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Pygmy Sloth
Bradypus pygmaeus
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Nancy Gonzales ELA 9 12/15/14 1
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http://www.eagerwant.com/wp­content/uploads/2014/01/7wr7YMY.jpmonk g​
> My animal this year is not any Sloth it is they Pygmy Sloth. Also known as Monk or Dwarf Sloth (Lucy Cooke). It has a small head with orange eyebrow type things above their darker eye patches. As a baby and all through it’s life it loves to cuddle and hug. It knows how to smile which I think is extraordinary (Lucy Cooke). Some things that it likes to eat are… well it only eats one thing and that is leaves but it eats a variety of leaves from a number of trees (Wild Screen Arkive). On a average most Sloths live up to 20-30 years ( Christina Stephens )! But on occasion if they are taken care of they can live up to 30-35 years ( Christina Stephens )! When Sloths are born they are always born upside down. When they are born it involves a lot of help from other Sloths ( Christina Stephens ). When they are born they spend a good period of time clinging on to their moms belly (Christina Stephens). After they are born they weigh somewhere around 14-16 ounces(Edge). Some things sloths need to worry about are Jaguars, large birds, snakes , and humans (Wikipedia). Pygmy Sloths live in ​
Isla Escudo de Veraguas which is in ​
South America they prefer to live in rainforests or the jungle (Edge). Some places will take in orphan Sloths but you can’t find many places around America (WIkipedia). A short portrayal about Pygmy Sloths and sloths in general is they are very very slow mammals (Learning About Rainforests). They normally stay in the same tree for a number of years (Learning About Rainforests). They are also nocturnal. Also ​
They sleep curled up with their head placed between the arms and the feet drawn close together ​
(Learning About Rainforests)​
. They have a very slow metabolism so they normally eat very small amounts of food ​
(Learning About Rainforests)​
. A interesting fact is that they have only three toes. A weird fact is that they only have 18 teeth (Wikipedia)! Some threats that Sloths in general have to worry about is habitat destruction , and in 2011 there was a study saying that there were only 79 Sloths left but sloths have always had a very low population but they are also very critically endangered (Wikipedia). A interesting fact is that to me they are so ugly that it makes them super adorable. Another interesting fact is ​
The smaller size of pygmy sloths reduces their energy requirements for survival and reproduction ​
(Wikipedia)​
. ​
Some reasons why I chose Pygmy Sloth are because in my opinion they are soo adorable and they have a very squished face. Also I thought that it was very cute how they have a tiny little body and how they treat every Sloth like family (Wikipedia). Another big reason is that it weighs nothing so I was wondering “Is that healthy?” also their body is very tan so I thought is that a tan or just their normal skin tone ( A-Z Animals)? Some more reasons why I chose the Pygmy Sloth is because it has a very interesting name well names. (Wikipedia). Another reason is there aren't many homes that will take in Sloths (Lucy Cooke). And last but not least we were told to choose an animal that we didn’t know a lot about and I knew a little bit about Sloths but I didn’t even know a Pygmy Sloth was a real animal. And for my final sentence I will do one last interesting fact and that fact is that they can just flop around and just swing from tree to tree like it wasn't hard whatsoever (Lucy Cooke). This is a pretty good summary in my opinion so if you need to know the basics about Pygmy Sloths just read these few paragraphs. <​
http://a­z­animals.com/animals/sloth/​
>. A­Z Animals​
. A­Z Animals, 2008. Web. 2013. Cooke, Lucy. ​
A Little Book of Sloth​
. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2013. Print. ​
Edge​
. Edge, 2014. Web. 2014. <http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=1396>. ​
Learning about rainforests​
. Learning about rainforests, ? Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/animals/slothpage.html>. ​
life cycle of sloths​
. Christina Stephens, 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://animals.pawnation.com/life­cycle­sloths­6385.html>. ​
Pygmy three­toed sloth​
. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_three­toed_sloth>. ​
Wild screen arkive​
. Wild screen arkive, 2014. Web. 2014. <http://www.arkive.org/pygmy­three­toed­sloth/bradypus­pygmaeus/>.
​
A­Z Animals​
. A­Z Animals, 2008. Web. 2013. <http://a­z­animals.com/animals/sloth/>. Cooke, Lucy. ​
A Little Book of Sloth​
. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2013. Print. ​
Edge​
. Edge, 2014. Web. 2014. <http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=1396>. ​
Learning about rainforests​
. Learning about rainforests, ? Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/animals/slothpage.html>. ​
life cycle of sloths​
. Christina Stephens, 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://animals.pawnation.com/life­cycle­sloths­6385.html>. ​
Pygmy three­toed sloth​
. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_three­toed_sloth>. ​
Wild screen arkive​
. Wild screen arkive, 2014. Web. 2014. <http://www.arkive.org/pygmy­three­toed­sloth/bradypus­pygmaeus/>.