Babies and Goodbyes

Rachel here. Well...sadly, our time at Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Sanctuary has come to an end. I am posting this blog from our air conditioned hotel room in San Jose. There are no bugs, (save for the roach that stowed away in Paul's suitcase...), no crabs, and no bats. You can flush toilet paper down the toilet. We had a lunch today that did not include rice and beans.Yes, we have returned to civilization.

Before I wax poetic about how difficult it was to leave the sanctuary, and what a great experience this has been, I would like to share something much more fun! On our last full day at the sanctuary, we had the opportunity to visit the "newborn" baby nursery/ICU. You see, the babies we have referenced in previous posts- the ones we get to take out during "baby time"- live in an outdoor nursery. These babies are a bit older (most of them around one year), and decidedly stronger and hardier. If you visit the sanctuary for a tour, you will get to see these babies. Tucked away in Judy's (the owner's) personal living quarters is a secondary nursery. This nursery is climate controlled, and it houses baby sloths who are newborn (or close to it), or requiring intensive care. These sloths are kept in incubators, and often times, they must be fed around the clock. This is why the nursery is attached to Judy's bedroom; it enables her to conveniently tend to the babies at all hours of the night (she does so tirelessly!). Accessing the nursery required us to walk through Judy's personal living space (yes, Judy lives full-time on the grounds of the sanctuary!), which is basically a moderately sized studio apartment. The apartment is air conditioned (a RARE luxury in this part of CR), and nicely appointed given its location. She has even rigged up a clever contraption entailing a large flat screen TV suspended from the ceiling on a swiveling mechanism, enabling her to watch TV in bed or from the couch in her living space. Not bad! And of course, sloth knick knacks dotted every surface.

On this day, there were four babies inhabiting Judy's nursery, all of whom were choloepus, or 2-toed sloths (Sadly, there should have been five. Earlier in the week, a baby 2-toed named Rolo passed away. We have tried to keep the blog light-hearted, but the sanctuary has its share of sad tales, to be certain). It was so interesting to observe the four little babies in the nursery, who are CLEARLY already developing very distinctive personalities. Without further adieu, I give you, the babies of Aviarios:

1. MOJO
Mojo is far and away the tiniest resident of the sloth sanctuary at the present time. He is 4 months old, and weighs just over 450 grams. That's a bit less than one pound. As a basis for comparison, the sloths living in the outdoor nursery regularly take poos that weigh 450 grams. He is incredibly tiny for his age; you will see in a moment what a 5 month old 2-toed looks like, and it will be apparent that Mojo has much catching up to do. Judy hypothesized that Mojo was probably a twin, which would explain his tiny size...sloths sometimes give birth to twins, but they are not equipped to care for two babies, so unfortunately one baby will be rejected. Mojo is already experiencing a variety of health challenges, including possible blindness in one eye, and more importantly, problems with digestion. He doesn't have a regular output schedule right now, and his tiny tummy must be aspirated on a regular basis to remove excess gas and fluid. Mojo has a long road ahead of him, but he does have a good appetite, and has already managed to double his weight since his arrival (if you can believe it). In any event, given his size, it's somewhat of a miracle that someone actually stumbled upon him, ALIVE, at that.

Introducing: tiny baby Mojo

Mojo, having a good snuggle with his stuffy

Not too tiny to enjoy an almond leaf snack!

2. Snickers
Snickers is a handsome, chocolate colored 5 month old choloepus. He was dropped off at the sanctuary during a 48 hour period that apparently featured an unusually high volume of new arrivals. Judy was trying to decide how to manage the slew of new sloths, and she found herself heading across the street to the little roadside pulpería in order to stress-eat a Snickers bar- hence the name :)  Snickers has a scrappy personality, and seems to enjoy giving fake-out kisses that quickly turn into nibbles!

Handsome Snickers!

Now that's a mischievous little face.

