Relax... let's make it slow...

I´ve been wanting to do a post about sloths for a long time, especially after seeing some of the cool photos in @sallybeth23 's posts (if you do visit her blog, which you should... you'll probably feel an urge to get a plain ticket to Costa Rica; consider yourself warned!) and since @derangedvisions's last contest theme was about wild animals and sloths were a favourite... here are a few more sloth photos and a little bit of knowledge!

^{Let´s talk about sloths, shall we?}

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Sloths are arboreal mammals, with a very very low metabolic rate, with accounts for their “slowness”. They spend most of their lives sleeping and feeding in the trees of the rainforests of Central and South America. Six species of sloth exist, and can be divided in three-toed and two-toed sloths. This nomenclature is actually misleading, because actually all of them have three toes, the difference is on the forelimbs! But more on that ahead.

The photos on this post were all taken in a recent trip to Costa Rica, where 2 species exist: the Brown Throated three-toed sloth Bradypus variegatus, and the Hoffman’s two-toed sloth Choloepus hoffmanni. I was lucky enough to see both species, and there are a few characteristics that make identification easy. So... how do you distinguish the Costa Rican sloths? A few ways:

1) Diurnal vs nocturnal

Both sloths are nocturnal, but the three toed also displays diurnal activity. So unless you do a night tour, chances are the three toed sloth is the one you'll be most likely to see.

This was the only photo I got from a two toed sloth, and could only spot her because of our guide in Tortuguero.

2) “Toes”

As said before, the name is misleading. All sloths have three fingers on the hindlimb; three toed sloth have three fingers on the forelimbs as well, whereas two toed sloths only have two. If the arms are visible, it's quite easy to identify them.

3) Face

three toed sloths have blach patches over the eyes, while two toed have not.

^{Hey mate, how's it hanging?}

4)Tail

Two toeds have a tail, which in the three toed is absent.

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So there you go, now you're almost an expert when it comes to Costa Rican sloths! A curiosity: as sloth's grow, an entire ecossistem forms in their fur! Algae and lichen grow, and moths can live there too! This helps them camouflage.

Since the young squirrel monkey was nagging the sloth a few seconds before I took the photo, clearly in this case the camouflage didn't work :)

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Although most time is spent on trees, they do come down to the ground... and one of the reasons to do it, is to defecate! That's why signs like these are needed:

So now you already know a possible answer to the question...”Why did the sloth crossed the road?” :)