Katie and I met a Sloth today through zoom! Thank you Bronx Zoo

[dakski]

I will start with we weren't able to take pictures, but we did meet a Sloth today!

Katie loves sloths and I surprised her with a virtual experience from the Bronx Zoo in New York USA.

https://bronxzoo.com/things-to-do/wild-encounters

https://bronxzoo.com/things-to-do/wi...unters/virtual

We met a male 6 year old 2 toed sloth via zoom and his enclosure mate, an armadillo, also from South America.

It was great. They were feeding the sloth and we got to ask a lot of questions and see him really close up. I found out that armadillos are insectivores and like the same things my leopard geckos and Ferry, my Chewie, like to eat.

The sloth was adorable and personable and is one of two types of 2 toed sloths kept at the bronx zoo. He was a Hawthorne 2 Toed Sloth. The keeper said it takes years for them to became this friendly and trusting. However, the other 2 toed species they keep apparently only take a few months to get acclimated.

3 toed sloths are endangered and not kept at the zoo because of their food requirements. This guy was chowing down on some yams.

He moved slowly, but when it came time for food, his nose went nuts and happily took food from the keeper's hands. Apparently, Sloths have poor eyesight and rely on smell for finding food and mates (as well as a weird call they make to attract sloths of opposite sex).

Anyway, I wanted to show users here that were unaware of these types of experiences that they are out there. For our honeymoon last year, Katie and I fed seals at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in RI.

Check out your local zoos and big zoos around your area to see what you can do in person and what you can do online.

With COVID the zoos haven't been making as much money and many do a lot for conservation and education - reptiles included.

Why not have a great experience and support a zoo at the same time?

Finally, here is a picture of what a Hawthorne 2 Toed Sloth looks like.