Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

The brown-throated sloth is the most widespread and common of the three-toed sloths. It has three long curved claws on every foot, a rounded head with a blunt nose, and inconspicuous ears. The coat is grey-brown to beige with darker brown fur on the throat, forehead and sides of the face, a pale face with a dark stripe through each eye, and in males a black patch between the shoulders. Algae living in cracks in the coarse guard hairs often tint the fur green (Wikipedia, general species account).

Sloths of this species sleep 15–18 hours a day and may be active by day or night. Individuals move about 40m on an average day and are often found in the same tree. About once a week they climb down to the ground to defecate, digging a shallow hole with the vestigial tail, a habit linked to the moths and algae that live in the fur. Studies in Costa Rica found them strongly dependent on intact forest and on a few tree species, including Cecropia, and that only about a quarter of resident adult males sired offspring (GBIF species profile, Handbook of the Mammals of the World).

Where its range overlaps Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, the three-toed sloth tends to be smaller and more numerous, and more active by day. It also swims well. On this guide it is a target species of Tortuguero, La Selva, Cahuita, Arenal, Manuel Antonio and the Osa Peninsula.