Hoffman's two-toed sloth

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They have long gray or brown hair that parts in the opposite direction of most mammals from their stomach to the back (along their ventral midline).
Their hair can become covered with blue-green algae during the rainy season giving them a greenish appearance and helping them to blend in with their surroundings.
Their body length ranges from 21-29 inches and they weigh around 9-20 pounds.
They have a flattened face with a naked and protruding snout. All of their teeth are cylindrical and brown, lacking enamel.
They have small ears that are generally hidden by their fur.
They have two digits on the forelimbs and three on the hind limbs. The soles of their hands and feet are naked and calloused. They have sickle shaped claws that grow up to 7.5 cm.
Their tail is either absent or vestigial.

Generally sloths produce one offspring a year.
During mating, both animals hang from a branch by their forelimbs while facing each other.
The female gives birth while in a tree hanging from a branch. The young emerges headfirst and pulls itself up onto the mother’s belly.
The young spends its first few months hidden in its mother’s fur.
The young will leave its mother at nine months of age or when it reaches 15% of her body weight.

Major Threats: Habitat loss
Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, its occurrence in a number of protected areas, tolerance of a degree of habitat modification, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
Because of ongoing deforestation, the northern population (nominate subspecies) of this species could potentially be assessed as Near Threatened.
Sloths are hunted for their meat, pelts and claws. Their pelts are used to make saddles, and their claws are used as jewelry.
Their natural predators are large snakes, birds of prey, jaguars, ocelots and other felines.
Despite these impacts on the population, the sloth is not considered an endangered species, with the exception of the Costa Rican population of Hoffman sloths, which are considered a threatened species.

Sloths do most everything upside down. They eat, sleep, mate and give birth in trees while hanging upside down. They only leave the tree to go to another tree or to use the bathroom.
Sloths are nocturnally active. They remain inactive until after sunset.
They spend an average of 15 hours sleeping.
Sloths are not very social; they usually keep their distance from each other without being territorial.
Because the sloth spends most of its time upside down its internal organs are rotated 135° towards its back.
The sloth uses its long claws to anchor itself to tree branches.
Their low rate of metabolism enables them to live on relatively little food.
Sloth species are identified from each other by the number of vertebrae they have. The Hoffman’s sloth usually has 6 cervical vertebrae.

Fox, D. (1999). Choloepus hoffmanni. Retrieved December 09, 2004, from the Animal Diversity Web site: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Choloepus_hoffmanni.html
Hoffman’s Sloth (2004). Retrieved December 09, 2004, from the Hogle Zoo Web site: http://www.hoglezoo.org/animals/view.php?id=17
Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth (2001). Retrieved December 09, 2004, from the Central Florida Zoological Park Web site: http://www.centralfloridazoo.org/animals/Hoffmans_two-toed_sloth.htm
Two-toed Sloths (1983). In R. M. Nowak & J. L. Paradiso (Eds.), Walker’s Mammals of the World (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 452-455). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Updated December 2004