THE THREE-TOED SLOTHS 367 



save the trouble of a gradual descent, falls to the ground with a horrid 



scream." 



Even yet the Sloth does not seem to be fully understood by every- 

 body, for a modern scientific writer, some years ago, actually went to 

 the other extreme, and stated that it could walk, trot, and gallop, and 

 this although Sloths of one species or other have been constantly on 

 view at the Zoo, for, as might be expected in the case of such sluggish 

 creatures, they thrive quite well in captivity. 



They cannot, however, be called very interesting animals in a 

 menagerie, as, being nocturnal, they are really slothful all day, coiling 

 themselves up into a ball, with their head tucked in and the long fore- 

 arms grasping a perch. The Sloth's one instinct, indeed, is to " hold 

 on," and his only idea of defence is to grapple and hug his enemy 

 with his powerful limbs and claws. 



He holds on to his sluggish life with the same pertinacity, and is 

 one of the very hardest beasts to kill, surviving some time even a 

 puncture of the brain or spinal cord, and being remarkably resistant 

 to poison. The female Sloth has but one cub at a time, and this is 

 carried on her breast as she climbs about the trees. 



All the Sloths are inhabitants of the warm forest-clad regions of 

 America, the Old- World animals sometimes confused with them being 

 sluggish, short-tailed Lemurs — the African Pottos and Asiatic Lorises — 

 which are quite brilliant and vivacious creatures by comparison. The 

 ordinary Two-toed Sloth is an inhabitant of Brazil, and there is another 

 two-toed species (Cholcepus hoffmanni) in Central America. 



THE THREE-TOED SLOTHS 



The Three-toed Sloths {Bradypus) very closely resemble their two- 

 toed relatives in most respects, but differ from them in certain details. 

 Most noticeable of these is, as the name implies, the presence of three 

 toes on the fore-feet as well as the hind ; but there is also a difference 

 an the teeth, the four foremost teeth in the Three-toed Sloths not being 



