Originally Posted by Bogertophis
What a great idea, Dave! Your own experience for sure, but the larger picture too...supporting the zoos during these tough times this way if you can.
Sloths always look like they'd be so cuddly...I can't imagine what an angry or upset sloth would look like.
Actually, they have enormous canines, which we saw up close. They show them to potential predators as a scare tactic, much like Blue Tongue Skinks show their blue mouths and tongs. The keeper said they can move quickly if they have to/want to and escape is an option as well. However, as calm as they seem, I wouldn't want a bite from one, that's for sure.
They also have very coarse hair - more like hair than fur it seems.
Natural predators for sloths include hawks and even anaconda.
Yeah, I am big on anything that helps raise awareness and appreciation for animals, especially reptiles being so misunderstood. Many of the zoos I've seen show reptiles as well as "cute" mammals. We chose the sloth experience, but there are different options we've seen from cheetahs to hedgehogs to carpet pythons. It depends on the zoo and your availability to be in person, online, and what times are options.
Honestly, the impetus was to give Katie a good time. She's a healthcare worker and has been working her butt off through COVID. I ended up having a lot of fun too, but she deserved something special. Too risky to take her to the zoo and schedules make that difficult right now as well. So this worked out well.
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