The all new sloth blog

I have created a brand new website where I will be uploading regular photos and updates from our sloth research, the Sloth Backpack Project and general Sloth Sanctuary updates! Here you can also subscribe to our mailing list:

www.beckycliffe.com

A Close Call

Since giving birth to baby Jo-Jo, Madonna hasn't moved from her favorite tree - this has made my job very easy! It doesn't take me very long to locate her on my daily visits to the jungle. On one of these visits, I had a hair-raising moment. Having reached the base of Madonna's tree, before I even had the chance to look upwards, I heard a terrifying crashing noise. Without a second thought my instincts kicked in and I began to run. Honestly I didn't have a clue what I was running from, but I was running anyway! I only stopped when I heard a sickening thud; a thud that I have heard all too many times. This was the kind of thudding noise a sloth makes as it hits the ground. 

Baby Jo-Jo clinging onto Madonna

I spun around and to my horror, I immediately saw what I was fearing. It was Madonna and Jo-Jo. The branch she had been holding had broken and they had fallen about 30ft, landing exactly where I had been standing 2 seconds earlier. Either Madonna was trying to get rid of me or she just has terrible timing. 

For what seemed like an eternity everything was still. I was rooted to the spot. It took me about a minute to realize I wasn't even breathing. Finally I saw some movement and to my relief it was Jo-Jo. She had landed about a foot from Madonna and was making her way over to mom. As fast as I could I whipped out my camera and began to film what was happening. Jo-Jo safely climbed back onto Madonna's side and she began making her way towards the base of the tree. 

It was only when she started to climb upwards that I suddenly realized something very frustrating. It quickly dawned on me that this was the perfect opportunity for me to replace her Backpack and collect the existing data. Well.... it would have been perfect if I had remembered to bring the right equipment. I had to stand and watch her and Jo-Jo climb up and out of reach, I have never kicked myself harder. It's safe to say I have learned this lesson the hard way and now bring everything I could possibly need with me on every trip into the rainforest. 

Madonna climbing back up her favorite (tagged) tree

Me and Madonna as she climbs back up her tree

After their fall, thankfully Madonna and Jo-Jo both seem to be doing fine. I think the whole ordeal terrified me more than them. 

X

Happy International Sloth Day!

October the 19th is officially International Sloth Day - a great reason to slow down and embrace your inner sloth!

New research published this week has shown just how important sleep and relaxation can be for our mental wellbeing, so let's put our feet up and treat ourselves to a bit of downtime today!

... And a baby was born!

At 10am on October 5th, I was trekking through the jungle trying to avoid the giant spiders whilst scanning the treetops for Madonna, the female sloth I have tagged with a backpack. I couldn't see her anywhere. 

With my neck getting stiff from staring upwards I was beginning to lose hope of finding her (even with GPS and radio transmitters telling me exactly where she is, it can be impossible to see her through the canopy sometimes!) Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. It was Madonna and she had moved to a low down tree. She was acting strangely, and it didn't take me long to figure out why. She was giving birth, right there in front of my nose, I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like laughing, screaming, crying and celebrating all at once. With shaking hands I grabbed for my camera and began trying to record what was happening. Unfortunately the gloomy jungle made photographs and videos difficult, but out of thousands that I took a few worked out well. 

As the baby made it's way into the world (looking a little bit like a slimy alien...) things didn't quite go as I am sure Madonna had planned. Instead of climbing up onto her chest, the baby crawled onto her hand and somehow got tangled up in a vine. Then the baby fell. I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. A million scenarios of what I should do raced through my mind but I found myself rooted to the spot. Thankfully I didn't have to intervene. By some miracle, the baby managed to grab onto Madonna's leg with it's tiny fingers and began to yell. Madonna quickly scooped her baby up and into the safety of her arms where she began the clean up job. Meanwhile I was still picking my jaw up off the ground with my camera glued to my face. 

A near disaster..

Over the next hour, Madonna happily chewed through the umbilical cord and delivered the placenta. By now the baby was starting to look a bit more like a typical cute baby sloth and was snuggled on Madonna's chest. She took a moment to move to the front of the tree and lean back with her arms out, completely exposing the baby to me, before beginning her climb back up to the canopy. Why she did this I have absolutely no idea, but I definitely wasn't complaining. 

Madonna apparently showing off her new baby!

I have been following her movements ever since the birth and I am happy to announce that both mom and baby are doing great. The baby can only be described as a whopper, clearly taking after Madonna. She was, after all, by far the biggest sloth I have ever worked with! We won't know baby's gender for a while but he/she has been named Jo-Jo, fondly referred to as little 'peanut'! 

After the birth, Madonna curled into a ball at the top of her favorite tree and stayed there. In fact, she didn't move a muscle for 3 days. I couldn't see the baby at all, and I nervously began scanning the forest floor to make sure she hadn't dropped the little peanut. On the 4th day she was back relaxing in the place she gave birth, with a fluffy and bright eyed Jo-Jo clambering all over her. Today she came down to the ground to poop (I found the mountain of evidence) before climbing back up into her favorite tree. At only 5 days old, I was amazed to see Jo-Jo attempting to eat a leaf (and a branch, and basically anything that was within reach- we clearly have something in common!)

Yes, that is Jo-Jo sticking out a very long tongue!

... and eating a twig

So far, everything has worked out perfectly. Because Madonna was in our care before being released, she is completely habituated to our presence and doesn't feel threatened. I knew this ever since she happily sat on my knee as we traveled to the release site - we have never known a wild sloth to be that trusting of humans. She really is special. 

