The southern maned sloth (''Bradypus crinitus'') is a

three-toed sloth The three-toed or three-fingered sloths are arboreal neotropical mammals. They are the only members of the genus ''Bradypus'' (meaning "slow-footed") and the family Bradypodidae. The five living species of three-toed sloths are the brown-throa ...

species.

Description

The southern maned sloths have flatter

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

s, rounder jaws, and wider cheekbones than the northern maned sloths. The species has a

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

that looks like a

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

Distribution

The sloth is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Brazil's Atlantic Forest, a highly

biodiverse Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth ...

region. Southern maned sloths were found in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

Discovery

The species was discovered by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...

in 1850, but his assertions were later dismissed, with taxonomists agreeing that the specimen, that Gray described was a '' B. torquatus'', but the new study proves that ''B. critinus'' does indeed exist. The ''B. crinitus'' separated from ''B. torquatus'' in the north by more than 4 million years of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. ''B.torquatus'' and ''B. crinitus'' are allopatrically distributed that diverged during the Early Pliocene (period of global cooling).

Name

The

sloth Sloths are a Neotropical realm, Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant Arboreal locomotion, arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of move ...

received Gray's old name, ''Bradypus crinitus.'' The name ''crinitus'' means 'hairy', referring to its coconut-like head.

References

External links

* * {{Authority Control Sloths Mammals of Brazil Endemic mammals of Brazil Vulnerable species Mammals described in 1850 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Fauna of the Atlantic Forest