There are two species of sloths in Costa Rica. This medium-sized mammal can grow to be as large as a medium-sized dog. It's a strange creature and its name is often associated with laziness.

An animal that grows to about 50-60cm (20-23 inches), the sloth has a small head and flat face. It has a snub nose, beady eyes and tiny ears. The arms are long and bony with large curved claws used for hooking branches. It has a stubby tail. The hair on its body grows toward the extremities because it spends so much time with its legs above its body.

Sloths in Costa Rica — Behavior & Habitat

The sloth spends nearly all of its life suspended upside down and can sleep up to 18 hours per day but recent studies show that it usually sleeps less than 10 hours per day. A slow-moving mammal, the sloth can move at a maximum of 4.5m (15 ft) per minute on the ground and burns a lot of calories as it does this. In a tree it can move a little faster. The sloth has less muscle tissue than other animals its weight and, as a result, is slow moving.

The sloth eats, sleeps and gives birth in trees. Its adapted to trees because it is so slow. It blends in with trees and does not attract much attention from predators.

Sloths go to the ground to defecate and do so about once a week. It's not understood why it goes to the ground, as this is risky for it.

Sloths are well built and rarely get injured when they fall to the ground. In fact, the two- and three-toed sloth do no have neck bones.

The sloths are incorrectly named, as both species found in Costa Rica have three toes. The proper names for the species in Costa Rica are three-fingered sloth and Hoffman's two-fingered sloth.

Sloths eat insects, lizards, carrion, buds, leaves, and shoots. It has a large, specialized slow-acting stomach with symbiotic bacteria to break down the tough leaves. It can take up to a month for a sloth to digest its food.

Sloths in Costa Rica — Reproduction

Reaching sexual maturity at about three years of age, the sloth can live up to 20 years. Females screech to attract males. She has an orange patch on her back with unique sexual markings. The female gives birth once per year and spends half her adult life pregnant. When the baby reaches six-months old, the mother leaves the baby for a new home.