Sloths. We love them in Costa Rica. They are the spokes-animals for many tourist campaigns, and their adorable faces adorn t-shirts, mugs, change purses, and other souvenir/tourist objects visitors to Costa Rica take home with them after their vacations. Now, they have been made famous by two biologists from University of Wisconsin: Jonathan N. Pauli and M. Zachariah Peery, whose study of sloths has been featured twice in the New York Times. The sloths remain humble.

Pauli and Peery have studied and documented an amazingly hopeful topic. They have demonstrated that when some animals (sloths) find a crucial resource (Guarumo trees), they can survive – even thrive in a changing environment, even one which may be hostile to their usual style of life and habits. A new study published Tuesday in “Proceedings of the Royal Academy” reports that sloths living on land with abundant Guarumo (Cicropia) trees, tend to have more babies, and are more likely to survive the encroachment of humans, pineapple farms, pollution and other challenges. Their research focused mainly on three-toed sloths.
Sloths are pretty nasty. They have a host of moths and algae growing in their fur; they even eat the algae that grows there, fertilizing it with their own feces. They smell bad. They spend 90% of their time upside down, and only descend from their favorite tree every week or so to defecate. New research shows, however, that the fungus growing in sloth fur fights parasites, bacteria, and even breast cancer.

Two-toed sloths defecate from the trees, coming down less often, and have less algae and parasites. Both sloths prefer the view, shade and nutrition of the Guarumo tree. Guarumos are planted on coffee or cacao farms as shade trees. It is an extremely nutricious source of food for sloths, who eat the giant leaves, sometimes taking a month to digest one leaf. Guarumo leaves are available year round and are easy to digest. Male sloths climb to the tree tops to call to females, and drape themselves on the branches to attract a mate. They can be seen grooming themselves, their fingers moving so slowly that more than a hundred moths can be seen flying out of their fur.

Doctors Pauli and Perry began their research project in 2009, on a cacao farm in Costa Rica. They equipped the sloths with electronic collars to track their movements through the trees. This research led to the discovery of the connection between the sloths, the moths, and the algae that gives them a green color. This research has shined a light on an animal known for its cuteness, but now known to be carrying an entire ecosystem on its back. The researchers are concerned with preserving their environment, their habitat.

Said Dr. Pauli, “The landscape is changing, with more fields of pineapple being planted, which grows only in open, unforested spaces. There may be fewer places for sloths to live in the future.” Sloths can be seen throughout Costa Rica currently. It will be a shame if they start to disappear.

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