August 2024 | Tales From The Jungle
Hello dear Sloth Community!
August has been a really hectic month here in the South Caribbean, and as typical of the rainy season, we had several storms throughout the month that made us postpone or cancel our plans many times.
Undoubtedly, big news for our team is that our Sloth Researcher and Urban Sloth Project manager, José Pablo, recently became a father! Congratulations, José! He’s, of course, on paternity leave for the upcoming weeks. But this doesn’t mean the research projects take a break: right now, we have an amazing team of volunteers who have been fundamental for the arduous task of measuring and marking the squares needed for the transects required for the Great Sloth Census.
These squares are subdivisions within hectares that allow us to better collect data about the vegetation, sounds, trees, and terrain. Then we start the actual counting of sloths using three methods: our eyes, our scat detection dog Keysha, and the drone equipped with a thermal camera.
Removing old bridges… but for a great reason!
This month, our Connected team planted over 230 trees, installed the Sloth Crossings canopy bridges 315, 316, and 317, and performed maintenance on some bridges. We also started to remove some old bridges that we installed back in 2020. Retiring bridges was always part of the plan: once the natural connection in the canopy is restored, the bridge is no longer needed there.
So we retrieve the rope and use it somewhere else. We’re actually really happy to start removing bridges; it means the habitat is reconnecting again!
Sloths using canopy bridges
This month, we received various reports of sloths using our bridges, so here are some photos:
And while cycling back to their homes, Jos’e and our forest nursery manager Diego, spotted a two-fingered sloth using one of the bridges we installed in the surroundings of the new sewage treatment plant.
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We built this bridge as part of an environmental remediation plan for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the construction of the plant. The bridge is SC-246, and you can find it on our map that shows all Sloth Crossings canopy bridges and tree plantings we have done so far!
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A sloth mom with twins?
We also received a report of a two-fingered sloth mother with two babies! The video from Dionisio Paniagua, a renowned tour guide from Corcovado National Park, went viral immediately because these are still very rare sights!
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In May, we received a similar report from a three-fingered sloth mother with two babies here in the South Caribbean. Are these babies indeed twins? Or is one adopted? In this blog, we explore some hypotheses behind these photos and videos.
2025 Sloth Wall Calendar
Our ninth wall calendar is out! It features beautiful photos by award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas, sloth facts, and plenty of space for you to write down your important dates and plan ahead! The best part: Proceeds from this calendar fund our research and projects!
Get Your 2025 Sloth Calendar here!
Thank you once again for being part of our community and for supporting our work as you do. See you next month!
Dr. Rebecca Cliffe
Founder and Executive Director