I feel incredibly privileged to have been witness to such a special moment in Madonna's life. With her backpack still working, I am going to be able to follow her for the next year, watching and learning exactly how she raises that little baby. She is going to teach us a huge amount, and I can't wait to share this adventure with you. 

x

A GPS Success

I am delighted to announce that following the success of the Save Our Sloths campaign, we have been able to tag a wild sloth with a GPS tracking backpack for the first time.

This exciting little backpack contains a VHF radio transmitter, a Daily Diary data logger and a rechargeable GPS tracker that will record the sloths' exact location every 30 minutes.

THE TECHNOLOGY

The tiny GPS tag that we have used is actually a test unit. I have been in contact with a great Italian company who have offered to custom build GPS tags specifically for the sloths. These tags will be designed so that the sloths body position and the dense rainforest canopy don't obstruct the GPS from finding a satellite signal. The data we collect from this backpack is going to be used by the GPS company to design and build the perfect tags for our project.

THE SLOTH

Meet Madonna: one of the most peaceful and gentle wild sloths we have ever had the pleasure of working with. Madonna was brought to us by a local hotel owner after she had reportedly fallen out of her tree onto the building roof. Thankfully she was absolutely fine, but after an X-ray, we quickly noticed that she was pregnant.


This stroke of luck came at just the right time. By tagging Madonna with the backpack, we will be able to collect a huge amount of important data. We will be able to see when (and how) she gives birth, how long she nurses her baby for, and exactly how she teaches her baby all of those important life skills needed to survive in the forest. This is exactly what we have been waiting for! Of course, designing a backpack for a pregnant sloth was a challenge in itself. We had to make it adjustable and ensure that it didn't obstruct the nipples and prevent the baby from suckling. After several different designs, we finally came up with a winner.

THE RELEASE

We took Madonna deep into the forest on a 120 hectare protected island within the sanctuary grounds. We traveled initially by boat and then on foot. Madonna was so relaxed and gentle on the journey there was no need for a kennel - she was clearly enjoying the sights and sounds of being back in the forest. We put her into a beautiful big tree that we know is frequented by many three-fingered sloths in the area. Hopefully she will adapt well to being back out in the wild and will teach us a huge amount about how wild sloths live and most importantly how they raise their young. 

I will be spending a lot of time over the next few years following Madonna. I will also be looking to tag other sloths in the area, preferably a pregnant two-fingered female! Hopefully, through the information we will gain from this work, we will be able to apply our knowledge to develop our release program.

I look forward to sharing Madonna's adventures with you over the next few years!

x

S.O.S Save Our Sloths

This week we have launched the Save Our Sloths fundraiser, and now we need your help in order to make this a success.

We are aiming to raise enough money to buy the necessary scientific equipment that will allow us to continue with our research and develop a release program to return hand-reared sloths back to their natural habitat.

You can help us to achieve this dream by donating whatever you can through our campaign page: http://igg.me/at/saveoursloths

No donation is too small, every dollar is a step closer to reaching our goal.

I passionately believe that your contribution will help to make a huge difference to the conservation of sloths around the world. Together we have the chance to discover more about these amazing animals and help to protect them in the future.

As well as donations, please help us to spread the word and share our campaign page with all of your friends.

The all new Sloth Blog!

Sloth lovers will be pleased to hear that I have just started a brand new Sloth Blog! I will post all of my research updates there (...and here) but I will also be uploading daily photos and Sloth Sanctuary stories. 

WWW.SLOTHSCIENCE.COM

The Back Patch Mystery

Sloths have many weird and mysterious behaviors that we are constantly trying to understand... Why are they so slow? Why do they come down to the ground to defecate? How long do they sleep for? These are all the common questions. The fact that male three-fingered sloths have evolved bright orange patches on their backs seems to have been completely overlooked! Considering a sloths survival strategy is camouflage, this sticks out like a neon flashing light!

Why have these bright back patches evolved? What is the benefit? Why don't females have them? Why does patch size and color differ so much between individuals? This begs so many questions that we are hoping to answer here at the Sloth Sanctuary.

We have learnt over time that male three-fingered sloths develop these patches as they reach sexual maturity at approximately 1 - 2 years old.  They are always yellow or orange in color and divided by a central black stripe with additional black markings in a pattern unique to each individual.The type of hair within the patch is completely different in texture to the rest of the sloths hair and doesn't grow any algae. Interestingly, the patch appears to be covered in an unknown oily secretion and if you touch it, the yellow/orange pigment rubs off! 

The result of rubbing the patch with a cloth:

The (infuriating) video below was posted by a man who studies sloths in Panama. They claim that if a female sloth smells the oily back patch of a male, she will produce a loud vocalization. Unfortunately this is nothing but a fairy-tale, yet another example of terrible sloth science!  

We have studied female vocalizations here at the Sloth Sanctuary and we know that they produce these screams for 10 days every month while they are in oestrus - regardless of any males present! The vocalizations attract male sloths into the area. It wouldn't make any sense for a female to scream if she was already with a mate! We did however test this theory out just to be sure - we rubbed the back patch of a wild male and held it under the noses of both a female who was in oestrus and a female who wasn't. Surprise surprise neither vocalized upon smelling the patch! Unfortunately this video is completely faked and probably explains the strange camera angle...!

 So the mystery continues. I am determined to find the reason for these big bright back patches and so have recently begun a study looking at this. Do bigger stronger males have bigger brighter patches? Does the patch size simply relate to body size? Do the patches get darker with age due to the continuous secretion of oily pigment? 

To test this, I am on a mission to find as many different male sloths as I can. Luckily as the females come into oestrus here at the Sanctuary we get an influx of testosterone fueled males from the surrounding forest. I catch them and take measurements of body size, weight, patch size, pattern and color intensity. 

We are building a male sloth back patch library!! 

If you would like to donate to fund sloth research or the sloth backpack project you can do so safely and securely through our sloth research Paypal account: