The Land of the Sloth

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for- the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary!
First, a little background on my sloth obsession. I first saw Aviarios a few years ago in a Vimeo video that was making its was around the web and melting hearts one little two-toed beauty at a time.

I'd known about sloths before then (it has surprised me these past few weeks to learn how many people don't even know what a sloth is), but seeing how strange and adorable the babies were had me pretty much obsessed. I watched the video a million times and hoped that someday I might see a sloth in stateside zoo, but I never even dreamed that I would be headed to the site of the famed video to meet those very sloths in person. It was amazing to be in a place that I had idealized for so long, and to fulfill one of my major travel goals for this trip.

As you read in my last post, I got a ride to the sanctuary from a mysterious Tica who appeared in Cahuita and drove us 15 minutes down the road toward Limon. The entrance to the property is in the shadow of a giant prehistoric sloth statue. After our visit, the founder's grandson drove us home, and he told me that everyone thought his grandfather was crazy for wanting to build a 30-foot sloth, but it has actually brought them a lot of business, since it is visible from the road.

Me standing with the slothasaurus.

 Once we arrived, we were the only guests at the sanctuary, so we got our own private tour, which began after a cup of free coffee in the gift shop. The first stop on the tour is Buttercup, the sloth who started it all. The founders of the sanctuary rescued Buttercup in 1992 when a few local girls left the injured sloth in their care. Ever since then, they have taken in more and more sloths, learning from experience the best ways to take care of them and hopefully release them back into the wild. Sloths are put in danger every day when parts of their habitat are cleared to make way for roads or powerlines. Sloths are often hit by cars or electrocuted, leaving many babies without mothers to care for them. Good parenting is very important to a sloth's first year of life- the babies need their mother to show them how to hide from predators, and which foods are good to eat. A mother sloth gives birth to only one baby at a time, and she will carry the baby with her for up to one year until he has learned the way of the sloth.

Buttercup lounging in her throne

Sadly, Buttercup cannot have any babies of her own. She has lived in captivity too long, and would not know how to care for a newborn sloth. But lots of other babies are born in captivity every day. I saw about 10 baby sloths, each one cuter than the last. The three-toed sloths have wiry, mossy hair and flat faces like Buttercup, while the two-toed variety have shorter, softer hair and large, pig-like noses. The two different types of sloths are actually so different in skeletal structure that they really should not even have the same name. The two types are more related to their other relatives the aardvark and the anteater than they are to each other.

Popping out to say hello.

Two-toed sloth getting some exercise.

Three-toed sloth lazing about.

After spending time with the precious babies, we moved on to the area where they keep the adult rescues. There were dozens of sloths, including one wild sloth who was ready to check himself into the sanctuary! They told us that sometimes wild sloths will hear the screaming noise that the females make when they are ready to mate and come into the compound to investigate. That was definitely the case with this little guy, who had the bright markings on the back of his fur which indicate that he is ready to find a mate.

Peeping sloth: a wild male peers into the adult cages. The flies on his fur are attracted to the pheromones given off by the bright patch on his back.

After a short video about the sanctuary, we went to see some two-toed sloths eating lunch. They were laying around in their cages munching on vegetables and leaves, and I even got to feed one!

Feeding time.

If there was ever any doubt that sloths were masters of their domain, check out this guy in the lap of luxury.

The tour ended with a short canal tour, where we saw a lot of beautiful birds and another wild sloth. At first I was a little disappointed that we weren't able to hold any sloths during the tour, but after I thought about it I'm glad that Aviarios is so protective of the animals. You can tell that everyone there--from the short-term volunteers to the owners who moved to Costa Rica for their cause-- really cares about making a better life for these amazing creatures. Local kids who hunt and tease sloths for sport are still a huge problem, and the sanctuary has an education and prevention program where they bring in local kids and teach them about how wonderful sloths are, and then have them sign a pledge saying that they will never hurt a sloth. To learn more about Aviarios, visit their website, and make sure to check out all the pictures of the sloths!