🐾 LandCare difficulty: AdvancedLegal complexity: High — restricted in many states
Pygmy three-toed sloth
Bradypus pygmaeus
The pygmy three-toed sloth is a dwarf sloth found only on a single tiny island off Panama, making it critically endangered with a very small population. Its entire world is a few square kilometers of mangrove and forest.
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Quick facts
| Size | Small sloth ~50 cm, the smallest of the three-toed sloths. |
| Lifespan | 15–30 years |
| Native region | Isla Escudo de Veraguas, Panama |
| Climate | 🌴 Tropical |
| Genus | Bradypus |
Habitat & enclosure
Endemic to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, where it favors the red-mangrove fringe and adjacent forest. Its minuscule, single-island range leaves it exposed to habitat disturbance and any human pressure. It is strictly protected; this profile is conservation/education only, and it is not a pet.
Diet
A folivore feeding chiefly on mangrove leaves, an extremely specialized and low-energy diet. Its slow metabolism and narrow diet make it ill-suited to anything but its native habitat.
Behavior & temperament
Slow-moving and largely arboreal, it descends rarely and is superbly camouflaged, sometimes hosting algae in its fur. Being confined to one small island makes habitat protection on Escudo de Veraguas the entire conservation strategy.
Reviewed and signed off by: KinStation Editorial — conservation profile (pending DVM/biologist review)