One of the most fascinating animals you can encounter in Costa Rica is the very friendly and very smiley sloth! Yves Pepito Malette, owner and operator, from Costour agrees that this animal always amazes visitors. For most tourists, the Sloth Discovery Adventure is listed as a must when visiting Costa Rica.
As the story goes, back in the day – sloths weren’t so popular. Many scientists deemed them slow useless animals unlikely to survive in the wild. With that, they selected the name “sloth.” Turns out they were wrong. Sloths are alive and well and one of the most popular animals in Costa Rica.
Here are 10 fascinating facts that will allow you to love this great animal even more:Thousands of years ago, sloths were much bigger. Ancient sloths could grow to be as large as an elephant.
- Sloths are tropical mammals that live in Central and South America.
- They use their long claws to hang onto branches while they feast on the leaves that other animals can’t reach.
- There are two categories of sloths. The two-toed sloth is slightly bigger than the three-toed sloth, though they share many of the same features. They are now about the size of a medium-sized dog.
- Courting starts when a female yells a mating scream to let the males in the area know she is ready to mate.
- Female sloths are normally pregnant about 11 months and will only give birth to one baby.
- The tough leaves in a sloth’s diet are difficult to digest. Sloths have a three-part stomach that slowly digests the leaves with bacteria. It can take up to a month for a sloth to digest one meal.
- Sloths are excellent swimmers. Like humans, they can do the breaststroke with ease.
- Three-toed sloths can turn their heads almost 360 degrees.
- Sloths’ primary predators include eagles, snakes, and jaguars.
- Sloths can live up to 80 years.
The Sloth Discovery Adventure offered by Costour is a Top Rated activity which is receiving outstanding reviews from visitors on many sites such as TripAdvisor.
If you wish to see this animal most closely, Costour offers many public and private tours in areas where the sloth population is more predominant.