page_title: Pygmy three-toed sloth
section_title: Characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: Pygmy three-toed sloth / Characteristics
caption_attribution_description: Perezoso enano de Escudo de Veraguas
context_page_description: The pygmy three-toed sloth, also known as the monk sloth or dwarf sloth, is a sloth endemic to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small island off the coast of Panama. The species was first described by Robert P. Anderson of the University of Kansas and Charles O. Handley Jr., of the Smithsonian Institution in 2001. The pygmy three-toed sloth is significantly smaller than the other three members of its genus, but otherwise resembles the brown-throated three-toed sloth. According to Anderson and Handley Jr., the head-and-body length is between 48 and 53 centimetres, and the body mass ranges from 2.5 to 3.5 kg.
  This sloth, like other sloths, is arboreal and feeds on leaves. It has a body adapted to hang by its limbs; the large curved claws help the sloth to keep a strong grip on tree branches. It lives high in the canopy but descends once a week to defecate on the forest floor. It is symbiotically associated with green algae, that can provide it with a camouflage. Details of mating behavior and reproduction have not been documented. The pygmy three-toed sloth is found exclusively in the red mangroves of Isla Escudos de Veraguas, restricted to an area of 4.3 square kilometres.
context_section_description: The pygmy three-toed sloth is significantly smaller than the other members of its genus, but otherwise resembles the brown-throated sloth. According to Anderson and Handley Jr., the head-and-body length is between 48 and 53 centimetres (19 and 21 in), and the body mass ranges from 2.5 to 3.5 kg (5.5 to 7.7 lb). The brown-throated sloth is nearly 40% heavier and 15% smaller in head-and-body length than the pygmy three-toed sloth. Moreover, the brown-throated sloth is lighter on the crown. The face is buff to tan; a dark band runs across the brow, surrounded by an orange patch. The throat is gray to brown, lighter than the underbelly; the dark brown back is spotted and has a dark stripe along the midline. Facial hair is short, while the long, rough hair on the crown and shoulders forms a hood. The grayish limbs have three claws each. The tail is 4.5 to 6 centimetres (1.8 to 2.4 in) long.
  They have a relatively small and slender skull, with a large external auditory meatus, narrow squamosal and mandibular processes, a minuscule stylomastoid foramen, and usually lack foramina for the external carotid artery and anterodorsal (meaning in front and toward the back) nasopharynx. The dental formula of three-toed sloths is:  Two of the teeth in each jaw are incisor-like, although those in the upper jaw are small or may be absent. Many of the features found in pygmy sloths are thought to be indicative of a relatively rapid evolution of a new species in an isolated, island habitat.
caption: Pygmy three-toed sloth on Isla Escudo de Veraguas
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