Sloths in Manuel Antonio
Two sloth species live in Manuel Antonio: the brown-throated three-fingered sloth (Bradypus variegatus) and Hoffmann’s two-fingered sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni). SINAC lists both among the national park’s outstanding animals. They are easy to walk past, high up, still and often tinted green, so a slow scan of the treetops or a guide with a scope makes all the difference.
Two sloths, not one
Travel Guide › Wildlife › Sloths
The two sloths you can meet here look alike from a distance, but they are quite different animals. Two-fingered and three-fingered sloths belong to separate families, and they differ in size, diet, temperament and daily rhythm.
The names describe the front limbs. Hoffmann’s sloth has two claws on each front limb and the brown-throated sloth has three (Animal Diversity Web). You will also hear “two-toed” and “three-toed” sloths. It is the same pair of animals; SINAC’s English page uses “fingers”, and so do sloth researchers such as The Sloth Conservation Foundation.
In Spanish they are perezoso de tres dedos and perezoso de dos dedos. The name of the park’s main trail, Sendero Perezoso, means “Sloth Trail”.
How to tell them apart
Brown-throated three-fingered sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
- Size: about 2.3 to 6.5 kg and 40 to 69 cm long (The Sloth Conservation Foundation).
- Face: a small round head with a dark mask around the eyes and what looks like a permanent smile. The throat and head are brownish, which gives the species its name.
- Body: grey-brown and white fur, often with a greenish tint from algae. A short, stubby tail.
- Limbs: arms about twice as long as the legs, with three long claws on each.
- Neck: nine neck vertebrae instead of the usual mammal seven, so it can turn its head about 270 degrees.
Hoffmann’s two-fingered sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
- Size: bigger, up to about 80 cm and as much as 11 kg, though 6 to 8 kg is typical (The Sloth Conservation Foundation).
- Face: hair lighter around the face and a longer, bare, somewhat pig-like snout.
- Body: long tan to light-brown hair, often darker over the head and back.
- Limbs: front and back limbs of similar length, with two claws on the front.
- Temperament: faster and more active than the three-fingered sloth. When threatened it can raise its hair to look bigger, and it can bite.
Quick rule: if you can see a dark eye mask and a little “smile”, it’s a three-fingered sloth. A bigger, shaggier animal with a lighter face and a prominent snout is a two-fingered sloth.
Where they live and what they eat
Habitat
Both sloths live in the trees and come down only rarely. They eat, sleep, mate and give birth while hanging from branches. Animal Diversity Web notes that adult brown-throated sloths are not seen sharing a tree with another adult, and that Hoffmann’s sloths tend to spend the day at mid-canopy height and move higher in the evening. Hoffmann’s sloths rarely leave the area where they were born and travel only short distances in a day.
In Manuel Antonio that means forest of all kinds: the national park, the forested hills along the road from Quepos, and the patches of rainforest around hotels and homes. Because sloths can’t easily cross open ground, the gaps between these patches, and the roads and power lines that cut through them, are a real problem for them.
Diet
Three-fingered sloths are strict plant-eaters. They feed mainly on trees of the genus Cecropia, eating leaves, flowers and fruit, and get most of their water from their food (Animal Diversity Web). The Sloth Conservation Foundation explains that their long arms let them reach the young, tender leaves at the tips of branches, which are easier to digest and often lower in plant toxins. In Manuel Antonio the only Cecropia species is the guarumo, Cecropia peltata (crtrees.org). Learn to recognize it in our plants and rainforest guide: huge, deeply lobed leaves with pale, silvery undersides, on a thin trunk ringed with scars.
Two-fingered sloths eat leaves too, plus buds, tender twigs, young shoots, fruit and flowers. An adult eats only about 0.35 kg of food a day. Leaves take around two and a half days to pass through its gut, the slowest rate known for any plant-eating mammal, and a slow metabolism lets it survive on very little (Animal Diversity Web).
A day (and a week) in the life of a sloth
Slow on purpose
Sloths save energy in almost everything they do. The Sloth Conservation Foundation notes that both groups have largely given up the costly job of holding a steady body temperature. Their core temperature can shift by up to 6°C in a day, so they bask in the sun to warm up, much as a lizard would.
The weekly trip down
The riskiest thing a sloth does is climb to the ground to go to the bathroom. Two-fingered sloths do it roughly every five days, and a sloth can lose up to a third of its body weight in one visit (The Sloth Conservation Foundation). Three-fingered sloths dig a small hole with their tail first and cover the pile afterwards. Sloth moths that live in the fur climb down and lay their eggs in the fresh dung. Why sloths take this risk is still debated; the Foundation thinks communication between sloths is the likeliest explanation.
