Ridiculously Cute Sloth Photos
These latest great photos were taken by graduate student Rebecca Cliffe, who used them to raise funds to help reintroduce orphan sloths into the wild in Costa Rica.
Over the next three years Cliffe, who has been working as a biologist at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica since 2010, will follow the lives and habits of sloths in the rain forest of Costa Rica. Some of them will be wild; others will have been hand-reared. It’s all part of a program to help reintroduce more orphan sloths to the wild.
“Very little is known about how sloths survive in the wild, and because of this the sanctuary has never been able to release hand-reared orphans,” she said. “Now with these funds we have the chance to purchase the technology to understand how sloths survive and to reintroduce them back into their natural habitat.”
The Sloth Sanctuary was looking to raise $80,000. In the end, photos and videos from the sanctuary helped them raise more than $90,000.
“I am stunned by the incredible response from the public,” Cliffe said. “Finally this allows us to have a real chance to save our sloths and return them back into the wild where they belong.”
Here’s one of the videos from the fundraising effort:
You can support the wonderful work of the Sloth Sanctuary here.
(And if you share these photos, make sure people understand that sloths belong in the wild, not as pets.)