Folivore Fever

I’ve always had a soft spot for wildlife’s weirdos, along with a very unconventional notion of what's 'cute'. As a child, my favourite toys weren’t your typical fluffy bears with beady eyes and dolls, but three-foot long stuffed crocodiles, squids and rubber glow worms. My first ever detention (I still remember the crippling shame) was given to me for sneaking into an off-limits area of the playground to, er... stroke bumblebees.

At seven years old, I cajoled my mum and her friend into joining ‘The Weed Trust’, a society created by yours truly in an attempt to seek justice on behalf of this much-maligned group of plants. I kitted them out with badges, dedicated hours to the careful crafting of posters and monthly newsletters, and organised meetings... A fruitless mission of course, but I guess it's the thought that counts...

Sloths have taken the internet by storm in all their freakish, bug-eyed glory, and I couldn't be happier about it

Perhaps my love for the oddballs is down to a certain likeness… Still, reasons aside, I can’t help but feel very lucky to be embarking on my next, proper crusade to help peddle the downright weird. Fortunately Lucy Cooke’s Sloth Appreciation Society - founded in 2010 - has gained considerably more traction than my Weed Trust could ever have done. In fact, it's become so popular that she's had to enlist some help… 

In a strange turn of events, I've wound up with the ultimate PR job: it's now my duty, with help from Lucy and illustrator and graphic designer Rachel Gale (go Team Sloth!), to champion these topsy-turvy tree huggers across the social mediasphere. Practising what I preach - that is, realising the importance of taking it easy and embracing one's inner sloth from time to time - is (ironically) quite a challenge, especially where the selling of a calendar is involved (shameless plug, but who wouldn't want a twelve month supply of cute sloth photos and facts to display on their wall)?...

Sloths are just as weird on in the inside as they are on the outside... Their claws aren't your typical claws at all, but elongated, protruding finger bones

Until fairly recently, even I was unaware of the fact that there are actually six species of sloth, belonging to two genera (which are as genetically different as cats and dogs, having diverged on the evolutionary tree some 80 million years ago). Of the two-fingered variety (Choloepus - meaning 'crippled') are the Linneaus’s and Hoffmann’s sloths, and of the three-fingered type (Bradypus - Greek for 'slow of foot'), the pale- and brown-throated sloths, the pint-sized pygmy sloth and - my personal favourite -  the maned sloth (this one looks like the result of a bizarre Doctor Frankenstein-type experiment involving a bear and a big, old coconut).

Even individual sloths of the same species look remarkably different to one another - each has its own characteristic appearance and personality. During the time I've spent wading through photographs and footage of the residents - past and present - of various Costa Rican animal sanctuaries (yes, I get paid to do this...), I now find myself able to recognise several of these smiley, enigmatic characters in a way that I would have never before thought possible.

The pygmy sloths of Panama don't just look stoned - they are stoned. The leaves which make up their diet are believed to contain chemicals with properties similar to Valium...

Despite its popularity, the sloth remains a highly misunderstood creature, the general consensus being that it's stupid and lazy - perhaps even something of an evolutionary loser. It's been tarnished with a name that speaks of sin and mocked for its unhurried approach to life ever since it was first discovered. But how about if I told you that sloths could, in fact, be considered the ultimate exponents of energy conservation? I'll spare the details of their freaky physiology for another post, but let's just say that they could certainly teach us a thing or two about our own frantic lifestyles... 

Only one of the six species of sloth is endangered - the pygmy sloth was given its Critically Endangered status by the IUCN in 2013. Unsurprisingly though, all sloths' habitats are under immense pressure, and individual animals threatened directly by harmful human activities and infrastructure. 

Many of the baby sloths brought into sanctuaries like the Toucan Rescue Ranch in San José are orphans - in most cases, their mothers have been zapped by power lines, hit by cars, or attacked by domestic dogs. The 'sloth selfie' craze is particularly detrimental to the animals, exposing them to so much stress that their natural life expectancy of up to 40 years can be reduced to just 6 months.

Not only is the Sloth Appreciation Society on a mission to raise awareness of the sloth's weird ways, but it also wants to hammer home the fact that they belong in the wild, and that they certainly don't make good pets... Their swipes may be performed in slo-mo, but the canines of a Choloepus are enough to give even the most seasoned sloth aficionado a dose of the creeps)...

You can find out more about the Society and sign up to become a member right here. Don't forget that you can also 'Like' our page on Facebook (@Slothvilleofficial), and follow us on Instagram (slothappreciationsociety) and Twitter (@slothville).