The sloth belongs to the same family as the anteater and armadillo. Contrary to its family members the sloth does not live on the ground, but has his habitat in the top of the trees of the forests all over Central and South America. Although most of their diet consists of leaves and fresh shoots, sloths are omnivores and consume also insects and small lizards. Leaves have very low nutritious value and are very hard to digest. Therefore the sloth is equipped with an adjusted digestive system. The sloth’s stomach is divided in several compartments, where a symbiotic bacteria helps to digest the leaves slowly. A process that can take up to a month. No wonder that the sloth has to eat a huge amount of leaves and the weight of the content of its stomach can make up two thirds of the total weight of the sloth. To be as economic as possible with energy, the sloth has a very slow metabolism (about half as slow as other animals of its size), moves very slowly and maintains a low body temperature (30 – 34 degrees centigrade). Sloths spend most of their time hanging upside down in the treetops and hardly come down. Approximately once a week the sloth comes down to ground to defecate. It’s fur is ecosystem in itself. Insects, only to be found in sloth’s fur, lay their eggs in the sloth manure to reproduce. There are several bacteria also living in the fur. These not only provide a nutritious secretion that the sloth licks up when cleaning its fur, but also give the fur a greenish colour that improves its camouflage. The sloth does not have to fear many natural enemies. The only animals known to take on a sloth are jaguars and eagles. The sloth moves very slow though and does not attract a lot attention. The main threat for the sloths is caused by human beings. Deforestation, power lines and roads dividing forests in small patches are the sloth’s greatest threats. The favourite tree of the sloth is the Cecropia, but they are flexible to also feed on other trees, depending availability. Sloths can come down to change from one tree to another when they can not find a natural bridge like branches or lianas. What you would not expect is that sloths are excellent swimmers and have no problem to cross rivers. The sloth passes most of the day sleeping, up to 18 hours. The baby sloths cling to their mother’s fur while still being nursed by their mother, who gives birth to one young per year. In Costa Rica two types of sloths can be found: the two-toed and the three-toed sloth. The difference between the two species can be seen on their front claws. Of course the best place to observe a sloth is in its natural habitat, but close to the town of Cahuita on the Caribbean coast, you can visit the sloth sanctuary Aviarios del Caribe.