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What Are the Types of Sloths?

There are six species of sloths, four of which are three-toed sloths and two of which are two-toed sloths. Sloths feed on leaves, twigs and fruits, and spend the majority of their lives hanging in trees by their sharp claws. Sloths are good swimmers, but they rarely venture down to ground level. They are all very slow-moving and solitary. Despite the similarities of the six species of sloths, they also have differences.

Two Three-Toed Sloths
- Pale-throated sloths and brown-throated sloths are nearly indistinguishable, except for the color of the underside of their necks. They live in southern Central America and northeastern South America. They grow to between 1.5 and 2.5 feet in length, and weigh between 8 and 9 pounds. They are greenish brown, have nine neck vertebrae and have very small tails. Females give birth to one young at a time, which stays with its mother for several months.
Maned Sloths
- Maned sloths are identified by the black mane that covers the back of their neck. They are somewhat larger than pale-throated sloths and brown-throated sloths. Like all sloths, their fur grows in the opposite direction than the fur of most other mammals. They live along the eastern coastline of Brazil. They have become endangered because their small habitat is being destroyed.
Pygmy Three-Toed Sloths
- Pygmy three-toed sloths are smaller than other three-toed sloths, at an adult weight of 5.5 to 7.5 pounds. They live solely on a small section of Isla Escudo de Veraguas. They have tan, banded faces with blotchy fur over the rest of their bodies. Most of its diet consists of the leaves of red mangrove tree, and it cares for its young for up to a year. Pygmy three-toed sloths are critically endangered.
Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloths
- Hoffmann's two-toed sloths live in Central and South America. They grow to be much larger than three-toed sloths, anywhere from 9 to 20 pounds. Besides leaves and twigs, they also eat lizards, insects and bird eggs. Young sloths stay in contact with their mothers for up to two years, and reach sexual maturity between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Because males can impregnate many females in a short period of time, there are 11 times more females than males in any given population.
Linnaeus's Two-Toed Sloths
- Unlike several other species of sloths, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths are not in danger of becoming extinct. They live solely in northern South America, and each sloth has a territory of around 10 square miles. They have a life expectancy of 20 years, and are reddish brown. Unlike Hoffmann's two-toed sloths, they eat only vegetation.

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