What Do Sloths Eat?

The maned three-toed sloth feeds on leaves, soft twigs, and buds.

• The maned three-toed sloth gets its name from its long mane, which is mostly made up of black hair.
• This species is considered the most threatened of all the sloth species thanks to its fragmented habitat.
• The maned three-toed sloth covers a small habitat area: the coastal rainforest.

The pygmy three-toed sloth is a strict folivore that feeds on leaves obtained from different kinds of trees within their habitats.

• The pygmy three-toed sloth is the smallest of all sloth species, as its name suggests.
• This species has been classified as being critically endangered .
• The pygmy three-toed sloth inhabits dense tropical rainforests.

The Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth is primarily a herbivore, feeding mostly on leaves. In other scenarios, this sloth may feed on animal matter drawn from insects, bird eggs, lizards, and bird nestlings.

• The Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths vary in lengths of between 21 and 29 inches.
• The average weight of this species of sloth ranges between 9 and 20 pounds.
• This species mostly inhabits canopy forests in tropical rainforests.

The Linnaeus two-toed sloth commonly feeds on leaves, twigs, buds, fruits, and flowers. The Linnaeus two-toed sloth may occasionally consume insects.

• The Linnaeus two-toed sloth is called the Southern two-toed sloth.
• They have two claws at the end of their limbs hence their name.
• These sloths are large compared to other sloth types, and they can grow to lengths of 67 cm.
• They also have vestigial tails. This sloth species commonly inhabits tropical and subtropical forests.

Omnivorous sloth species occasionally hunt small organisms to supplement their plant diet.

• These organisms can find food using their sense of scent, facilitated by their highly developed olfactory bulbs.

Two-toed sloths are nocturnal.

• These organisms will tend to sleep for 15 hours during the day and wake up at night to feed.
• Three-toed sloths, conversely, are mostly diurnal, meaning they are active during daylight hours.
• As such, they can be found feeding during the day.

As sloths tend to eat very slowly, an adult Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth consumes about 0.35 kg a day.

Yes. Sloths are natural herbivores. However, Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth (a type of sloth) feeds on bird eggs, lizards, and bird nestlings.

Sloths can sleep for close to 18 hours a day, leaving them a few hours of awake time.

• They spend a good portion of their awake time feeding.
• Interestingly, because of their very slow metabolism, sloths consume very little food in a day (about 0.35 kg a day for the adult Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth), and so, they will tend to feed less often.

Thanks to their slow nature, sloths have green algae growing on their hairs, making them blend well with their forest habitats.

• This attribute shields sloths from predators.
• However, those species that are not well camouflaged often fall prey to organisms like ocelots, jaguars, jaguarundis, and harpy eagles.
• Indigenous people also hunt sloths because they consider them delicacies.

Sloths play a significant role in the animal food chain. They are considered to be walking ecosystems!

• Sloth fur provides a right home for some insects, which function as food for other animal species like birds (with the example of brown jays ).
• These insects also fertilize the algae growing on sloth bodies to thrive. Sloths play an essential role as predators.
• They help regulate the populations of the organisms they feed on, thus promoting a balance in the ecosystem.
• As prey, sloths provide vital protein nutrients to large arboreal predators that rely on them for food.