Amazon Trekking

Just got back from a farewell for one of the boy’s cousins who is going to South America for 10 weeks starting next weekend. So jealous! She and her boyfriend are going to be trekking all over the Amazon and probably seeing all sorts of amazing wildlife, including sloths. They’ve promised me they will take pictures of any sloths they see.

One day, Sarah. One day.

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The Truth About Sloths

Great article on BBC Earth by Henry Nicholls on the “truth about sloths”, including interviews with Rory Wilson and Becky Cliffe who have pioneered the Sloth Backpack Project.

Reputation: Sloths are lazy and stupid. They have to be because they look it. They are covered in algae. Yuck! They climb to the ground to perform a ritual defecation at the base of a tree, a risky business when there are eagle-eyed, fleet-footed predators around. They are bad at crossing roads. Silly sloths.

 

Reality: Slowness is the ultimate weapon in an evolutionary war against eagle-eyed, fleet-footed predators. What better way to blend in with the forest than to cosy up with algae and fungi. Ritual defecation is the sloth equivalent of speed dating, just without the speed.

 

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Troll Sloth

This guy is my hero.

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By Josh Lowensohn on The Verge:

Each day I get on the train to make the half hour voyage into San Francisco for work, I am surrounded by people using their phones. Many have iPhones or iPads, and have a setting turned on that lets me send them unsolicited files through AirDrop. Where Apple envisioned it as a way to send useful files and websites to friends and acquaintances, I use it to send photos of sloths to strangers. And not just any sloths, but sloths wearing spacesuits.

On Being Sick, Salads, and Sloths

So I’ve come down with the cold doing the rounds in the lab. Ugh. Had to soldier on today as I had a big experiment to finish… if it yields results, it will have been worth it. So today was a long one, 9 til 6:30… but then I got home and the boy was making us a delicious chicken Caesar salad for dinner. All together now, awwww.

Tomorrow I’m going to work from home, and hopefully get myself better. Will need all my sloths around me to make me feel nice and relaxed and sleepy.

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Ashleep

This is my little tiny sloth named Ashleep. SHE COMES IN HER VERY OWN HANDBAG. She is small, and quiet, and only makes a little meep every now and again when she wants a tiny little hug. Take care of her!Ashleep sloth Ashleep with bag

 

Get Ashleep here!