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Nothing can prepare you for the sweet moment when a baby sloth sees its mom again. At least, nothing could have prepared me. No matter what you’re expecting, it’s better.
Videos by Outdoors with Bear Grylls
The Jaguar Rescue Center (JRC) in Limón, Costa Rica rescues sloths after they’re injured in the wild and prepares them for release back into the wild. The center offers permanent homes to sloths with injuries that are too substantial for re-release. The JRC also contributes scientific research about sloths and other species native to the area.
This video, reshared by @explorefervor on Instagram, shows a staff member carefully handing a baby sloth back to its mother after some period of separation (we don’t know why they were separated). The sloth mom reaches for her baby, snuggling it into her body as soon as the human helper completes the transfer.
Turn your volume up to hear how the baby sloth reacts upon seeing his or her mom:
At the end of last year, the JRC published a research paper presenting a novel approach for wildlife offspring release “to facilitate their reunion with their mothers in their natural habitats, thereby avoiding the need for captive rearing.”
According to the paper, “This method uses call records of the offspring to attract their mothers effectively.”
The research included releasing the offspring of three mammal species housed for rehabilitation at the rescue center, including two species of sloths and one species of howler monkey.
“The study showed promising results, successfully releasing 45.8% of Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths, 91.9% of brown-throated sloths, and 50% of mantled howler monkeys,” the paper says.
While we don’t know for sure that this video had anything to do with the research, it’s comforting to know that wildlife rescuers at the JRC are studying techniques and successfully reuniting baby sloths and their moms.
Watching that fuzzy baby sloth reach for its mom made my day. Sloths in general are too much to handle. Here’s a smiley one to conclude this article.
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