The term Sloth is commonly applied to all the kinds of animals whose
general shape and habits have just been noticed. It is evident,
however, that this union of several species under one term is not
correct in zoology, and it is necessary to distinguish them by
peculiarities which are permanent. A very ready method of distinction
is to separate the Sloths into two families, one containing those which
have three claws on the fore limbs and the same number on the hind
limbs, and the second including those which have only two claws on the
fore feet and three on the hinder.
The first family is called the BRADYPODIDÆ, from βραδύς (slow), and
πούς (foot), and the second CHOLŒPODIDÆ, from χωλός (halting, lame),
and πούς (foot), and both are included in the group TARDIGRADA, or
slow-moving _Edentata_.
The BRADYPODIDÆ include two genera, but many naturalists only
acknowledge one. The first is _Bradypus_. This includes the Sloths with
three-clawed fingers on the fore limbs, whose males and females are
alike in their fur, and which have the cheek bone (malar bone) with
two processes. The upper one is long and dilated at the end, and the
lower is long and triangular, and neither of the processes reaches the
ear bone. There are in these Sloths, when full grown, five molar teeth
on each side in both jaws, and the first is very short. There are two
mammæ on the chest.
The second genus is _Arctopithecus_ (Gray), and it contains species
which have the males and females dissimilar in their colour and
ornamentation, and the malar bone has a thin and narrow upper process.
The second family of the Sloths (the CHOLŒPODIDÆ) contains but one
genus, _Cholœpus_ (the Unau), whose species have two claws on the fore
limbs and three on the hind ones. The front of the lower jaw is stuck
out, and not cut short, and the first molar teeth are long.
The genus _Bradypus_ probably contains several species, but it is only
necessary to mention one, which is called
THE COLLARED SLOTH, OR THE HAIRY SLOTH.[58]
This Sloth lives in the densest forests of Brazil, Peru, and Para, and
is found not far from Rio Janeiro.
It is a kind of the Three-clawed Sloths, in which there is little
or no difference between the fur of the males and females. The neck
is surrounded by a large collar of long black hair, and underneath
this is a fur of a dark-brown colour. The face is naked, and is of a
black colour, and the hair of the body is not very flattened, but is
withered-looking to a certain extent. The forehead, temples, chin,
throat, and breast are covered with reddish or rust-coloured hair,
slightly grizzled. On the crown of the head it is long and yellow, and
pale orange on the rest of the body. This Sloth produces one at a birth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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