Tales from the Jungle: June News!
Welcome to our monthly sloth update!
June News! While many countries across the world are beginning to ease restrictions, COVID-19 cases in Costa Rica are now spiking (along with an unfortunate outbreak of dengue fever) and so team sloth are regressing back into lock-down mode. Despite this, however, our work to protect sloths does not stop! In fact, we are busier than ever!
I am delighted to let you know that this month we secured our first official jungle ‘home’ (headquarters) for SloCo in Costa Rica and built a second forest nursery that is capable of producing over 3000 sloth-friendly trees. Check out the video below to see this in action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCmXDNlbQkM&t=24s
Sloth Crossing Caught on Camera!
After installing 3 new Sloth Crossings recently, we were so excited to receive this footage of a sloth using the bridges in record time (less than a month!). You might think that a month is still quite a long time, but given that it takes 30 days for a sloth to digest a single leaf, this is quite a fast turn around…
Getting to know Team Sloth: Patricio!
Each month I like to shine the spotlight on one of our team members in Costa Rica, and this month I would like to introduce Pato – our Agronomist and Connected Gardens Manager. Click the link below to learn how Pato is helping us to save sloths through habitat restoration!
Get a Free Tote Bag!
To celebrate Plastic Free July, we will be giving away a FREE sloth tote bag with every physical sloth adoption package for the next month! Using a reusable shopping bag like this is one of the easiest ways to reduce your plastic consumption – and 100% of your adoption donation will go towards protecting sloths in the wild!
Introduction to Sloths Webinar
Did you miss our fun “Introduction to Sloths” Webinar on social media? We teamed up with the University of Florida and the “A Scientist in every Florida School” initiative, to bring you an introduction to sloths – including a real wild sloth! If you want to catch up on this educational video with your young ones, family or friends and learn all about sloths here it is:
Take a Virtual Walk where the jungle meets the beach
Lastly, for those of you who have been stuck inside during these strange times, I would like to invite you to take a virtual walk with us through the Manzanillo National Park in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica. In the video, you can enjoy listening to the incredible sounds of the rainforest while walking on a trail where the jungle meets the beach.
This beautiful park is full of beach almond trees (a favorite of the two-fingered sloth) and is, therefore, a great place to do some wild sloth spotting! You’ll definitely be able to spot a sloth in the video if you have a good eye.
I hope you have enjoyed our recent content and project updates. June has been our busiest month yet for sloth conservation, and I am excited to say that we have no plans to slow down. Our new headquarters (SlotHQ) and forest nursery are a huge step in the right direction for us and I am looking forward to seeing the impact on our programs as we move forward. Thank you for your continued support, especially during these difficult times!
-Dr. Rebecca Cliffe
Founder and Executive Director
