Hang in there till at least 00:48
December 14, 2011 1:13 PM Subscribe
Sloth Sanctuary is a documentary about a sloth orphanage in Costa Rica that will air on Animal Planet on December 18th.
Trailer
Idea for tagline: They grow up so slow!
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:23 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:23 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
An important, relevant youtube video that's been making the rounds again.
posted by dismas at 1:24 PM on December 14, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by dismas at 1:24 PM on December 14, 2011 [5 favorites]
Great use of the tag #bucketofsloths. Does what it says on the tin.
posted by ikahime at 1:30 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ikahime at 1:30 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
Obligatory David Attenborough saying "boo" to a sloth.
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:46 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:46 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
WTF. It's slow, half-blind, half-deaf, and more often than not asleep. It shits on the ground in the same exact spot, forever. Why isn't everything in the Costa Rican jungle eating one for breakfast?
posted by danny the boy at 1:56 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by danny the boy at 1:56 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
I actually know the lady who made this! She came to do documentary stuff at the field site I was studying monkeys at a few years ago in Peru. She was hilarious and awesome and very much in love with amphibians. And very brave when a horrible bullet ant fell into her shirt. I wish I was somewhere where I could stream video, because holy crap, there are few things I love more than baby sloths!
posted by ChuraChura at 1:57 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by ChuraChura at 1:57 PM on December 14, 2011
That place is awesome! I got to pet a sloth. But not the babies. You can't pet the babies.
posted by flaterik at 2:06 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by flaterik at 2:06 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
want want want to volunteer at the sanctuary. now just hugging one doesn't seem like enough. *adds to bucket list
posted by fuzzypantalones at 2:18 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by fuzzypantalones at 2:18 PM on December 14, 2011
I showed this to my grade 11 biology class today, they loved it.
posted by sarae at 2:19 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by sarae at 2:19 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
Argh! Sloths are just too damn cute. They're not fair.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:20 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by lumpenprole at 2:20 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
How does an animal with huge claws manage to be so adorable?
posted by Panjandrum at 2:21 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Panjandrum at 2:21 PM on December 14, 2011
Why isn't everything in the Costa Rican jungle eating one for breakfast?
Politeness?
posted by tumid dahlia at 2:24 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
Politeness?
posted by tumid dahlia at 2:24 PM on December 14, 2011 [2 favorites]
Reminds me of one of my favorite Aubrey/Maturin moments:
Some minutes later he felt the touch on his knee: the sloth had silently climbed down and it was standing there, its beady eyes looking up into his face, bright with expectation. More cake, more grog: growing confidence and esteem. After this, as soon as the drum had beat the retreat, the sloth would meet him, hurrying towards the door on its uneven legs: it was given its own bowl, and it would grip it with its claws, lowering its round face into it and pursing its lips to drink (its tongue was too short to lap). Sometimes it went to sleep in this position, bowed over the emptiness...
Stephen looked sharply round, saw the decanter, smelt to the sloth, and cried, "Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
posted by A dead Quaker at 3:09 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
Some minutes later he felt the touch on his knee: the sloth had silently climbed down and it was standing there, its beady eyes looking up into his face, bright with expectation. More cake, more grog: growing confidence and esteem. After this, as soon as the drum had beat the retreat, the sloth would meet him, hurrying towards the door on its uneven legs: it was given its own bowl, and it would grip it with its claws, lowering its round face into it and pursing its lips to drink (its tongue was too short to lap). Sometimes it went to sleep in this position, bowed over the emptiness...
Stephen looked sharply round, saw the decanter, smelt to the sloth, and cried, "Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
posted by A dead Quaker at 3:09 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
A baby sloth wearing pajamas? Are you fucking trying to murder me with cute?
posted by orme at 3:18 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by orme at 3:18 PM on December 14, 2011
Heheh, I almost plotzed when I watched the trailer. At 0:49 you can see two baby sloths in their cute little sloth onesies! Aaaaaaagh the cute!
posted by darkstar at 3:41 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by darkstar at 3:41 PM on December 14, 2011
LOL, and now I've just noticed the title of this post. :D
posted by darkstar at 3:42 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by darkstar at 3:42 PM on December 14, 2011
Volunteering there is actually something I've been seriously considering for some upcoming time off. All reports from former volunteers have been very positive (I quite like this one). Except I did come across one report that gave me pause, from one of the writers for the excellent Moon Guides, here.
