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How do three-toed sloths find leaves and vines to eat?
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sloth
Juvenile three-toed sloth (Bradypus) climbing a tree branch.
Three-toed sloths locate the leaves and vines they consume primarily through their senses of touch and smell. While they possess color vision, their eyesight and hearing are not highly acute, making these other senses essential for orientation and foraging.12
Once they have identified a food source, these mammals feed by hooking a branch or vine with their large, curved claws and pulling the vegetation toward their mouths. They are generalist herbivores that consume the foliage of a wide variety of trees and vines, rather than being restricted to a single type of plant.21