Can Sloths Be Kept as Pets? A Feasibility Analysis of Keeping Sloths at Home

The sloth is an extraordinarily lazy mammal that can't be bothered to do anything, even too lazy to eat or play. It can endure hunger for more than a month, and when it must move, its movements are extremely slow. Even when being chased or captured, it seems unconcerned, crawling slowly, with an escape speed not exceeding 0.2 m/s. Let's take a look below at whether sloths can be kept as pets!

Can Sloths Be Pets?

Sloths can be kept as pets. Sloths have become highly specialized for an arboreal life and have lost the ability to move on the ground. They usually hang upside down from branches, with fluffy fur that grows in a reversed direction, and algae attached to the fur giving it a green color, making them difficult to spot in the forest. The three-toed sloth is more widely distributed, from Honduras in the north to northern Argentina in the south. The two-toed sloth has a slightly narrower distribution, from Nicaragua in the north to northern Brazil in the south.

Are Sloths Protected Animals?

Sloths are protected animals. Sloths are distributed in Central and South America, including Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and other places. There are a total of 2 families, 2 genera and 6 species, all listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2012 Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1——Critically Endangered (CR).

Are Sloths Herbivores?

Sloths are strict arboreal animals and pure herbivores, mainly eating leaves, tender buds and fruits. The best food for sloths is low-calorie leaves, and eating a little takes several hours to digest. When full, they hang upside down from branches and nap. It can be said that they make trees their home and rarely come down to the ground. They climb upward by hugging branches with their bodies upright, or hang upside down and move forward by alternating their limbs. They can hang upside down for long periods, even sleeping in this posture.