A walking ecosystem
Each hair has grooves that hold moisture, and algae and fungi grow there, giving the fur its green tint and helping with camouflage. One sloth can carry up to 950 moths and beetles in its coat, some of them found nowhere else (The Sloth Conservation Foundation).
How long do they live?
Nobody knows for sure. Sloths’ teeth and claws keep growing, so a wild sloth’s age can’t be read from its body, and no one has followed a wild sloth from birth to death. Captive sloths have reached 40 to 50 years.
Their role in the forest, and how they are doing
Ecological role
Sloths are more than slow leaf-eaters. Their fur is home to algae, fungi, moths and beetles. Hoffmann’s sloths fertilize the trees they live in when they leave their dung at the base, and they are prey for large birds of prey and wild cats across their range (Animal Diversity Web).
Conservation status
- Brown-throated three-fingered sloth: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessed 2022).
- Hoffmann’s two-fingered sloth: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessed 2022).
“Least Concern” describes the species across its whole range. It doesn’t mean local sloths are safe. The national park’s 2013–2018 management plan includes both sloths in its list of the park’s mammals of conservation concern, drawing on national regulations and international listings. Kids Saving the Rainforest, the wildlife rescue center in Manuel Antonio, names sloths among the animals it takes in most often, and cites habitat destruction, road accidents and electrocution among the reasons animals arrive. Rope crossings over roads and replanted forest corridors help sloths move without touching the ground or the wires.
Status checked in the IUCN Red List in September 2026.
How to watch sloths well
- Look, don’t touch. Never hold, hug or pose with a sloth, even one that seems calm. SINAC asks visitors not to touch wild animals, and Costa Rica’s government campaign #StopAnimalSelfies (supported by World Animal Protection) asks travelers to skip photos that involve handling wildlife. Places that let you hold a sloth for a picture are not ones to support.
- Give a sloth on the ground extra space. It is at its most vulnerable there. Keep people and dogs back and let it finish and climb.
- Don’t “help” a sloth across the road or pick up a baby. If a sloth looks injured or a baby is alone on the ground, keep watch from a distance and tell your guide, a park ranger or your hotel so a licensed rescue center can be called. See our wildlife guide for more on this.
- No flash, no shaking branches, no noise to make it look up. A sleeping sloth is still a good sighting.
- Use a scope or binoculars. Most sloths are high up. A guide’s spotting scope turns a brown lump into a face.
Where visitors may encounter sloths
There is no spot where a sloth is always waiting. Sloths move slowly, but they do move, and a tree that held one last week may be empty today. These are simply the places where people often find them.
- Manuel Antonio National Park. SINAC lists both sloths among the park’s outstanding species. Scan the trees along the wide main trail and the beach trails, and watch where other visitors with guides have stopped (then keep your distance). Our national park guide covers tickets, opening days and rules.
- Guarumo trees. The open, thin crowns of Cecropia trees make them one of the easier places to spot animals, and three-fingered sloths feed on them.
- Forest around hotels and along the Manuel Antonio road. Sloths are part of daily life at ECOTICA, on our ten acres of rainforest a few minutes from the park, though never on a schedule. Our post on seeing wildlife where you stay has tips on spotting them.
- With a guide. A naturalist guide is the most reliable way to find a sloth you would otherwise miss. ECOTICA’s concierge can arrange a guided walk through our wildlife and nature tours.
Looking for the rest of Manuel Antonio’s animals? Read our monkey guide and our bird guide.
Sources and further reading
- SINAC – Manuel Antonio National Park (official page, English)
- SINAC – Plan General de Manejo, Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio 2013–2018 (PDF; species lists, habitats, visitor impacts)
- Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan) – Brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus)
- Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan) – Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)
- The Sloth Conservation Foundation – Three-fingered sloths
- The Sloth Conservation Foundation – Two-fingered sloths
- The Sloth Conservation Foundation – Why do sloths really poop on the ground?
- IUCN Red List – Bradypus variegatus: Least Concern (assessed 2022)
- IUCN Red List – Choloepus hoffmanni: Least Concern (assessed 2022)
- Trees of Costa Rica’s Pacific Slope (crtrees.org) – Cecropia peltata (guarumo)
- Kids Saving the Rainforest – About KSTR (rescue, rehabilitation, wildlife bridges)
- World Animal Protection – Costa Rica urges tourists not to take wildlife selfies (13 Nov 2019)
Last reviewed: September 2026. Conservation categories come from the IUCN Red List assessment shown next to each name; categories can change when species are reassessed. Park rules and opening details belong to SINAC, so check its official page before you go.
