The three-toed sloth, also called aï in French Guiana, is the representative of the Amazonian fauna. It garners the most sympathy from young people and adults alike. Its slowness and friendly face are certainly not unrelated to its popularity, but it has other surprising peculiarities that make it an animal like no other.
Article and photographs by Julien Clozeau

An icon of the Amazon Basin
The tropical forests of Central and South America are home to several world-famous species, such as macaws, jaguars and anacondas. The sloth, with its distinctive smile, arouses particular sympathy and belongs to two families with specific characteristics. The Megalonychidae have two claws and six cervical vertebrae, while the Bradypodidae have three claws and nine cervical vertebrae.
Belonging to the latter, the three-toed sloth, Bradypus tridactylus, lives in the north of the South American continent, from western Venezuela and Colombia to Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and north of the Amazon River. Ai comes from the sound made by the animal but it has many names: three-toed sloth, clear-throated sloth, lazy sheep or “parsou moutou” and “dos boulé” in Creole, it will always be him.
The sloth or the praise of slowness
The slowness of the sloth is well known. Diurnal and arboreal, it lives in dense primary and secondary forests. It seeks out the tree species it likes, moving at a speed of 0.6 km/h, or 10 meters per minute. In this difficult environment, its slowness and the characteristics of its coat help it escape predators. The three-toed sloth cannot jump, but its 5 to 6 cm claws compensate for this inability. Thanks to a locking system, its claws allow it to remain suspended effortlessly, head down, for several hours.
Finally, if its movements are slow, they are nevertheless full of confidence and perhaps, indeed the animal also turns out to be an excellent swimmer.
Did you know?
The three-toed sloth has nine cervical vertebrae while the average is seven in other mammals. This feature allows him to turn his head 330 degrees left and right and tilt it 270 degrees up or down so he can look straight ahead when hanging.

The Three-Toed Sloth’s Extraordinary Metabolism
In the Three-Toed Sloth, apart from its movements, everything works in slow motion. To begin with, the animal can sleep up to 18 hours a day, curled up on itself, resembling a termite mound. In addition, its metabolism, half that of other mammals, generates a body temperature varying from 23 to 32°C.
A herbivore, it can eat only one day out of two, almost exclusively leaves and buds of the cannonwood, Cecropia obtusa. The tough leaves are cut and chewed using 18 bony, enamel-free teeth (only canine and premolar types).
An adult does not exceed 75 cm for a weight of 6 kg but its stomach is a third of its body volume, its digestion can take a month, which explains another fact: it only defecates on average once a week, on the ground.
Did you know?
Sloth foetuses have more teeth than adults. These extra vestigial teeth, present during prenatal development and disappearing at birth, teach us that the ancestors of sloths had incisors.
Sloths, algae vand butterflies
The descent to the ground of the sloth is risky and energy-consuming, but it plays an important role in its ecosystem. In its fur live insects, including beetles and butterflies, which fulfill an essential function. When the sloth defecates, the butterflies lay eggs in its fibrous droppings, providing a food reserve for their larvae.
By using the same place for its stools, it promotes the proliferation of butterflies, which further colonize its fur. Its fur, rich in nitrogen and capable of retaining rainwater, also allows the growth of specific algae. By licking itself, the sloth consumes these algae rich in lipids and carbohydrates, supplementing its low-energy diet.
Studies show that the more butterflies its fur accommodates, the more algae proliferate, increasing its food source. Finally, the greenish reflections of its fur, due to algae, offer it effective camouflage against its predators.
Life and habits of the sloth
The sloth can live up to 15 years in the wild and double that in captivity. Sexual maturity will occur around 4 or 5 years in the male and at a little over 3 years in the female. There is only one mating every two years which will give birth to one young per litter, after a gestation of 6 months. The juvenile will be weaned after a month and will begin to feed on Cecropia leaves, like its mother, on whose back it will live the first 9 months of its life before leaving to make its own life.

Did you know?
The fossil of a giant sloth measuring 4 metres high and weighing 4 tonnes was discovered in French Guiana in 2021. The Eremotherium laurillardi, which disappeared 12,000 years ago, was terrestrial and not arboreal like its current descendants and evolved in a savannah environment.
The three-toed sloth faces its predators and human threats
Even camouflaged by the algae that live in its fur and ensured discretion by the slowness of its movements, the light-throated sloth knows its natural predators which are mainly the harpy eagle, the largest raptor in the Amazon rainforest, and two felines, the jaguar and the ocelot. But living close to humans can also, unfortunately, cost it its life. Deforestation fragments its habitat and the roads that cross the forests force it to make a dangerous crossing on asphalt.
In addition, it is also sought after as a pet, where mortality in captivity, due to diseases transmitted by humans, is high. Equally sad and meaningless, the sloth can also serve as a mascot at the entrance of certain tourist agencies in Manaus, Brazil. However, the main threat to it and which concerns us all, is the savannah of the Amazon basin linked to global warming, in the next 30 years.
Useful for the jungle by contributing to soil fertilization, the sloth occupies an important place in its ecosystem but it is also the animal that many dream of one day meeting at the bend in a path.
Today, although its situation is not critical, the rapid changes in its environment represent a significant threat. Preserving the Amazon means protecting one of the last great reservoirs of biodiversity still present on our planet. It is essential to act collectively so that this emblematic smile continues to shine under the canopy, for future generations.

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