BRADYPUS, the sloth, in natural histo ry, a genus of Mammalia, of the order Bruta. Generic character ; cutting teeth, none in either jaw ; canine teeth obtuse, single, longer than the grinders, placed opposite ; grinders five on each side, ob tuse; fore legs much longer than the hind ; claws very long. See Plate IL Mammalia, fig. 6. There are three spe cies, of which we shall give a brief ac count. B. tridactylus, or three-toed sloth : the general °appearance of the sloth is extremely uncouth ; the body is of a thick shape ; the fore-legs short, the hinder ones far longer; the feet on all the legs are very small, but are armed each with three most excessively strong and large claws, of a slightly curved form, and sharp-pointed : the head is small; the face short, with a rounded or blunt snout, which is naked, and of a blackish colour; the eyes are small, black and round ; the ears rather small, fiat, round ed, lying close to the head, and not un like those of monkeys : the hair on the top of the head is so disposed as to pro ject somewhat over the forehead andsides of the face, giving a very peculiar and grotesque physiognomy to the animal. The general colour of the hair on all parts is a greyish brown ; and the hair is extremely coarse, moderately long, and veil thickly covers the body, more espe cially about the back and thighs. A re markable character as to colour, in this species, is a wide patch or space on the upper part of the back, of a bright ferru ginous, or rather pale orange colour. spot ted on each side with black, and marked down the middle with a very conspicuous black stripe, wide at its origin, and gradu ally tapering to its extremity ; it reaches more than half way down the back, and terminates ill a sort of trifid mark. The tail is nearly imperceptible, being so ex tremely short as to be concealed from view by the fur.
The sloth feeds entirely on vegetables, and particularly on leaves and fruit. Its voice is said to be so inconceivably singu lar, and of such a mournful melanchol, , attended, at the same time, with such a peculiarity of aspect, as at once to excite a mixture of pity and disgust ; and it is added, that the animal makes use of this natural yell as its best mode of defence, since other creatures are frightened away by the uncommon sound. This, how ever, is far from being its only refuge ; for so great is the degree of muscular strength which it possesses, that it is ca pable of seizing a dog with its claws, and holding it,in spite ofall its effortsio escape, till it perishes with hunger ; the sloth it self being so well calculated for support ing abstinence, that the celebrated Kirch er assures us of its power in this respect, having been exemplified by the very sin gular experiment of suffering one, which had fastened itself to a pole, to remain in that satiation, without any sustenance, upwards of forty days. This extraordi
nary animal is an inhabitant of the hotter parts of' South America. It is nearly as large•as a middle sized dog B. Didactylus, or two-toed sloth, is also a native of South America ; and it is as serted, on good authority, that it is like wise found in some parts of India, as well as in the Island of Ceylon. In its general appearance, as well as in size, it bears a considerable resemblance to the former species : it is, however, somewhat more slender in its sh ape, covered with smooth er or less coarse and harsh hair, and is of a more uniform or less varied tinge ; and, in particular, is strikingly distinguished, as a species, by having only two claws on the forefeet; it is also a much more ac tive animal, and, even when imported into Europe, has been known,according to the testimony of the Count de Buffon, to as cend and descend from a tall tree several times in a day ; whereas the three-toed sloth with difficulty performs that opera tion in a whole day, and can scarcely crawl a few hundred yards in the space of many hours.
B Ursinus, or ursine sloth, isby far the largest species : it is a native of India, and has been but lately introduced to the knowledge of European naturalists. It was brought from the neighbourhood of Patna in Bengal. This animal has, at first sight, so much of the general aspect of a bear, that it has actually been consi dered as such by some observers : but it is no otherwise related to the bear than by its size and habit, or mere exterior outline. It is about the size of a bear, and is covered all over, except on the face, or rather the snout, which is bare and whitish, with long shaggy black hair, which on the neck and back is much longer than elsewhere: on the forepart of the body the hair points forwards; on the hinder part backwards ; the eyes are very small; the ears rather small, and partly hid in the long hair of the head ; it is totally destitute of incisores. or front teeth ; in each jaw there are two canine teeth of a moderate size : the nose or snout is of a somewhat elongated form ; it also appears as if furnished with a sort of transverse joint, or internal car tilage, which admits of a peculiar kind of motion in this part. It is a gentle and good natured animal ; it feeds chiefly on vegetables and milk, is fond of apples, and does not willingly eat animal food, except of a very tender nature, as mar row, which is readily sucked from a bone presented to it. Its motions are not, as in the two former species, slow and languid, but moderately lively ; and it appears to have a habit of turning itself round and round every now and then, as if for amuse. ment, in the manner of a dog when lying down to sleep. It is said to have a pro pensity to burrowing under the ground.