Amazon World Zoo Park excitedly announced the birth of their 14th baby Sloth! The listless little one was born December 27, 2015 to mum, Inti, and dad, Maya, and is the pair’s seventh offspring.
The new family can be seen in the Zoo’s ‘Twilight’ exhibit.
Photo Credits: Amazon World Zoo Park
Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus didactylus) is also known as the Southern Two-toed Sloth, Unau, or Linne's Two-toed Sloth. It is a species from South America and is found in Venezuela, the Guyanas, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil–north of the Amazon River.
Sloths belong to the order Pilosa, which also includes Anteaters. They belong to they super order Xenarthra, which includes the Cingulata. Xenarthra are edentate (toothless). They lack incisors and have a large reduction in the number of teeth, with only four to five sets remaining, including canines.
Modern Sloths are divided into two families based on the number of toes on their front feet: Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae. Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth and Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni) belong to the family Megalonychidae, which included extinct ground Sloths.
Linne's Two-toed Sloth has a ten-month gestation period, and their inter-birth rate extends past sixteen months (so there is not an overlap of young to care for). There is typically only one offspring per litter, and the young becomes independent at about a year old.