Santos 1

Geovanis Santos Mrs. Butterworth Honors Biology­ 7th April 16, 2014 Animal Profile Paper
The three­toed sloth/maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) is known for being the slowest mammal in the world due to its lack of muscle tissue. Sloths were practically made to live in treetops their whole life which is basically what they do. Sloths leave their treetops mainly because of 3 reasons: to find food if the supplies in the treetops are scarce, to defecate or urinate on the jungle floor, or to simply find a nearby mate. Please take into consideration that sloths are primarily solitary when describing their interactions with populations, communities, ecosystems and biomes.
Within their own population:
● Sloths interact with each other solely to reproduce or simply to tag along
● If a sloth's home overlaps the range of a sloth of the opposite sex, it does its mating call and does the deed while hanging off of trees
● Female sloths are in the state of pregnancy between 6­7 months
● The baby sloth attaches itself to the mother for its first 9 months of life

Santos 2

Within the community:
● The sloth's solitary life makes interactions within the community very limited
● Predators that look for innocent sloths include members of the big cats, harpy eagles, and ocelots ● Sloths are practically defenseless when faced with a predator, all they can do is whisk away with their gigantic claws
● Sloth’s hind legs make it impossible to run away
● Sloths are herbivores so they interact with the plants, fruits, twigs and berries by consuming them
● 99% of a sloth’s diet consists of leaves (Ficus leaves, Mandevilla, Micropholis venusola, etc.) Within their ecosystems:
● A majority of sloths reside in South America, mainly the rainforests of East Brazil
● Dependency on light (abiotic factor) is very high for the sloths since the plants they consume must have light to undergo the process of photosynthesis so they can continue to be healthy and grow
● The water cycle also plays a key role in the abiotic factor of sloths since water is needed to continue to process of photosynthesis which is what leaves and plants need to grow
● Sloths depend on biotic factors like bees and other pollinators so plants may bloom and grow which will make the sloth consume to leaves and plants leading to satisfaction
Within their biome:
● The biome for sloths are the tropical rainforests & forests

Santos 3

A sloth’s main role within environment is mainly to serve as prey for big cats, eagles, and ocelots since they are an easy target in the