Sloths are highly specialised arboreal mammals with very low metabolic rates. Their welfare in captivity requires appropriate climbing structures, temperature, diet and understanding of their slow, quiet lifestyle.
Sloth welfare suffers from their misleadingly docile appearance. A sloth that is being handled, photographed, or presented to the public appears calm because fear in sloths manifests as immobility - not because they are enjoying the interaction. Stress hormones in handled sloths are significantly elevated. The 'sloth selfie' tourism industry is a welfare problem: sloths removed from trees, passed among tourists and kept in artificial environments for Instagram opportunities experience chronic stress that shortens their lives. Welfare-positive sloth management provides appropriate arboreal structures, precise temperature control, minimal handling and a diet matched to their specialised folivorous needs.