Watch a human return a lost baby sloth to its mother, who didn't hear it crying

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Originally published at: Watch a human return a lost baby sloth to its mother, who didn't hear it crying | Boing Boing

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I wonder if sloths perceive us as moving like Flash.

And clearly that Jaguar Rescue Center does a brisk side business or that was one funny looking jaguar.

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African American Awww GIF

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Mummy Sloth, “I could hear Baby Sloth; I just couldn’t be arsed.”

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“Flash, Flash hundred-yard-dash!”

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Seriously though, sloths will often abandon their babies if they drop them. It takes a lot of energy for a sloth to go up and down a tree, so it’s often just not worth it for them.

EDIT: Apparently this is incorrect, I blame podcasts lol

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Man, life in a low-energy system can be brutal. No wonder sloths look so sad.

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I don’t think that energy calculation works out. Babies are huge energy sinks.

Also:

Falling from the trees
Sometimes a baby sloth will fall from its mother’s chest to the ground where it is very vulnerable to predators.

Sloths are built to survive falls of up to 100ft to the forest floor – however, they are not adapted to fall onto concrete or roofs. As more of their jungle home disappears, sloths are less likely to survive falls.

When a baby sloth falls and becomes separated from mom, they will cry to alert their mother to where they are. Mom will climb down from the canopy to retrieve her baby, but as sloths have a top speed of 2mph, this journey will take a lot of time and energy.

Reuniting with mom – with the help of humans!
In urban areas, well-meaning members of the public may assume that a baby sloth on the ground is in trouble, and will take them to a rescue center before mom has the chance to reach her baby. Rescue centers have developed a technique to reunite mothers with their babies in these situations, by recording the baby’s cry and playing the recording on a loudspeaker where the baby was discovered.

Baby sloth cries are loud, but the jungle is louder (especially in urban areas where cars and construction noise pollute the air). If mom is still around, she will spring into action and slowly head towards the cry coming from the loudspeaker. The lost baby can be placed on the tree trunk once mom is close enough, and mom can scoop her baby up and return to the canopy.

There’s a bit about frequent fallers and abnormal sloth babies falling and being rejected later, but this doesn’t seem to be the typical situation.

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Fair enough, I had heard this on Stuff You Should Know’s episode on sloths, they must’ve had bad information Stuff You Should Know How Sloths Work - YouTube

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