Monday, February 28, 2011
One last sloth story
A week or so ago after we had finished feeding all the sloths for the afternoon, one of the new volunteers came running over to a group of us and the volunteer coordinator saying one of the sloths was choking on something. We rushed over and Claire, the volunteer coordinator, frantically opened the cage door and tried to get the choking sloth out of the back of its enclosure. I had to basically shove the other sloth in the cage out of the way to help out. Oh well.
Once Clair had picked up the sloth and was holding it we could see that it was choking on what seemed to be a little piece of string. They all have towels in their cages that they enjoy pulling over themselves to create a cover and shading from the light. So as Claire held the sloth I took the little bit of string on the sloth´s nose and began pulling. I eventually pulled out a piece of string almost a foot and a half long that for some reason it had been trying to swallow.
After I wasn´t sure who was more relieved, the sloth or Claire. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I guess the sloth was about to have a similar experience, but of course it did was all sloths do and went back to it´s platform, curled up in the corner, and went to sleep.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Change of plans
The time I named a sloth
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sloth Fun Facts
The biggest problem with sloth stereotypes is both species of sloths are called by the same name; however, as I mentioned in my previous post, they are as closely related to each other as they are to ant eaters. Think of them as any other type of animal such as birds, dogs, or cats: they may look similar but they are actually different species.
The pictures of the gray sloth you see is Jojo. He is a three-toed sloth. They are the much slower of the two and do act very sloth-like. Their fur is much tougher and they develop a patch on their backs (why we don't know, but it's possibly there for identification or mating purposes). The three-toeds only each cecropia leaves here at the sanctuary, but can also eat certain flowers; they have a very basic diet.
Two-toeds, despite having the same common ancestor (which was twice as big as an elephant 80 million years ago), have a more varied diet in the wild but each mostly leaves and veggies here. Each day they receive carrots and potatoes, unripe mango (they hate when it's ripe), and water apple (imagine a red pear). And while these guys are called sloths, they can get from one side of their cages to another in just a couple of seconds. I'll go to place their food on their platforms and when I think they're still on the floor I'll turn around and a sloth will be right in my face.
Oddly enough they do not like each other at all. When we take out the babies to give them some space to roam around we are told to strictly keep them apart. Otherwise they fight and bite. They also have different facial structure. It's hard to describe, so just take a look for yourself. But three-toeds seem unreal almost, like they're mini robots trying to move around. I'll try and take some video for everyone to see.
So there you have it! And since there is very little research out there about these things, you can basically consider yourself an expert.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Sanctuary
So I have now settled in at the sloth sanctuary, and things have been fantastic. Much to tell, so here we go.
The sloth sanctuary has been around for a couple decades now. Louis and Judy moved down here in 1986 (he is Costa Rican and she is from Alaska)and one day some neighborhood girls brought an injured sloth to them. They took care of the sloth, naming her Buttercup. Soon they had several other sloths coming their way and they began a refuge sight for the animals. Today there are over 120 of them here, both two-toed and three-toed, adults and babies, big and small.
(If you want to know more about this place, go ahead and visit www.slothrescue.org).
So I am one of the many volunteers that has come here over the years to help out with these guys. They're all adorable, especially the babies with their soft fur. I thought I knew a lot of them, but apparently I knew close to nothing. For example, two-toed and three-toed sloths are as closely related to each other as they are to ant eaters. They are entirely different species but fall victims to bad naming many years ago. Yes, they do look similar in many ways, but once you get to know them they're quite different.
We get to know these sloths pretty intimately here at Aviarios. We get up at 5:30 each morning to clean out their cages (pretty easy since they only go to the bathroom once a week) and feed them. We are constantly encouraged to talk to the sloths, but that usually happens during morning "baby time." Claire, the volunteer coordinator here, is in charge of the babies and has us volunteers take them out each day for some climbing and exercising. They are incredibly adorable. Cute and cuddly, sometimes a little too much so with the insanely sharp claws they have. The sometimes bite and sometimes cry but have incredible instinct once only a few weeks old and can hang and climb just about anything.
Later we prepare their food by chopping up a few pots of carrots and camote (local sweet potato) with a little mango thrown in as well. After a short lunch break we feed all the sloths and are done by 3 at the latest. The days go by quickly and the work is pretty straightforward, but spending extra time with the sloths always keeps us around the cages and nursery longer than you'd expect.
Judy and the others who are in charge always try and release a sloth if they can, but young babies and too badly injured sloths have no choice but to stay because they could never survive in the wild. But we provide them all with a great home here at Aviarios where they eat and sleep as much as they like. They sleep up to 18 hours a day, but are much quicker than you'd think. If you're not looking a two-toed will sprint across the cage and be right in your face as you turn around to exit their enclosures. It's happened more than once to me already and it'll give you quite a shock.
There's a lot of information I'd like to share so I'll add a few more fact posts in the next week or so. Enjoy the photos!