Southern Two-toed Sloth

• It has the lowest and most variable body temperature of any mammal, between 24 and 33°C.
• Its coat hosts symbiotic algae that give it a greenish cast, hiding it in the canopy.
• It comes down from the trees only about once a week, to defecate.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)

Habitat & environment

Canopy of tropical rainforest in South America, north of the Amazon

Birth weight

356 grams (some sources give as much as 340 g)

Size at birth

Well developed at birth, able to cling to its mother's belly at once

Sexual maturity

Female: 3 years | Male: 4-5 years

Gestation / incubation

279 days (~9-10 months; some sources give as much as 11.5 months)

Litter / clutch size

1 young

Lifespan in captivity

A documented record of 36.8 years in captivity (a female called Paula reached 50 by unconfirmed accounts)

Sources consulted: A-Z Animals; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Denver Zoo; Animal Diversity Web; Animalia.bio; Smithsonian National Zoo; Wikipedia (Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, Two-toed sloth)

Best time: All year round in Amazonia and the Guianas, at night; by day it sleeps curled up in the fork of a tree, almost impossible to make out.