WTF. It's slow, half-blind, half-deaf, and more often than not asleep. It shits on the ground in the same exact spot, forever. Why isn't everything in the Costa Rican jungle eating one for breakfast?
Yes, but do you know how slow? This is the sentence that grabbed me when I was looking into the critters:
They can move at a marginally higher speed if they are in immediate danger from a predator (4 m or 13 feet per minute for the three-toed sloth), but they burn large amounts of energy doing so.
Yes, at a high metabolic cost, they can put on a burst of speed to evade predators: 4m/minute. Which means they're evading something that moves... 3m/minute?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:47 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
WTF. It's slow, half-blind, half-deaf, and more often than not asleep. It shits on the ground in the same exact spot, forever. Why isn't everything in the Costa Rican jungle eating one for breakfast?
Yes, but do you know how slow? This is the sentence that grabbed me when I was looking into the critters:
They can move at a marginally higher speed if they are in immediate danger from a predator (4 m or 13 feet per minute for the three-toed sloth), but they burn large amounts of energy doing so.
Yes, at a high metabolic cost, they can put on a burst of speed to evade predators: 4m/minute. Which means they're evading something that moves... 3m/minute?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:47 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
This video is essentially getting me through finals. The Animal Planet show debuts the day I get home-I'm interpreting this as a personal reward to me from the universe.
posted by MadamM at 3:48 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by MadamM at 3:48 PM on December 14, 2011
Ah, the videos demonstrate the speed rather well. It's not quite time-lapse-necessary.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:49 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:49 PM on December 14, 2011
And a musical salute to this pleasing pacific placental.
posted by hexatron at 4:43 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by hexatron at 4:43 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]
+10 on the cuteness scale, but... those Wolverine claws are scary!
posted by Marky at 5:58 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Marky at 5:58 PM on December 14, 2011
my contribution to this thread is a bitty baby sloth that is very sleepy.
posted by elizardbits at 6:04 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by elizardbits at 6:04 PM on December 14, 2011
Win. (But surprised they don't do damage to their faces with the claws.)
posted by Glinn at 6:06 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Glinn at 6:06 PM on December 14, 2011
I was surprised to hear Sir David Attenborough's pronounciation of sloth. Is that a UK pronounciation?
posted by saucysault at 7:54 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by saucysault at 7:54 PM on December 14, 2011
On a trip to Costa Rica last summer I had the opportunity to see several sloths. The locals told us that despite their cute appearance, sloths in the wild are carriers of many diseases and probably shouldn't be touched. I can't find any corroboration of that online though.
When going on a tour of the canopy with a couple others from my group, one of our guides spotted a sloth with a baby clinging to it about twenty feet above us. "Perezoso" he said as he pointed it out to me (Spanish for lazy). He waited for the rest of the group to come across the line and demonstrated a unique skill. He made an incredibly accurate imitation of an eagle's cry and we watched the poor mother flip the hell out. Of course in sloth terms this meant clinging tighter to the tree and looking around a bit - much more than you will usually see them do.
posted by Elminster of Labor at 1:07 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
When going on a tour of the canopy with a couple others from my group, one of our guides spotted a sloth with a baby clinging to it about twenty feet above us. "Perezoso" he said as he pointed it out to me (Spanish for lazy). He waited for the rest of the group to come across the line and demonstrated a unique skill. He made an incredibly accurate imitation of an eagle's cry and we watched the poor mother flip the hell out. Of course in sloth terms this meant clinging tighter to the tree and looking around a bit - much more than you will usually see them do.
posted by Elminster of Labor at 1:07 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
OH MY GOD YES
posted by troublewithwolves at 9:45 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by troublewithwolves at 9:45 AM on December 15, 2011
In other baby animal news: You would never guess this is what a rhino sounds like
posted by homunculus at 12:11 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 12:11 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
LOL! And all this time, Jon Stewart has been mimicking a baby rhino as Queen Elizabeth!
"Hel-LEAUuuuoooo!"
posted by darkstar at 1:53 PM on December 15, 2011
"Hel-LEAUuuuoooo!"
posted by darkstar at 1:53 PM on December 15, 2011
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posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:18 PM on December 14, 2011