kingdom: Animalia              Family: Megalonychidae
Phylum: Chordata                Genus: Choloepus
Class: Mammalia                 Speices: Hoffmanni Didactylus
Order: Pilosa

 The Two Toed Sloth is a herbivore. It has the main diet of many sloths. It eats leaves twigs shoots friuts and other plants. It occasionally eats insects but that occurs very rarely. This makes it a secondary consumer. It finds most of its food in the canopy since that is where it lives. The Two Toed Sloth like many other sloths get its water from the plants that it eats. Since it is one of the worlds slowest creatures, this is a great adaptation.

The Two Toed Sloths habitat is in the Amazon Rainforest. It is a canopy dweller and takes shelter in leafy tree tops. Since it doesn't move around much, the Two Toed Sloth has made many adaptations to its habitat. It sleeps for 15 to 20 hours a day, it has adapted to use its claws to hold on to tree trunk for a long time. That is how it got its name because of the long two claws on its feet. These claws also have a very strong grip and help the sloth quickly escape from enemys or predators. Many predators of the Two Toed sloth are animals that do live in the canopy. So the Sloth uses its speed to its advantage. It is so slow that algae grows on it which makes it camoflouge in the trees. Its fur also helps collect alge which is a very unique adaptation it has made. The  Toed Sloths cropped lips and its streamline body also help it survive in the rainforest. It uses its hard cropped lips to cut leaves and twigs and its streamline body to swim quickly when it goes for a dip or is being chased by a predator. 

Many people think Two Toed Sloths are so gross with all that alge that nothing would eat them. But thats not true, even with its coat of alge it is still the food for many animals. These include, Jaguars, Ocelots, large snakes, Harpy Egales, and many more.

Sloths really have no defined mating time, they just mate randomly. Female sloths usually get pregnant around the age of 3. They are pregnant  for about 7-9 months. They usually have 1 offspring at a time. But once the offspring is born the mothers work is not done yet. The baby sloth now stays with the mother for 6-9 months. Then it slowly venture away from its mother but stays pretty close until the age of 2. After 2 it is old enough to take care of itself and start its own family.  

The Two Toed Sloth like many other animals is affected by changes in the rainforest. Its home is in the trees and it finds its food there too. When we chop down all these trees we are destroying the habitat of many animals including the Two Toed Sloth's habitat and food source. Also when people use slash and burn agriculture it pollutes the air which affects many animals.  Destroying land for communites and people littering in the rainforest contribute to bringing the rainforest animals closer to extinction. The animals are introduced to new chemicals and products that they have never seen before. Humans are used to these items and are immune to their harmful side effects but animals in the rainforest are not, and many are dying. Poaching is another way many animals inculding the Two Toed Sloth are killed. Many times the rainforest animals are hunted for their fur, flesh or uniqe parts of their body. For example the Two Toed Sloth is killed for its fur and meat. But its very unfortunate when people kill these  poor inocent animals for fun. All these man made problems have lead most of the rainforest animals to the endagered and threatened list. The Two Toed Sloth is now on the threatened list and is close to being endagered. Enviormentalists don't know if the rainforest will ever return to its original state.