The Pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus), also known as a monk sloth or dwarf sloth, is a new species of three-toed sloth endemic to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small island off the coast of Panama, which separated from the mainland nearly 8900 years ago. Only described as a separate species in 2001, they are thought to have originated from isolation of individuals of the mainland population of brown-throated three-toed sloths. The population became a distinct species through insular dwarfism on the island.