This Baby Sloth Is the Cutest Thing You’ll See All Year

When you begin to think of the cutest animals in nature, a sloth may not immediately come to mind, but that’s probably because you’ve never seen a baby sloth. One look at the baby sloth in this adorable YouTube video may change your mind. In it, a young sloth is separated from its mother. As it travels around on the forest floor, it squeaks and searches for its lost parent. Is this typical behavior of young sloths, and what else should you know about this unique creature? Let’s find out.

How the Baby Sloth Is Born

Before sloths can start crawling and slowly making their way from tree limb to limb, they need to be born. The duration of the gestation period of pregnancy differs depending on the type of sloth. A two-fingered sloth’s estimated gestation period is between 11 and 12 months. In contrast, the gestation period of a three-fingered sloth is closer to six months.

In many cases, when the baby is born, it will fall to the forest floor, which is likely what happened to the sloth in the video. That’s why the mother will typically make her way down to lower branches when the time is right; she’ll give birth hanging upside down, so if the baby does fall, it doesn’t fall quite as far and typically isn’t hurt. 

Infant Sloth Stats

When the baby sloth is born, it typically looks like a grown sloth, except it’s smaller. The baby will have fully formed teeth, sharp claws, and open eyes. The weight of a newborn sloth will also differ based on whether it’s a two- or three-fingered sloth. The three-fingered sloth will weigh between 300-500 grams, while the two-fingered sloth is usually a bit smaller. 

Baby Stays With Mom

While the infant sloth in the video is cute, a newborn is typically not on its own at that stage in its life. Mom and dad sloths don’t typically stay together, but the mom sloth will stick around and raise her baby for up to 12 months on her own. During that time, the baby will stay on the mom’s chest on and off for about six months. While there, they’ll suckle small amounts of milk throughout the day. Unlike most mammals, female sloths don’t produce a lot of milk at one time. Instead, in an effort to save energy, the mom will produce small amounts of milk throughout the day for the baby. 

Along the way, the baby sloth will also eat some of the leaves that are around and near the mother’s mouth. They’ll do this as soon as one week after birth. This is how the young sloth learns about the good taste and nutritional value of leaves. Later on, the baby sloth will reach out to mom and try to reach leaves on its own. Later on, when mom crawls across the ground exploring the forest floor, the infant sloth often rides on her back. Eventually, the sloth will get its own footing and walk on its own as it starts to explore the world around it. However, it will still stay very near its mother. 

When Climbing Goes Wrong

While a baby sloth will wish to spend as much time near its mom as possible during its early months of life, the youngster technically has the ability to hang on branches and climb on its own within 20-25 days of life.

During these early climbing sessions, it is possible that it may lose its grip on Mom and fall out of the tree and down to the ground. That may be what happened to the cute sloth in the YouTube video. But worry not. That young sloth was likely just fine. Why? Sloths are capable of falling 100 feet from a tree without sustaining an injury. Not only will the sloth survive the fall, but it’s probably used to it. That’s because most sloths fall out of trees at least once a week during their lives.

Sloths are designed to survive a fall, even at a young age. Male sloths will often fight with each other over a female during mating season, and the winner is usually the one who is able to make the other one fall from a tree. 

Crying for Mom 

If a baby sloth does fall from a tree, it will often make the noise you hear in the video. It’s calling out to alert mom of its presence. The mother will then slowly climb down and retrieve their baby. Since sloths move at less than a mile per hour, that retrieval will take a while. That’s why, in many parts of the world, if a human comes across a crying sloth on the ground, they’ll often assist by bringing the baby to a rescue center, where the cry is often played from a loudspeaker so mom can find it. 

Sadly, as is often the case in the world of wildlife survival, if the baby continues to fall out of the tree, it is possible that the mom will completely give up on the baby and reject it completely. That’s because the mom may believe the baby is unlikely to survive. This may also occur because continuously climbing up and down the tree expels a lot of energy that Mom may not have available. Sloths are mostly silent animals since stealth is their priority, and because making noise can expend more energy. Adults do make sounds sometimes, especially when they’re ready to mate. It’s a thin, high-pitched noise. However, baby sloths make much louder noises than their adult counterparts.

Leave Baby Sloth Alone!

If you come across an adorable baby sloth like the one in the video, you may want to help, but only do so if you know what you’re doing. If you see an adult sloth, leave it alone. In general, sloths tend to dislike people and can become stressed if someone comes too close. Plus, sloths are technically stronger than humans, and they can hurt us. So, long story short, enjoy baby and adult sloths from a distance.