This chart displays the geography of sloth species in South and Central America. The two major groups are classified according to the number of toes they have. Some of them have no major threats, but if they are endangered it is mainly due to the deforestation of their habitat.

Resources and Inspiration

This map was inspired by my childhood and the joy of seeing sloths for the first time. Back then it was a common practice for locals to own one or to display them on the beach for tourists. Fortunately this is no longer the case. I have not seen one in the wild, but hope that due to their wide distribution I will see one again!

I thought there were only 2 types of sloths. Lookig a bit into them I realized there were 6 species. I decided I could learn more about them and inform about the different groups by creating this interactive map.

To create this map I used the tutorials for Let's make a Map.

The different sloth habitats and further information about sloths were obtained from The 2010 Sloth Red List Assessment. The map produced is an aproximation inferred from this list.

The shapefiles with the different ecoregions in Central and South America were obtained from Ecological Regions. The ecoregions are the fainted lines visible on the map.



Made by Luz K. Molina with D3.js.