English            -              Maned Sloth

Portuguese    -              Preguiça-de-Coleira

Latin               -               Bradypus Torquatus

The Maned Three-toed Sloth is one of the rarest of the six sloth species. Their name refers to its black mane of hairs that runs down the back of its neck and over the shoulders.                     

The Maned Three-toed Sloth (as well as other sloth species) is well known for its incredible slow movements. Its head and body length is approx. 700mm and  can weigh approx. 6kg. They are the largest of the sloth species. Their coats are a greyish-brown colour, although it frequently has a greenish tinge because of the algae that live in the hair. This algal growth provides the Maned Three-toed Sloth with excellent camouflage, enabling it to blend in perfectly with its surroundings. The fur is long and coarse, and grows in the opposite direction to that of most other mammals, so the hairs point downwards when the animal is hanging upside-down from a branch. The head is small and round, with a flat face and small ears hidden in the fur. They have short bodies, long limbs and stumpy tails. Three-toed sloths are so-called because they have three digits on each limb (two-toed sloths have three digits on their hind limbs, but only two on their forelimbs). Each digit ends in a long curved claw, which the sloth uses to hook around branches. Maned Three-toed Sloths have eight or nine vertebrae, whereas most other mammals have only seven. This allows the Maned Three-toed Sloths greater flexibility in head movement, enabling the them to turn its neck 270 degrees. Maned sloths are solitary diurnal animals.       

The Maned Three-toed Sloth  is only found in Brazil and is restricted to the remaining fragments of the Atlantic rainforest on the Brazilian east coast. It inhabits tropical evergreen forests at low elevations, especially those with a continuous tree canopy. The Maned Three-toed Sloth spend practically its entire life in trees, either hanging beneath branches or sitting in a fork of branches. They descend to the ground about once or twice a week to urinate and defecate, and on occasion to move from one tree to another.     

The mating system of Maned Three-toed Sloth indicates that males compete with one another for access to the females, suggesting that female sloths choose larger and more powerful males with which to mate. Mane size and darkness of male sloths may reflect health and vitality. Males may mate with multiple females. Maned three-toed sloths have been observed copulating while locked in a tight embrace high in the canopy of the forest. The Maned Three-toed Sloths is seasonal breeders, with breeding occurring between September and November. Reproduction may occur at this time of year so that gestation and lactation can occur when temperatures are more favourable and food items are more abundant. Females produce a single young after a gestation period of approximately 6 months. Young Maned Three-toed Sloths weigh approximately 300 grams at birth and cling to the mother for the first 6 to 9 months of its life. Within two weeks of birth, infants begin to ingest leaves. Lactation bears a high cost to the mother of newborns and the early development of folivore in infants may be an adaptation to lessen the cost of lactation. Although leaves are a portion of their diet, newborns suckle until they reach 4 months of age. Infants will remain with the mother for 8 to 11 months. Maned Three-toed Sloths achieve adult size within 1 to 3 years of birth.              

The natural threat to the Maned Three-toed Sloth are avian predators, such as the harpy eagle and rainforest cats. But the real threat to the Maned Three-toed Sloth is the loss of its natural habitat which is threatened by logging, charcoal production, urbanisation, industrialisation and clearance for plantations and cattle pasture. Today, the Atlantic Forest is reduced to less than 5% of its original extent and the area of the Atlantic rainforest, where the maned three-toed sloth lives, has the highest human population in Brazil. The Maned Three-toed Sloth was previously hunted for its meat, and even though it is now protected by law, its numbers have been dramatically reduced and have not recovered. There have also been reports of the Maned Three-toed Sloth being found in tourist areas where people pay to have their photograph taken with it, indicating that hunting is not totally under control. The Maned Three-toed Sloth is a threatened species and is classed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list of endangered species.        

All photos of the Maned Three-toed Sloth were taken on Morro Do Moreno (Moreno Hill) - Vila Velha - Espirito Santo. The photos are of 2 out of the population of around 5 Maned Three-toed Sloths that live on Morro do Moreno.