In case you haven’t noticed, sloths are totally in! In 2017, a Wall Street Journal article credited their rise in fame to Hollywood, citing the movies “Ice Age” and “Zootopia” and an appearance on the Ellen Show by Kristen Bell. A December, 2018 article on Bustle.com exclaimed “sloths are the new unicorns.” The Como Park Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota will even let you include a sloth in your wedding! Well, with all this excitement, we decided to join the craze by signing up for a sloth encounter at the Columbian Park Zoo in Lafayette, Indiana.
The Columbian Park Zoo offers animal Meet ‘N Greets for a variety of their ambassador animals, which are otherwise not visible to the public. These encounters are for three people aged five and over, and cost $45 total. This is actually very favorable compared to other sloth encounters in the Midwest that we have found (see chart above). Most of these opportunities are newly added encounters. In fact, 2019 is the first year that the Columbian Park Zoo has offered sloth encounters.
Meeting Erma
Our sloth encounter was facilitated by Amber Frederick, the Education Director at the zoo. Amber educated us with various sloth facts while assisting us in feeding and petting Erma, their resident sloth. Their male Harvey recently was moved to the Indianapolis Zoo for their new “MIST-ery Park” exhibit. Sloths like Erma and Harvey sleep nearly 20 hours per day. Our encounter was at 10:30am, so Erma would have been preparing for one of several mid-day naps. Amber rolled her out in a sloth habitat that they MacGyver’ed out of a garbage can. Amber explained that because sloths like to hang upside down, the garbage can is their best option for transporting her. Once ready for the encounter, Amber convinced Erma to climb onto her snack tree.
Oh, did I mention that sloths are slow? Well, you probably knew that. However if you want some proof to this, check out the 35-second mark on the above video as she begins to climb onto the tree that is inches from her face. She succeeds around the 2:05 mark.
Feeding Time
After a little coaxing, Erma sampled on some papaya, and shortly after some watermelon, vegetables, and biscuits. Have you ever seen a sloth eat? Check out the 7:35 mark on the video and listen to the giggles of our children as Erma munches on watermelon! According to Amber, a sloth diet is much more complicated than many other animals at the zoo. The biscuits, for example, are “leaf-eater” biscuits that have been soaked in water and will provide her with nutrients that many animals would typically get from leaves. The rest of her meal consists of squash, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, watermelon, papaya, and “sloth oatmeal”.
“She may move slow, but her brain is super fast!”
Amber Frederick, Education Director at the Columbian Park Zoo
One of the reasons it took a little while for Erma to sample her snack tray was that she was adjusting to her environment. Amber explained that sloths don’t have very good eye sight. Because of that, they rely on their sense of smell to help them identify their surroundings. Erma was very deliberate in smelling each of us and determining that she was safe before finally sinking her teeth into some juicy fruit.
Why are they so slow?
If you’re a little kid, you might be most excited to hear about sloth poop. Sloths are susceptible to predators because of how slow they move. Because of this, the food that they eat doesn’t have much energy in it, and doesn’t cause frequent bowel movements. Sloths only have bowel movements on a weekly basis. In the rain forest, algae might grow on a sloth to turn their color green-ish, helping them blend in. When the need finally emerges, a sloth will slink down into the jungle to relieve themselves, risking being seen by a predator, before slowly ascending back up to their home where they can be safely camouflaged and out of reach.
How Common are Sloths in Zoos?
Nobody really knows why sloths have gained so much popularity in recent years. While the connection to Hollywood is one theory, another might be that sloths just appear happy all the time. The previously mentioned article from the Wall Street Journal referenced sloth fans that say sloths embody what they hope to be: not lazy, just efficiently cautious. Regardless of the reason, the demand for sloths has been well-received by zoos across the country.
While this was the first time we were able to interact with a sloth at a zoo, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a sloth. In fact, sloths have become pretty common at zoos. According to the AZA (Association for Zoos and Aquariums), 244 two-toed sloths are housed at 107 different AZA-accredited facilities. Without setting up an encounter, however, you’re not likely to see them this active.
This experience was on day nine of our Zoocation, and was the perfect way to wrap up our trip. You can read where Erma slots in on our best moments from our Zoocation article – I’ll give you hint that she’s in the top five!
Thanks for reading about our sloth encounter. To schedule your own, check out the Columbian Park Zoo’s website!
**A special thank you to Jasmine Peele and Amber Frederick at the Columbian Park Zoo for helping set up and facilitate our sloth encounter!
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