It's slothurday

Remember that sickeningly cute video of the baby sloths posted on Boing Boing last week, from Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary? Well, I heard you liked adorable, so I put some adorable sloths on your adorable sloths, so you can... Alright. I just wanted to post this snapshot of a brand-new resident of another sanctuary in Costa Rica for needy sloths: the nonprofit Jaguar Rescue Center (web/Facebook), in Puerto Viejo. This little guy just joined the group a few days ago. They also take care of orphaned, mistreated, confiscated, and injured jungle babies like monkeys and sloths, and try to reintroduce them back into their natural habitat (via frieNDA).

• [agroman]

  This rescued sloth from Emilio Goeldi Museum in Belem, Brazil was very interested in my glasses.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidzaks/459378817

  Definitely a cute one!
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidzaks/459367970

• [Xeni Jardin]

  Whoah, too cute David!!!

• [Marcel]

  Nothing new about geek sloth fandom:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium_Club

• [tonx]

  I think the sloth might be my power animal.

• [desiredusername]

  Looks like its my turn to play the griefer.

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8659000/8659239.stm

• [desiredusername]

  Okay so its not so cute of them to do that, but they still need preservation, perhaps even from that strange temptation of theirs.

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    Yeah, I read that — LOL and everything, but it sounds like some zoologists are saying this is a modern behavioral disorder. Their habitat’s being chewed up and spat out, and they don’t have access to the same traditional food sources they once did, nor do they have the boundaries from humans they once did.

    • [desiredusername]

      I didn’t read the paper that you have to pay for so I don’t know the last word on what the zoologists are saying. The BBC article made it sound benign (in terms of animal behavior), and an act of opportunism on the part of the sloths rather than of desperation, but the research paper ought to say more. For instance are these observation occurring near human settlements or in remote places where scientists are observing in the wild? This happening in Peru which is far from Costa Rica.

      In any case, I am all for preserving all forms of biodiversity, and sloths are a cute special niche. Pigs are cute and dogs are cute and they all eat excrement, so why not sloths.

• [Anonymous]

  We visited the Jaguar Rescue Center at the beginning of January. The staff were amazingly friendly there, and the baby sloths and monkeys were incredibly cute. No jaguars though :)

• [Kaz]

  Please stop.. sloths freak me out..

• [Anonymous]

  It’s Baby Chewbacca!