Wild sloth that answered one of the females (Darla) mating calls.
There are two different species of sloth: the three-toed (Bradypus variegatus) and the toe-toed (Choloepus hoffmanni).
Three-Toed or Bradys
Bradys have three toes on their front legs. They can also be distinguised from the black mask around their eyes. We fed them Cecropia leaves and Cecropia flowers for both the morning and afternoon feedings. Bradys are herbivores and eat certain leaves. They live closely together and those in captivity like human contact. While there, we only took out the two-toed males once or twice. If all of the babies were out, those who didn't have a sloth got three-toed adults. The volunteer who fed the three toed usually had at least one or two sloths trying to get her attention or "helping" her sweep up the poo. Three-toed don't have any external genetalia so the only way to tell if the sloth is a male or female is to look on it's back. Male have orange-yellow patches on their back while as the female doesn't have a patch. The wild sloth is a good example of a male back patch. These patches don't grow in until a year old. One of the smallest babies there, Mattie, isn't old enough to tell what gender it is. So it may be a Maddie or a Mattie. One of the sloths, Laylo was originally named Layla.
Baby Mattie
Some other random facts about three-toes are that they have 9 cervical vertebrae so they can turn their heads around 270 degrees.
They have a tail and 24 ribs. The first sloth that was brought to Judy was a Brady named Buttercup. She is now almost 21 years old and is the oldest living sloth in captivity. She has a chair that is on the deck or the sanctuary and likes to hold hands when she is taken out for a walk. She is the head sloth and knows it.
My next post will be about Toe-Toed sloth facts.
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