Raleighvallen Rainforest School

Lucia, the three-toed sloth

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Lucia is 8 months old.  She is being raised by a friend of ours.  She was orphaned as an infant.  Someday she will be released at Raleighvallen.

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Three-toed sloths eat primarily Cecropia leaves.  They especially like the growing tip at the top of each stem.  We help collect leaves for Lucia to eat.

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Lucia shows off her three toes

There are two ttypes of sloths in South America, sloths only live in the New World.  Lucia is a pale-throated three-toed sloth.  Her scientific name is Bradypus tridactylus which means three toes.
Sloths are the only mammal that can hang motionless below a branch. They have long curved claws that grip branches without using their muscles, allowing them to hang upside down without doing any work.
Their fur grows the opposite direction from other mammals.  It grows from their stomach toward their back so it will shed water when they are upside down.
They eat leaves when they are awake, and they sleep whenever they are full. They are both diurnal and nocturnal, active in the day or in the night.

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Lucia excited about some new Cecropia leaves
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Lucia's tail used for digging

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Lucia is going to bed

 
In the middle of the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, Amazonia, South America