3 Things You Will Learn During A Sloth Encounter

Posted on: 13 December 2022

Investing in an animal encounter can be a great way to expand your knowledge of the animal kingdom. More and more people are getting to know sloths by taking advantage of the sloth encounters offered by wildlife facilities across the nation.

Sloths are known to be slow-moving and adorable, but there is much more to these unique animals. Here are three things that you will be able to learn about during a sloth encounter.

1. Learn What Sloths Eat

A sloth's diet consists primarily of fresh fruits and vegetables. You may have the opportunity to feed a sloth personally during your sloth encounter. This will allow you to discover which fruits and vegetables the sloths you interact with love most.

Your sloth encounter will also allow you to see that sloths are capable of eating in any position. Whether they are upside down hanging from a branch or curled up in a sleeping spot, sloths are never one to miss out on a tasty morsel.

2. Learn How Sloths Feel

Looks can be deceiving when it comes to the sloth.

These animals appear to have a soft and generous coating of fur, but a sloth encounter will quickly teach you that this isn't the case at all. In fact, a sloth's coat is rather coarse. Some people have compared the feel of a sloth to the bristles on a hairbrush.

You will have the opportunity to touch (and possibly even hold) a sloth during your encounter, which will give you plenty of time to learn about the unique coat texture of these animals.

3. Learn How Much Sloths Sleep

Sloths are often thought of as lazy because they are slow-moving and tend to sleep a lot. A sloth encounter gives you the chance to see that sloths are necessarily lazy, they are just responding to the metabolic function of their bodies.

The metabolic rate of a sloth is extremely slow. This means that moving just a few inches can really wear a sloth out.

The sloths you interact with during your encounter will most likely fall asleep at some point during your visit. Since these animals are housed in captivity, they don't have to worry about staying alert to watch for predators or foraging for food. As a result, captive sloths tend to sleep up to 15 hours a day.

If you are lucky, you will get to witness an adorable sloth yawn during your next sloth encounter.

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