Species introCountry intro
Two-toed Sloth - Choloepus hoffmanni
The sloth body is specialized for a low intake of indigestible food, particularly mature leaves of forest trees. They use fewer resources per day than most mammals and have corresponding traits such as their famous lethargic behavior, long periods between defecating, and highly variable body temperature. This sloth occupies a home range of less than 2 ha and may use fifty trees of up to thirty species, eating leaves of different ages. They digest food very slowly, taking several days to do so. They descend from the canopy once a week to defecate. Mothers carry their young for a few months, so they have the opportunity to learn what to eat; then the mother leaves to a different part of her home range, bequeathing the first home range to the offspring.
Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, also known as the northern two-toed sloth is a species of sloth from Central and South America. It is a solitary, largely nocturnal and arboreal animal, found in mature and secondary rainforests and deciduous forests. The common name commemorates the German naturalist Karl Hoffmann.
