Slow moving and chill, the Costa Rica sloth is one of the most adorable, smiley creatures on the planet. In this gorgeous country, there are two species: The Brown-throated sloth, a species of three-toed sloth and the Hoffman’s two-toed sloth.
Here are a few facts about these laid-back dudes:
- They are related to anteaters, which have claws that are similar.
- They mainly eat leaves, but this doesn’t provide much energy (as you can well imagine, think about salad), so they lower their metabolic rates and body temperature to compensate. But this explains why they are so very slow.
- They cannot survive outside the rain forests of Central and South America.
- They come down from their treetop perches to pee and poop once a week.
- They live to 20-30 years.
- While they are clumsy on land they are pro swimmers.
If you don’t want to leave seeing one of these little guys to chance – they only come down from their tree perches once a week – you can see them in The Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica. The mission of the Sloth Sanctuary is the rescue, rehabilitation, research and release of sloths with a strong emphasis on conserving the Costa Rican rainforest—preserving the sloths’ habitat. So when you’re in Costa Rica, keep an eye out for sloths. They’ll crawl up when you least expect it. The good news is that they move slowly, so they’ll stay still, which means you can get lots and lots of awesome snaps.
