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A Miniature Ecosystem; The Two-Toed Sloth

Today was easily my favorite day here in Panama so far.  We got to go on an amazing kayaking trip (where we saw some capuchin monkeys in the distant canopy) and visit the indigenous Embera tribe.  But very best of all, we had an amazing close-encounter with a two-toed sloth we spotted in Gamboa.  Sloths are very unique and interesting animals and are well-known for their slow, deliberate behavior.  Since they do move so slowly, it can be very difficult to spot them in the wild.  Luckily for us, our two-toed sloth today was cuddled into the fork of a Mimosa tree right near the road, sleeping only 3-4 meters high in the tree.  This made it possible for one of our group members too catch sight of the elusive animal, which of course caused much excitement!

The Hoffman’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffman) is found ranging from eastern Honduras and northern Nicaragua in Central America, all the way down to Peru and eastern Brazil in South America (Reid, 1997).  Two-toed sloths can be distinguished from the Brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegalus) that can also be found in Panama, by a few physical characteristics.  The two-toed sloth has a more red-brown coloring than the gray-brown of the three-toed sloth.  Males of the three-toed sloth also have a very distinguishable spot on the upper back.  The main difference can be see in the actual face of the animals, the two-toed sloth has a brown face that is surrounded by white fur, while the three-toed sloth’s markings are a bit more dramatc; the face is white, with a brown snout and a black ‘Zorro-like’ eye mask.

Sloths participate in a very unusual mutualistic relationship with algae and moths.  It has been known that sloths in the wild have green algae that grows on their backs.  The sloths benefit from this because it aids them in camouflaging from predators in the tree canopy, and of course the algae is given a nice moist surface in which to grow.  Recent studies have found a third organism involved in the relationship, the moths.  The moths have been found to live within the algae on the sloths and the females lay their eggs in the sloth feces at the bottom of the tree. Their entire lifecycle plays out relying entirely on the sloth.  In return the moths are believed to increase the algae and nutrition levels in the sloth’s fur.  Studies are still working on this relationship, looking into the differences found between the two types of sloths (two-toed versus three-toed) but it is, in my opinion, a fascinating subject on a most curiously-adorable animal.  (Pauli, et al.)

DSC_0352[1]Hoffman’s Two-Toed Sloth

Reid, F.A. 1997. Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. Oxford University Press.

Pauli, J.N., Mendoza, J.E., Steffan S.A., Carey, C.C., Weimer P.J., Peery M.Z.  2014. The Sloth and the Moth: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B.