Linnaeus's two-toed sloth
Amazing fact
Linnaeus's sloth snips off leaves with its hardened lips.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Linnaeus's sloth snips off leaves with its hardened lips.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Linnaeus's two-toed sloth
- Scientific name
- Choloepus didactylus
- Japanese name
- フタユビナマケモノ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Pilosa
- Family
- Megalonychidae
- Genus
- Choloepus
It lives in the humid rainforests of northern South America and spends most of its time up in the trees.
Algae collect in grooves on each hair, giving its fur a greenish tint that helps hide it from predators.
It hangs upside down from branches to sleep and eat. It comes down to the ground just to move to another tree or to poop.
How the Linnaeus's two-toed sloth lives
It sleeps during the day and is mainly active at night. It grasps plants with a foot and pulls them toward its mouth to eat. It gets water from plants and also laps up dew. It often curls into a ball among tree branches to rest.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Weight
- 4–8 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Berries, leaves, small twigs, fruits, insects, and other small preyUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Northern South America埼玉県こども動物自然公園
Where the Linnaeus's two-toed sloth has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- フタユビナマケモノ
- 简体中文
- 二趾树懒
- 繁體中文
- 二趾樹懶
- 한국어
- 린네두발가락나무늘보
- Français
- Paresseux à deux doigts
- Deutsch
- Linnaeus-Zweifinger-Faultier
- Português (Brasil)
- Preguiça-real
- Italiano
- Unau
- العربية
- كسلان جنوبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Tauta jari dua linnaeus
- Русский
- Двупалый ленивец
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 埼玉県こども動物自然公園 — フタユビナマケモノChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Choloepus didactylusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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