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Central Park Zoo News
Hang Out with Matilda, the Zoo’s New Two-Toed Sloth
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 Watch Matilda on the move!
©WCS/photo by J.Maher; video by L.Groskin
| When we visited the Zoo’s new two-toed sloth on a recent Sunday afternoon, she was curled upside-down in a tree, with her long fur matted down and her eyes closed. Around 3:00 p.m., she woke up to eat her breakfast. This might sound like your idea of a typical Sunday afternoon. But by Monday morning, the hairy lump was still just hanging around—and still upside-down!
Matilda the two-toed sloth is clearly feeling quite comfortable in her new digs in the CPZ Rain Forest. The exhibit’s tropical climate provides a homey fit for a species that is native to Central and South American rain forests. Matilda’s keepers say that she is very sweet and—when she’s awake—enjoys apples and a good back scratch.
Sleeping all day and munching all night is the typical routine for two-toed sloths. But don’t call them lazy! These animals’ slow-motion lives are actually an adaptation for surviving on a low-energy diet comprised primarily of leaves. With their slow metabolism and low body temperature, they require about 15 hours of shut-eye a day.
Wondering why sleepy sloths don’t fall right out of the trees they hang from? They maintain their grip with powerful claws that dig into tree bark. This supports them in the most precarious of positions—sloths can sleep, mate, eat, and give birth while hanging upside-down!
Sloths rarely venture down to the forest floor and their brindle-colored fur camouflages them against tree trunks. This helps protect them from being seen by predators, such as jaguars and ocelots. The main threat to these slow, gentle creatures, however, is deforestation. They are not fast enough to flee to safety when trees are chopped down—a major threat to the wildlife of South and Central American rain forests.
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