 3. Linus
Then, there's Linus. He is something else all together. My first introduction to Linus, a 5 month old choloepus,was this: Linus was sitting in a large plastic bucket, which was on the floor. I had my back to him, and I was standing near the bucket, looking at Mojo, who was in an incubator. Suddenly, I felt something repeatedly touching my leg. I turned around, and discovered two little sets of claws frenetically trying to grab me. Linus was hanging over the side of the bucket, violently flailing his arms, and gnashing his teeth, trying to bite and claw anything he could reach. He did this without resting for the duration of the time I spent in the nursery. Maybe it's because I work with kids who are more or less the human equivalents of Linus for a living, but I sure did find myself endeared to his crazy antics ("problem behavior" sure is a lot cuter when the perpetrator is a sloth, though, I must say...). He was just great. I could have watched him all day long. I predict that he will be able to graduate to the "outdoor" nursery before too long, though I am not sure how the volunteers are going to be able to take him out to exercise him. Maybe he'll outgrown his "bitey-ness"...then again, maybe not. One notable thing about Linus is this: if you look very closely at his pictures, his lower lip is slightly deformed. This is because Linus sucks his claw! This is the equivalent of a little kid who alters the alignment of their teeth from thumb sucking!

Grabby Linus!

He may look cute and cuddly, but I know the truth...

 

 

...and HERE IT IS!!

4. Sally
Last but not least, meet baby Sally. She is a pretty little 5 month old Choloepus. Sally is the sweetheart of the bunch. She has a lovely, mellow personality, and she loves to cuddle her stuffy. She enjoys being held, and she gives wonderfully sweet little sloth kisses.  I predict that she is going to become a real favorite amongst the volunteers once she graduates to the "big girl" nursery.

Sally...see her a lovely, full "mane"?

Paul and Sally

Paul gets some sweet Sally kisses. Look closely...see her little tongue?

 

She seems to be an equal opportunity snuggler.

Visiting the nursery was certainly a fun way spend our last morning at the sanctuary. Can you say cute overload?

The rest of the day was bitter-sweet, as we went on to complete our daily tasks for what would be the last time. It was more difficult than I imagined, knowing that this would be my last opportunity to spend quality time with these amazing creatures who I have grown so immensely attached to over the course of just two weeks. I would be lying if I said I didn't find myself more than a bit sad at the end of the day! We capped off our final evening by playing some silly card games with our new found friends, which was great fun. I will miss the wonderful people we met during this adventure ALMOST as much as the sloths. :)

We left the sanctuary at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning, and our bus arrived thirty minutes early, making our final goodbyes even briefer than we had anticipated. In all honesty, this was probably a good thing! At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, I received the best "goodbye" I could have possibly hoped for from Joy, my favorite sloth. I had genuinely been dreading this moment for several days; I knew it would be hard to say goodbye. I entered the area housing the adult sloths one last time, and since it was very early, I was not surprised to find that 95% of the sloths were still snoozing. Most of them wake up only once breakfast has been served (I guess the only thing greater than sleep is food!). Joy, on the other hand, was wide awake, climbing around her enclosure. As soon as she saw me standing outside of her cage, she climbed onto the chain-link door, stuck her head through, and gave me a series of sweet little kisses. You may recall that in an earlier post, I described Joy as a semi-crazed, "bitey" sloth who is constantly getting into trouble. She is a bit infamous amongst the other volunteers, and even the staff. In short, she doesn't really give kisses unless they quickly turn into bites. This morning was different...just kisses, no bites. When she was satisfied with our interaction, Joy retreated to the back of the enclosure, climbed under a towel, and went to sleep. I didn't even have to walk away from her. She let me know when it was time for me to go! It was a wonderfully sweet way to leave my friend.

Joy. I will miss this face.

I don't really know how to put into words what an incredible experience this has been. The memories we have made over this short two week span are sure to last a lifetime. The sloths have left a series of permanent, two-toed and three-toed imprints on my heart. :) I will not soon forget the (human) friendships we made during this adventure; it would not have been nearly as much fun without the wonderful group of volunteers we shared this experience with. Finally, special thanks to Judy Arroyo, for sharing her home and her precious family with us. The hospitality extended to us throughout our visit was amazing, and it was incredibly touching to see how much passion Judy continues to possess for these incredible creatures, even after all these years. It is highly evident that every new sloth who arrives to the sanctuary is just as important and special as the first (OK, OK...maybe as important and special as the second. Buttercup is a different story...). This is a special place, run by special people. If you ever find yourself in Costa Rica, I strongly encourage you to seek out the Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Sanctuary. Take a tour. Meet some sloths. I promise, they won't make you clean up poo (that costs extra). I hope this was not my last visit to the sloth sanctuary, and somehow, I don't think that it will be. So, in conclusion: Pura Vida! Thanks for reading!