Sam Trull, director and co-founder of The Sloth Institute

We hope you enjoyed hearing our show about Sloths. We interviewed Georgeanne Irvine, Director of Publishing at the San Diego Zoo, and author of Teaching Tornero: The True Story of a Sloth Superstar, as well as Sam Trull, the co-founder and director of the Sloth Institute in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. We discovered so much about these amazing creatures and how to protect them. Practice what you’ve learned and find out more with the information and activities below!

Did you know? Fun facts about Sloths!

• Giant ground sloths evolved in South America around 35 million years ago, and migrated into North America, starting around 8 million years ago. They have evolved greatly since then.

• Sloths today are found throughout Central America and northern South America, including parts of Brazil and Peru. They live high in the trees of tropical rainforests.

• Their fur grows from stomach to back and in the opposite direction as most other animals, this helps rain to drip off them easily when they are hanging upside down, which is most of the time!

• They come down from the trees once a week to poop, this is when they are most vulnerable to being attacked by predators.

Sloths Venn Diagram

From our guests we learned that there are 7 different types of sloth species that are categorized into two groups, two fingered, and three fingered. These two types of sloths are considered to have gone through convergent evolution. As Sam Trull taught us, “they do have a lot of differences, but the similarities that they have are due to evolving in the same environment, not from having a common ancestor.”

Activity: Can you tell the differences between the two types of sloths? Using the information that you heard in the show, complete this Venn Diagram Activity. If you do not have a google account to copy the document, draw the diagram on paper and put the numbers in the correct location.

Vocabulary

Sloth Rescue: Problem Solving Activity

We heard from Sam Trull from The Sloth Institute about the many ways in which sloths are put in danger. Some of the threats to sloths are:

Habitat destruction
Human encroachment
Cars
Tourism industry
Dogs
Powerlines

Trull and her team work to problem solve and think of creative ways to help sloths who face these risks. Some examples include, they teach people who live near sloths how to trim their trees in ways that allow sloths to still utilize the branches well, and they even create ‘Sloth Speedways’ or trails of rope bridges that encourage sloths to avoid dangerous areas. 

Sloth on a Sloth Speedway. Image Source

Behavioral Ecology: Data Collection Informed Action Challenge

The Sloth Institute helps rescued and handraised sloths. They rehabilitate and support them so that they may be released into the wild and survive on their own. In order to do this, they use a very important strategy, they collect data! Their Sloth Tracking Program allows them to study the sloths’ Behavioral Ecology, to understand their behaviors and make sure they are doing well in their environment.

Activity: What animals do you see in your community? Without interfering with them in a negative way, collect data on the animal you wish to focus on. For example, when and where do you often see this animal? What behaviors do you see them doing? Keep notes on the information you track and create a graph that helps share your findings. Using your data, draw a conclusion about the behavior of the animal you are studying. If needed, think of a way that you could use your data to help them. With support from an adult, create an invention that would be helpful to them, or make posters/flyers that help to teach other people.

Example of a data chart from The Sloth Institute. Image Source

A team of tracking program researchers from The Sloth Institute. Image Source

Tourism and it’s effects on Sloths

As we learned on our show, many people love sloths for how interesting and cute they are. This leads to people wanting to get close to them and to do things like hold, pet, and take pictures with them. This has led to people in the tourism industry to capture sloths, taking them away from their natural habitats and keeping them in ways that are cruel, or damaging to the species like keeping them in small cages. If you want to get close to a sloth, the kind thing to do is visit them at a place that gives them a good home, such as the San Diego Zoo where out guest Georgeanne Irvine works. Make sure to do your research and support places that respect the sloths they hold in captivity, such as The Sloth Institute founded by our guest Sam Trull. To learn more about being a responsible wildlife tourist and to get ideas on how you can enjoy animals in your area, check out this article.

Learning from Sloths: Energy Consumption

Sloths take a long time to digest and convert their food into energy. They save their strength and energy by sleeping often and moving very slowly or staying still when they are awake. People can learn from sloths by conserving energy to save money, resources, and to help the planet. People can also apply that lesson to think about the food they eat and how well it gives them energy. Take a look at the foods that can provide you with energy, which ones do you like? How do you feel when you eat them? Challenge yourself to add more of these foods to your diet. Talk with a friend or family member to think of ideas of when and how you can incorporate these into your diet!

A favorite food of three toed sloths are the leaves of the Cecropia tree. Image Source