Three Toed Sloth Research Paper

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Would you like to hang upside 85 percent of your life (“Sloth Fact”)? If so, you might want to consider joining the three-toed sloths! They live in the canopies of the Amazon Jungle. Their bodies were designed to live in the trees. A sloth can have all its needs met while living up in the trees except one, although it also comes down occasionally for some fun!
The Three-Toed Sloth is a mammal (“Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth”). The scientific genus is Bradypus. The family is Bradypodidae (Squire24). The order is Pilosa and the class is Mamalia. The phylum is Chordata. Finally, the kingdom is Animalia (Alongi). The size of a three-toed sloth ranges from 1.5 -2 feet long (Squire24). The sloth is a cat sized mammal weighing anywhere from 8-9 pounds. They have a round head, short nose, small bead like eyes, and very small ears (“Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth”). Their colors range from grayish to brownish in color. Sloths have long coarse hair. They have peglike teeth and hooklike claws (“Sloth”). The three toed sloth can turn its head from 270 degrees (“Sloths in the Amazon Rainforest”) to 300 degrees (Cushman). This is possible because it …show more content…
Sloths have their own ecosystem in their fur. During the rainy season the sloths fur turns green with algae. This algae is not only a snack for the sloth but helps with its camouflage of predators (“Sloths in the Amazon Rainforest”). They also have a symbiotic relationship with fungi and moths. The fungi that live in the sloth’s fur helps fend off parasites known to cause horrific diseases like malaria, and the moths provide fertilizer for the ever important algae (Cushman). The sloths come in contact with the fungal spores in the soil when they descend from the tree to use the bathroom. Since goes to the bathroom on the ground, the moths have a chance to lay their eggs in the sloth’s dung
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