
Maned three-toed sloth 1626
RCIN 921144
The sloth, a native of Brazil, spends its life hanging from trees by its claws, and does not have the musculature to maintain the posture shown here. The drawing was probably copied from a painting seen by Cassiano in Madrid in 1626. The original artist presumably worked from a preserved specimen to reconstruct its appearance on the reasonable assumption that it would have stood upright like other mammals.