“Sloths clean their fur with their front paws-not with their mouth.”

National Geographic Kids, 5,000 Awesome Facts, fact #11

Sloths have 10-12 inches thick, sticky tongues that are covered in a carpet of little tiny rear-ward pointing spikes enabling them to pull leaves in to eat them, but not to clean themselves.

Cats, domestic and wild, are known to lick their paws and use the wet foot to clean every reachable part of their body. It can also help them cool down by licking themselves and letting the saliva evaporate in the hot sun. Their tongue has a rough upper surface that acts like a brush, grooming and getting bugs out along the way.

Most mammals clean themselves that way except for dogs and of course, humans. Dogs don’t clean with their paws but are seen biting at their coat to get out bugs or parasites off of them.

But there is no such thing as a clean sloth. Their fur is full of bugs and algae, mites and moths so it probably would be a large endeavor, not to mention pretty gross. They aren’t really concerned in such etiquette, so their mouth-paw-body to clean isn’t necessary.