It is great to finally be heading out into Pacaya-Samiria. While we were able to see many animals during our travels, we know we will see many more while in the reserve.

Today we were able to see a three-toed sloth. We had seen a baby sloth while in Iquitos, which was a bit disturbing to us. It was great to see one in the wild today!

Sloths are very neat animals. They are classified as endentatae, a term which means "without teeth." They do, however, have teeth in their cheeks to help grind food. Both two-toed and three-toed sloths live in the Amazon region, though three-toed sloths are more common.

Sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down in trees (even their fur grows from the stomach to the back). A sloth moves very slowly; some spend their entire lives in one tree, living on leaves and shoots and descending to the ground only to defecate.

The sloth is aided in its camouflage by a single-celled algae which grows in its fur. The resulting green tint enables the sloth to blend in more subtly with the tree bark and surrounding foliage.

Check out sloths in the Rainforest Library for more cool facts and pictures!

Jesse