39 Of The Cutest Sloth Pics To Celebrate International Sloth Day

To find out more about these incredible animals, we spoke with Sam Trull, co-founder and director at The Sloth Institute, the non-profit organization specializing in rescue, research and education with a particular focus on the behavior, health, and welfare of released, wild and captive sloths.

It turns out that sloths are an important part of the larger ecosystem and the smaller ecosystem that happens in their fur, Sam said. “On a larger scale, sloths are the main prey species for many predators (sadly) and also can help disperse some seeds in the forest (for trees like guarumo). In addition, because of the ecosystem that they have in their hair (algae, fungus, moths, beetles, etc.) they disperse these smaller organisms around the forest as well. Sloths may be slow... but they are faster than algae,” she explained.

When asked what makes these beautiful creatures so slow, Sam said that it’s because they can conserve energy and also so they can go undetected in the forest. “By being slow they are super quiet and it makes it much harder for a predator to find them. Sometimes when our researchers are out in the forest, it can be easy to lose a sloth if you look away for a few minutes and don't know which way they went...because you can't hear which way they went!” 

“In addition, having the slowest metabolism of any mammal, by being slow, sloths exert less energy when they move which is an important way to save energy. They also don't bring in a lot of calories since their diets consist of mostly plant materials,” Sam explained.

Sadly, sloths face a lot of threats in our modern world that often don’t get as much spotlight as they need. It turns out that there are 6 species of sloths and 2 of those species are threatened as defined by the IUCN (International Union on Conservation and Nature).  

“The pygmy sloth is found only on one island off the coast of Panama and is considered critically endangered and the maned sloth is found only in one part of forest on the Atlantic coast of Brazil and is considered vulnerable by the IUCN. The other species of sloths are considered 'least concern' by the IUCN.”

“However, I always say that just because sloths are not considered endangered does not mean that they are not IN danger,” Sam said and added: “Sloths all over their habitat range face many threats.”

“The main threat, of course, being habitat destruction (both large scale and small scale), climate change (the food they eat relies on a delicate balance of the right amount of rain and sun), and, of course, human threats to their environment like being electrocuted by uninsulated power lines or attacked by roaming dogs, hit by cars, etc.”

People can help sloths by donating to non-profits like The Sloth Institute that save sloths in the wild. “But the biggest thing that EVERYONE can do is educate themselves on the threats that sloths face and how to be a responsible sloth tourist,” Sam said.

“Sloths are very popular these days. This might lead someone to think that popularity is a good thing... but for sloths, being popular is actually bad in many ways. They are often exploited for encounter experiences/tourist opportunities to hold them and touch them, to take 'selfies' with them.”

Sam continued: “All of these activities are not only stressful to the sloth in the experience but they also are directly leading to sloths being taken from the wild and babies being taken away from their mothers. There are some responsible zoos that have sloths in their care, but there are many places that are not ethical and actually purchase sloths from people who steal them from the wild.”

Sam urges everyone, before visiting a facility with a sloth, to always ask where it came from and if they are showing babies alone without their mothers. “That is a BIG red flag that the place is not ethical. Never pay to touch, feed, hold or take photos with sloths,” she concluded.