The three-toed sloth emits a long, high-pitched call that echoes through the forests as "ahh-eeee." Because of this cry these sloths are sometimes called ais (pronounced "eyes").

On land, sloths' weak hind legs provide no power and their long claws are a hindrance. They must dig into the earth with their front claws and use their strong front legs to pull themselves along, dragging their bellies across the ground. If caught on land, these animals have no chance to evade predators, such as big cats, and must try to defend themselves by clawing and biting

Sloths mate and give birth while hanging in the trees. Three-toed sloth babies are often seen clinging to their mothers—they travel by hanging on to them for the first nine months of their lives.

All sloths are built for life in the treetops. They spend nearly all of their time aloft, hanging from branches with a powerful grip aided by their long claws. (Dead sloths have been known to retain their grip and remain suspended from a branch.)

Sloths are identified by the number of long, prominent claws that they have on each front foot. There are both two-toed and three-toed sloths.

SLOTHS LIKE CATS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52Qtlv2o5U

The green three-toed sloth has a strange partnership with the sloth moth.

Sloths are excellent swimmers. They sometimes will drop from a tree limb into water and use their long arms to swim with broad strokes.

A sloth only has its claws for defense against predators. However, its very low level of movement and the camouflage make it difficult to notice.

Sloths mainly leave their tree to urinate or defecate about once a week. Leaving the tree makes them vulnerable to predators like the eagle or jaguar.

Sloths have adapted to living in trees so well they even mate while hanging from branches.

Thousands of years ago, very large sloths lived on the ground in North America. Their fossils tell us some were as large as elephants, had claws and ate leaves much like present-day sloths.

Sloths have a four-part stomach that slowly digests the tough leaves they eat. It can sometimes take up to a month for a sloth to digest a meal.

The creatures spend as much as 20 hours a day sleeping while hanging from a tree limb or curled up near a branch.

Sloths have very little muscle mass but are able to grasp onto trees firmly with their claws. Dead sloths have even been known to remain clinging to a tree limb.

Compared to most mammals, a sloth moves very slowly. Sloths can climb only 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) per minute. They grasp tree limbs with their sharp claws, which can be 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) long. There are four species of these animals, two of the most recognizable are the two-toed and three-toed sloths.

Sloths spend most of their time sleeping and eating in the tropical rainforests of South and Central America. Their main source of nutrition is leaves, twigs and fruit. This diet leaves a sloth with very little energy to move around, a low metabolism and low body temperature