WorldWildMapWildlife atlas
Three-toed Sloth
Field guide
mammal · CR

Three-toed Sloth

Bradypus variegatus

Add photoLog sighting
Overview

Slow-motion cecropia specialists: look up, then look up again.

The brown-throated three-toed sloth has committed so completely to slowness that its fur hosts an ecosystem: green algae for camouflage, and moths that live nowhere else on Earth, shuttling between the sloth and the dung it descends, once a week, all the way to the forest floor to deposit. That weekly commute is the most dangerous hour of a sloth's life and the least explicable habit in mammalogy; the leading theory involves keeping the moth garden growing. Everything else is economy: leaves for food, a metabolism at half-speed, a body temperature that drifts with the weather, and a face permanently arranged into a smile it did not choose. Costa Rica without a sloth sighting is a trip incomplete.

Behaviour

Solitary, arboreal, nearly silent; moves maybe 40 meters in a day. Swims surprisingly well when rivers interrupt the canopy.

Diet

Leaves from a personal portfolio of trees, especially cecropia; digestion of a single meal can take days, so meals are rationed by chemistry.

Photography

Scan cecropia crowns and ask local guides, who track individuals. Overcast light is kind to the fur; wait for the slow head-turn, because it is the only action coming.

Ethics

Never touch or hold a sloth and refuse any photo-with-sloth offer; handling stresses them severely and fuels an illegal trade.

Where you'll find them

Generalised encounter areas, not exact locations. Each shape is a grid cell coloured by how likely the species is there.

  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · high confidence · 111 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 14 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 23 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 16 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 18 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · high confidence · 64 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 34 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 27 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 23 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Very likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 21 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 18 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 15 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 14 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
    Likely
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Possible
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
    Uncommon
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
    Rare
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
    Rare
  • Costa Rica
    10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
    Rare
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