THE THREE-TOED SLOTH. 
Bradypus tridactylus. 
Plate XXV. 
This present sketch was taken mainly with the object of showing the method in which the young is carried 
by the mother in the case of the peculiar animals known as Sloths, which form the genus Bradypus of 
Linnaeus. The young Sloth has been frequently represented in the works of Natural History as being carried 
on the back of its parent. The acquisition of a fine female of the Three-toed Sloth together with a young 
one probably not many months old, for the Zoological Society’s collection in the summer of 1865, enabled us to 
note that this is not correct. While the mother pursues her way with her back nearest the earth along the 
lower surface of the branches of the forest, the little one lies, face downwards, comfortably placed on her 
breast, and clutching so tightly round the shaggy body of its parent, as not to be detached without very 
great difficulty. In this position it is most conveniently placed as regards access to the mammae of the 
mother, which are situated upon the breast. 
The Sloths brought alive to Europe usually belong to the two-toed division (Bradypus) but the rarer 
Three-toed Sloth (Cholopus didactylus) is also occasionally imported, and has been exhibited on more than one 
occasion in the Society’s Menagerie. The Sloths are only found in a state of nature in the tropical forests of 
Central and Southern America. ,In his well-known “Wanderings,” the deceased traveller Waterton speaks of 
their occurrence in British Guiana in the following terms:— 
“ This too is the native country of the Sloth: His looks, his gestures, and his cries, all conspire to 
entreat you to take pity on him. These are the only weapons of defence which nature has given him. While 
other animals assemble in herds, or, in pairs range through these boundless wilds, the Sloth is solitary and 
almost stationary: he cannot escape from you. It is said his piteous moans make even the tiger relent and 
turn out of the way. Do not, then, level your gun at him, or pierce him with a poisoned arrow he has 
never hurt one living creature. A few coarse leaves, and those of the commonest and coarsest kind, are all 
he asks for his support.” 
