their home range, which is about five acres of land.
Bibliography
Johnson, Darv. The Amazon Rain Forest. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.
Johnson, Rebecca L., and Phyllis V. Saroff. A Walk in the Rain Forest. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 2001. Print.
"Sloth." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. <http://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/68223>.
"Sloth." (Choloepus Hoffmani). Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
Steele, Christy. Sloths. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 2002. Print.