Sloths (two-toed, three-toed, three-eyed, etc.) seem to be universally liked animals, but is there any zoo that has figured out how to display them as more than sleeping balls of fur? The San Diego Zoo has a nice outdoor sloth exhibit in Elephant Odyssey with real trees for them to climb, but this now sees to have been converted into a slothless dik-dik exhibit. Do any zoos have sloth talks where they introduce people to the sloths and highlight the animals? Are sloths consigned to being exhibit animals where most people see a ball of fur, say "oh, it's a sloth" and move on?
Dallas World Aquarium gets you closer to a three toed sloth than anywhere else I've seen, with excellent keeper/volunteer interpretation. Check out the gallery.
interestingly enough I just saw the sloth episode of Nick Baker's Weird Creatures the other week, and the researcher he was talking to was saying something about the sleeping habits of sloths being greatly over-exaggerated. Apparently the studies had all been done on captive sloths which are much more slothful than wild ones. But back on topic, the Fragile Forest at Singapore Zoo, while not specifically a sloth exhibit, is very good (basically a big walk-through aviary with sloths, fruit bats, mouse deer, birds, butterflies, etc)
I was just going to suggest Fragile Forest. Last time i was there a sloth was hanging right next to the path - certainly close enough to touch - and made for a great photo opportunity. I'd also suggest the tropical house at Cotswold Wildlife Park; on the several occaisions i've been there, the sloth have always been clearly visible and on the move.
I have seen probably one of the more active sloths at the Buffalo Zoo. One of them is in the two leveled mutli-species exhibit in Rainforest Falls. Although he was often in a ball or sleeping in the tub they put in the exhibit for him, he had some active moments. With the mesh surrounding the exhibit, I have seen him climbing up the sides, stretching out, and even climbing on the ceiling. When he was first introduced to the exhibit, it was fascinating to see him in the bottom level, slowly emerging from his crate, and venturing up to the top. There's also a long vine in the middle where he can travel. Although he usually curls up in a ball if the saki monkeys come to investigate or the tamandua decides to take the same path. I must say the mesh is also good for the tamandua, who has not only climbed on the top part, but climbed the sides from the bottom level all the way to the top. There was also a sloth in the anteater exhibit. She must likely found hiding spots to curl up in a ball. However, she found a tree that could get her pass the barrier of the exhibit and ended up above the visitor path. After that, they took her off exhibit.
I've been thinking about this a great deal since I would very much like to get a sloth for our Amazon gallery. Yes, Dallas does a great job of showing off the sloth since it is in a tree that you can walk right up to and it can't get very far. I'm not sure if this is stressful for the sloth (can a sloth by it's very nature get stressed?!?!). One possible solution would be for a keeper to bring the sloth out and walk around with it a few times a day. That would give the guests the best opportunity to get up close and learn about these interesting animals.
Yesterday I noticed San Diego's EO exhibit no longer has the sloth milk-crate nestbox, so it looks like the extinct giant sloth will no longer have its living counterpart nearby. But the SD Children's Zoo sloth exhibit has been worth checking out this past year, especially when the mother was climbing around with the baby born last August. There is video online showing this at: Watch "San Diego Zoo baby sloth w/keeper interview" Video at ZooJourney Lately I've only seen a ball of fur in their nestbox, but the keepers spike fruits and vegetables on the branches in their enclosure, so it's likely there are times when they can be seen climbing around. I was at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium this past Memorial Day. In their animal show they included a two-toed sloth clinging tightly to its keeper.
