Sloth Conservation in Costa Rica
Who loves a sloth? They are such beautiful animals!
It’s Sloth Tober – a month to celebrate adorable sloths and to raise awareness of some of the problems they face and what’s being done to solve them and how you can help with solutions! And World Sloth Day is on 20th October! But actually, the whole month of October is SlothTober!
The Sloth Conservation Foundation was founded back in 2017 and they've identified a number of problems and come up with solutions to help sloths and other wildlife! So here are a few ways you can help...
The Sloth Conservation Foundation is undertaking Costa Rica's first-ever sloth census, so that they can get accurate data on sloth populations.
How do you conduct a sloth census? Well, the Foundation is using three methods:
Dog power, of course, using a Scat Detection Dog! This dog is highly trained and detects sloth feces, to identify where there are sloths.
Skilled researchers locate sloths in their natural habitat.
Thermal Drone Technology: Drones equipped with thermal cameras can detect the heat signatures of the sloths high up in the canopy. This gives a view from the air of areas which would otherwise be inaccessible.
Using these methods will enable the Foundation to work out the most effective techniques for finding sloths in habitats which vary. They can also collect scat samples to analyse and this gives greater insight into the health, genetic diversity and population status of sloths.
Sloths are suffering on the ground:
The destruction of the sloths’ habitat means that the connectivity between trees is being lost, so sloths have go move around on the ground, and they are vulnerable there. Sadly, many sloths die from being on the road through roadkill, and they are also being killed or injured as a result of stray and domestic dog attacks.
Sloth crossing canopy bridges make it easier for sloths and other wildlife to travel across roads and forest fragments in urban areas
Installing Sloth Crossing wildlife bridges enables the Foundation to restore the connections between habitats and make sure that sloths and other wildlife can navigate their way safely around. Once a bridge has been installed, camera traps are installed so that the Foundation can find out which species are using the bridges. This also means that ecological data and photographic evidence can easily be collected at little cost and least disturbance.
You can donate a bridge for $250, which donation covers the raw materials and installation of a single-rope canopy bridge. You’ll get photos and videos of the installation, and the GPS location via email. You can also donate for a camera trap (the sloth crossing & camera trap is $400) – these help study the use of the bridges. Which animals are using them and how often?
There are plenty of other ways to help and get involved, including
volunteering, fundraising, spreading the word, buying something from the sloth shop,
supporting science, taking a look at the wishlist, becoming a VIP subscriber,
adopting a sloth and simply donating.