2025 | A Year In Review by Dr. Rebecca Cliffe

Somehow, we have made it to the end of 2025, and what a year it has been. Before everything speeds up again, I wanted to look back at what we have achieved together this year, to share what we are dreaming up for 2026, and to say the simplest but most important thing: thank you. This has been one of the most defining years in SloCo’s story, and none of it could have happened without you.

When I think about this past year, most days blend together as we focus on solving the next problem or finding the next sloth. But every so often, something cuts through the noise. This year, it happened one afternoon as I stood beneath one of our newly installed wildlife bridges. Within twenty minutes, I watched a sloth, a troop of howler monkeys, and an anteater cross the bridge, one after the other. They were all safe because the bridge existed, and the bridge existed because we built it. It really is that simple.

We can easily fall into the trap of overcomplicating and over-analysing our work, but moments like that strip everything back. They remind me, in the clearest possible way, why we do what we do. That is the impact we are having. And that was just one bridge of the 374 we have now installed, forming the largest wildlife-bridge network anywhere in the world and reconnecting more than 8,000 hectares of once-isolated forest.

While I’m proud of those numbers, I don’t think they fully capture the scale of the impact in terms of the sheer number of individual animals that can now move safely, access the resources they need, and survive each day.

For those animals, this work is quite literally the difference between life and death.

A two-fingered sloth using a powerline by the road, South Caribbean, Costa Rica.

First of all: Thank YOU

And it hasn’t been made possible by big government funding, grants or major corporations. It’s possible because of you - our community of sloth-loving people around the world - each choosing to give what you can. That makes me incredibly proud, and gives me so much hope for the future, so thank you.

There were many turning points this year, but a few stand above the rest. Behind the scenes, we welcomed Olivia to Team Sloth - our brilliant new Development Director. She has already survived more grant-writing sessions with me than any human should reasonably endure, and her positive energy has lifted our entire team. We also temporarily waved goodbye to Tamara who left on maternity leave and welcomed a beautiful baby boy (the tiniest new member of Team Sloth)!

Olivia, Keysha, and Tamara, collecting samples for The Great Sloth Census

The biggest step in SloCo’s history

We took the first steps towards building our first-ever permanent headquarters. For nearly a decade, we have worked out of rented and temporary spaces, moving our forest nursery and equipment from place to place like a conservation circus. We have never been able to put roots down or build the infrastructure that we really need, and that instability has held us back for years. But now, thanks to you, everything is changing.

This year we purchased land, shaped the site, drilled our well, completed the architectural plans, and secured 90% of the funds needed to begin construction in the new year. My dream is that next December, as SloCo turns 10, we will finally be celebrating in a home of our own.

The first rendering of our HQ!

Our research team also reached new milestones this year

After five years of planning and setbacks, the Great Sloth Census finally came to life. We collected the first meaningful nationwide population data across 15 locations, and the results confirmed what we long suspected: sloths are not uniformly safe. In some regions, densities are more than 54 times higher than in others (a shocking number)! For the first time, we can guide conservation with hard data instead of guesswork.

We also collared new primary-forest sloths, expanded the Urban Sloth Project, published new research, and even completed the first-ever in-field sequencing of a sloth genome - all of which deepen our understanding of what sloths need to survive in a rapidly changing world.

Releasing a sloth with a GPS collar for The Urban Sloth Project

Connected Gardens, a project that keeps expanding

Connected Gardens moved forward in a major way, becoming a model we can now replicate in other areas. We documented over 1,200 wildlife crossings by 20+ species on our network of bridges. We hosted 52 tree-planting events, bringing our total to 13,000 native trees planted, and wildlife conflict in intervention zones dropped by a massive 82%.

Thousands of camera trap images showing that a simple idea works!

We began working with the Bribri community in the Kéköldi Indigenous Territory to explore how we can restore their forest together, and in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest we partnered with Instituto Preguiça-de-coleira to install five wildlife bridges for the endangered maned sloths.

Our colleagues from Instituto Preguica de Coleira installing canopy bridges in Brazil.

Some things went wrong…

Of course, the year also delivered its fair share of things not going to plan. We were forced to permanently retire Keysha, our beloved sloth detection dog, and our “promising” replacement decided that squirrels were far more exciting than sloth poop. Our thermal drone fell out of the sky more than once, and the field team had an unfortunate encounter with bullet ants.

Mila (probably a lost sibling of Keysha!) and Olivia.

On a more serious note, we narrowly missed out on some major grant funding, which really hit us hard, but these things happen. There will always be challenges, big and small, and still, we keep moving forward.

2026 Here We Come!

And that is why I have never been more excited for a year than I am for 2026. It may be the most important year yet for sloth conservation. After months of planning, partnership-building, and laying foundations, we are finally ready to scale our work in ways we have only dreamed of. Some of our most exciting goals for 2026 include:

• Expanding the Great Sloth Census across Costa Rica and publishing the country’s first national population-density assessment for sloths - a baseline that has never existed before.

• Launching Costa Rica’s first Sloth Guardians program, training community volunteers to monitor sloths, support ethical tourism, and respond to threats in real time.

• Offering training workshops for local tour guides and launching SloCo Certified Sloth Tours - a sustainable ecotourism model that reinvests revenue directly into habitat restoration.

• Deepening our partnership with the Bribri community of Kéköldi, restoring forests, supporting youth cultural programs, and co-creating Indigenous-led ecotourism.

• Beginning a landmark sloth genetics project with Brown University, uncovering how much canopy connectivity sloths truly need to survive - providing Costa Rica with the data required to protect them at scale.

And overarching it all, opening our first permanent headquarters, finally giving SloCo a stable foundation for the next decade of conservation.

José , our volunteer Shirley (Research), Mariano, Deily, Dayber, and Diego (Connected Gardens team)

2026 is the year everything converges.

The year sloths receive their first national baseline. The year Indigenous stewardship takes centre stage. The year we build long-term sustainability into our work. And the year we lay the foundation (literally and figuratively) for everything that comes next.

And while the world outside the jungle seems to grow louder each day, full of uncertainty and AI-generated everything, the sloths remind us to return to what matters. To slow down, to pay attention, and to care for the place we call home. None of us can fix the whole world, but we can transform our little corner of it. And thanks to you, this corner is now greener, safer, and more connected than it has been in decades.

Your support is the reason all of this is possible, and as we approach our ten-year anniversary, it matters more than ever. If you feel inspired to make a year-end gift to help us continue this work, you can do so below:

Thank you for standing with us through everything. Here’s to the year ahead, and to giving sloths the future they deserve.

All the best from the jungle,