160 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— TOOTHLESS QUADRUPEDS 



bark that has been given to any quadruped. 

 This resemblance to bark is heightened by the 

 fact that the back hair of many a sloth in its 

 native forest has a greenish tint, like moss on a 

 tree-trunk, due to the presence on the hair of 

 living vegetable algae. This aids the sloth in 

 escaping observation. 



On the mighty Essequibo River, in British 

 Guiana, I once made a special hunt for sloths. 

 Having found it useless to hunt them by stalking 

 through the dense and lofty forests, I took a leaky 

 old canoe, an Indian to help furnish power, and 

 paddled fifteen miles and back. We followed 

 the shores, going and coming, and secured eight 

 specimens of the Three-Toed Sloth, 1 the one 

 with a brown saddle-mark of short hair in the 

 middle of its back. 



We found them in the tops of low trees at the 

 water's edge, spread-eagled on the outer branches, 

 or hanging upside down, but always eating leaves. 

 They did not know what it was to "take alarm,'' 

 and try to escape. Judging by the awful delib- 

 eration of those that we saw in motion, I esti- 

 mated that a really swift sloth could travel 

 half a mile in twenty-four hours, if not side- 

 tracked. 



We shot some of our specimens, and others 

 we took alive by cutting down their trees. One 

 tree fell with its top in the river, and the sloth 

 was carried four feet under water. But even 

 the prospect of drowning did not make him 

 hurry to the surface. To my amazement, he 

 climbed up through the branches, slowly and 

 deliberately, until at last, with dignity entirely 

 unruffled, he appeared above the surface, and 

 looked at me with a most disgusted expression 

 on his wooden countenance. 



Sloths eat so slowly that before one meal is 

 over it is time for the next, so that their meals 

 overlap one another. 



The Three-Toed Sloth is not found above 

 the Isthmus of Banama, but two other species 

 inhabit Central America as far north as Nicara- 

 gua. It is considerably smaller than the next 

 species, having a head-and-body length of 21 

 inches, while the spread of its outstretched 

 arms, exclusive of the claws, is 32J inches. 

 The tail is so very short that it seems to be 

 wanting entirely, but in reality its length is 1^ 

 inches. 



1 Brad'y-pus Iri-dac'ty-lus. 



The Two-Toed Sloth, a also called Hoff- 

 man's Sloth, ranges northward as far as Costa 

 Rica. It is the largest living member of the 

 Sloth Family, and its appearance is well shown 

 in the accompanying picture of a specimen kept 

 in the Zoological Bark. It inhabits the same 

 regions as the preceding species, but is less com- 

 mon. It is occasionally seen alive in large zoo- 

 logical gardens, and when once properly accli- 

 mated, lives in captivity very well. Usually, 

 however, it is difficult to keep alive. In cap- 

 tivity its food is chopped carrots, cabbage, let- 

 tuce, and boiled rice. A sloth usually sleeps sus- 



Sanborn, Pii »to.. N. Y. Zoological Park. 

 TWO-TOED SLOTH. 



pended from a branch, but at the same time it 

 always seeks a position in which it can rest its 

 body on a branch below parallel with the one to 

 which it clings. 



In prehistoric times, a Family of gigantic 

 ground sloths, called Meg-a-the'ri-ums, creat- 

 ures as large as the largest rhinoceros, lived on the 

 pampas of southern South America and also in 

 the southern United States. Blaster casts of the 

 entire skeleton of the most celebrated species 

 (Megatherium cuvieri), from South America, 

 17 feet 9 inches long, are now to be found in 

 many American museums. 



2 Cho-loe'pus hoff'man-i. 



