March 2025 | Tales From The Jungle
Permits, Puppies & Primary Forests
It’s been one of the rainiest months of the year so far, but soggy boots and muddy field kits didn’t slow us down one bit. Between tracking sloths, planting trees, training a very enthusiastic pup, and building new partnerships with Indigenous communities, Team Sloth has been on the move. Here’s what’s been happening behind the scenes (and in the trees).
Building Our Jungle Home (One Permit at a Time)
Our long-awaited headquarters is getting closer to becoming a reality! This month has been all about permits – hosting topographers, walking the land with our architect, and submitting environmental paperwork (a lot of it).
Right now, we’re just waiting on one last approval from the Ministry of Environment to remove a dead tree from the property. It’s sadly a safety risk, but we’re doing everything by the book to minimise impact and stay in harmony with nature. As always, patience is key!
Big thanks to our friends at Fahlo for making this dream possible!
132 Trees & 5 New Bridges
This month, we planted 132 native trees and installed 5 new canopy bridges as part of our Connected Gardens Project – reconnecting fragmented forests and giving wildlife a safe way to move through the landscape.
We also sent out our first donor update for the year, complete with camera trap footage showing sloths, monkeys, and even anteaters using the bridges! Read the blog to see all the footage from the first 90 days of 2025.
Using Sloth Canopy Bridges | January, February & March Update
Building Bridges with Brazil
The Connected Gardens project is already serving as an inspiration beyond Costa Rica! In Brazil, the Conecta-Vidas project, directly inspired by our work, has begun reconnecting fragmented forests to protect the endangered Maned Sloth.
This month, they installed five new canopy bridges, funded by SloCo, to link critical habitats. In case you missed it, you can read all about this exciting international collaboration here!
Help us grow the Connected Gardens Project
Help us fund new canopy bridges in Brazil and Costa Rica to protect sloths and their forest homes, and become part of the Connected Community to receive detailed quarterly updates on your impact. Support this project below!
Sponsor a Sloth Crossing
The Great Sloth Census Expands Again
This month, we surveyed two new sites – Punta Uva and Cahuita – as part of our ongoing sloth population census. This data helps us understand how sloths use different habitats along the Caribbean coast, and how to protect them more effectively. Every sloth counted = one step closer to smarter conservation.
Everyone, meet Mila!
Mila is in early training to become a scat detection dog. She’s got a lot to learn, and there’s no guarantee she’ll make it to field status, but she’s already stealing hearts. These pups help us locate sloths in dense jungle, and the training takes months – so stay tuned for progress updates!
Reconnecting with the Bribri: A New Partnership
On March 4, we met with ADITIBRI (the Association of the Bribri Indigenous Territory) and our partners Guardianes de la Naturaleza to explore ways to collaborate on conservation work in Suretka.
We’re honoured that ADITIBRI has given us permission to support reforestation in their territory, especially around important water sources. We’ll work closely with local leaders to plan each planting event and align our efforts with Bribri priorities and values. This is a big step forward, and we’re already preparing educational materials for Bribri children and youth as part of the collaboration.
Thank YOU!
Every sloth we track, tree we plant, bridge we build, and partnership we form – it’s all possible because of you. Your support helps us not only connect forests, but also people, ideas, and a shared vision for a better future.
As we head into April, we’ve got more fieldwork, more sloths to find, and more rainforest to restore. Thank you for standing with us every step of the way!
Dr. Rebecca Cliffe
Founder & Executive Director
