Sloths Sharing Sweets
It's better eating treats upside-down
Sloth Fiona and her pup Scout at the Roger Williams Park Zoo and Carousel Village in Providence RI are having a sweet moment. Or make that a sweet potato moment, as the two enjoy a hanging out to cuddle and a snack together. Look how content Scout is, enjoying this delicious treat. Putting on that happy face!
This species—Linnaeus's (a.k.a Linne’s) two-toed sloths—is arboreal, hardly ever leaving the trees. The largest of all extant sloth species, Linne’s two-toed sloths spend almost all of their lives hanging upside-down, including when eating, sleeping, mating and giving birth. Three times stronger than a human, they use their powerful arms and hooked claws to grasp the branches and the lush vines of their rainforest habitat to travel through the canopy. Beyond an infrequent need to walk to a new tree, they only descend to the ground for pooping, an activity they perform about once a week, relieving themselves of about a third of their body weight in the process.
Adult Linne’s two-toed sloths measure between 21 to 35 inches in length (not including their tail) and weigh in between 9 to 24 pounds. Owing to their herbaceous diet and relatively large size, the sloths have a slow metabolism, therefore they move at a leisurely pace to conserve that green-fuel energy, covering a distance of roughly 120 feet per day. They also sleep a lot; between 15 to 20 hours a day. They are born with molars that continuously grow but get ground down by their chewing. Lacking front teeth, they use their hardened lips to grasp and tear their food, which after chewing will then be digested in their four-chambered stomach. As is their unrushed way, their digestive tract moves slowly too: some items can take many days or even up to a month to fully digest. This physiology gives rise (har!) to the sloths’ high rate of methane production.
Babies like Scout, born October 2024, will cling to their mother for about a year. In the tropical rainforest of Central and South America, a baby will continue to stay close to or in the same region as their mother until full independence. Because the Roger Williams Park Zoo is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan, Scout may eventually be destined to be mated at another zoo at a time when she1 is old enough for reproduction. But for now, I anticipate many more sweet potatoes and snuggles with mom in her immediate future.
Source of today’s gif is below.
Roger Williams Park Zoo: Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth
Animal Fact Guide: Wildlife Blog “Baby Two-toed Sloth Born at Roger Williams Park Zoo,” 11/12/24
Wikipedia: Linnaeus's two-toed sloth
Because both genders of the species look so similar when young, I could not find any confirmation that Scout has been positively identified as female, although zoo staff had speculated that she is. Regardless, her birth is an exciting addition to species survival plans for the AZA.
Are you a therapist in your spare time, Martini? If not, you missed your calling. Watch this first thing in the morning for about 10 minutes and smooth out the wrinkles in your soul after reading the news. Better than Prozac. And cheaper too. Thank you, Martini, for those minutes of peace.
Oh my goodness, those two are both so adorable. Squeee aplenty. I love the fact that they are both eating the same piece of sweet potato just at opposite ends. Their shiny wet noses remind me of my brother's doberman, Rosie. Her nose was always wet and cold. On laundry days I would go in the back yard to dry the stuff in the sun. I would be wearing a short caftan to cope with the heat. When I lifted the clothes to pin them to the line, Rosie would come up behind me and put her nose under the hem and touch my bare bottom (wearing underwear meant feeling more heat). I would squeal and jump at the touch of that cold, wet nose. Rosie would run a few feet away and "laugh". Her mouth was hanging open and her head was shaking up and down so she did look as if she were laughing at having startled me. And I never learned so she always got me. Miss that dog, she was a good one. Thanks, Martini for the good times.