A little bit of Faith | Tracking Diaries #14

Hello! I’m Faith, a student from the UK, currently doing a 12-month research placement with the Sloth Conservation Foundation working towards my degree in Zoology. Believe it or not I came across SloCo while online shopping. I was looking at a sustainable clothing brand that donates to several wildlife charities to aid conservation efforts, one of them being SloCo.

I have always had a love for animals and an interest in conservation biology and ecology. I was inspired by Dr. Cliffe’s story, to which I could really relate, and let’s be honest a year in the Caribbean didn’t sound too bad either!

When I arrived, I knew very little about Central America or sloths, and I don’t speak Spanish – it was scary! I have now been in Costa Rica for just over six months and am loving every second. I have learned lots and enjoy telling people all the weird and wonderful sloth facts, as well as how to appropriately respect wildlife. Although I’m still working on the speaking Spanish part! :/ I really enjoy the relaxed, easy-going nature of the SloCo team but at the same time everyone works really hard and it’s very inspiring.

I’ve spent the majority of my placement involved with the Urban Sloth Project and sloth tracking.

My favorite thing about tracking is being able to see animals in their natural environment, not only the sloths, and engaging with people passing by who are always inquisitive about what we’re up to. However, the worst thing about tracking for me is definitely the spiders, they’re everywhere! Luckily, they mostly keep to themselves but we always find ourselves walking into webs.

While tracking I found it very interesting how some sloths move all over the place, and others appear to stay in the same spot at the base of a tree all day (looking at you Deborah!). As a result, I decided to focus my research on comparing the home ranges of each sloth and their habitat preferences; why are they using some particular trees and not others?

My favorite sloth at the moment has to be Mango, she’s small and very sweet, always looks around to watch what we’re doing when tracking and she doesn’t seem to mind too much when we fit her with collars or backpacks, which is great for the project. As well as sloths, I love the atmosphere and lifestyle of Costa Rica and being able to enjoy all the amazing wildlife that lives here.

Outside of SloCo I enjoy doing yoga, soaking up the gorgeous environment I’m surrounded by and, of course, sunbathing on the beach just outside my house.

Would you like to volunteer with us?

Faith Ellison

Urban Sloth Project assistant