A special Bridge For a Special Sloth | Connected Gardens Update #02 May 2025
If you’ve been following our work, you might already know Deborah - a two-fingered sloth we’ve been tracking through the Urban Sloth Project for several years. In one of our earliest videos and photos, she’s just meters away from a dusty, busy road. Far too close for comfort.
That tiny patch of forest she was in - wedged between the road and the beach - was completely disconnected. So we got to work, installing a cluster of six canopy bridges to help wildlife move safely through the area. You can see them on the map: SC-174, SC-243, SC-244, SC-161, SC-176, and SC-175.
In this small patch of forest, a great deal of wildlife is present.
The most important of these is Bridge SC-174. Installed in May 2022, it spans that same busy road and connects the beachside forest directly to the trees across the way. In short, it’s a lifeline.
Dayber is working on the installation of SC-174
Closer To The Bridges
In September last year, we spotted Deborah relaxing high up in a Cecropia tree across the road - right next to the end of the bridge SC-244. It was almost like she was taunting us.
Was she using the bridges? We hadn’t caught her in the act, but she was dropping hints.
And then… she did it.
The Special Sloth Becomes Even More Special
If you've seen our recent updates, you’ll know Deborah has had a baby! Our tracking team sees her daily, so you can imagine the excitement when we noticed a tiny, fuzzy passenger clinging to her belly. We named the baby Mel.
Last week, our Connected Gardens team downloaded the camera trap footage from SC-174. Dayber sat down to review it - and there she was. A two-fingered sloth, with a collar, an antenna… and a baby. Deborah had used the bridge - and she brought Mel with her. There was a lot of shouting and cheering at SloCo HQ!
From January to April, Deborah was caught on camera 11 times!
But Wait - There’s More
Deborah’s not alone. A camera at the opposite end of the bridge SC-174 has captured a full treetop parade: other two-fingered and three-fingered sloths, squirrels, opossums, and kinkajous.
These images are just a small selection from the first few days of footage back in January, as you can see from the timestamps. The camera remained active until the end of March, capturing over 4,000 images in total, showing all these animals coming and going again and again, sometimes just hours apart.
A huge thank you to PhD researcher Caleb Jeavons, who generously donated the camera traps used in this area. Caleb is conducting research on how wildlife uses single rope canopy bridges over roads, and his support has been key to capturing these amazing moments and understanding their impact.
These species are nearly every major arboreal mammal in this little patch of forest. It’s a beautiful validation of everything Connected Gardens stands for: stitching fragmented forests back together, one bridge at a time.
But We Need Your Help
While the forest is coming back to life above ground, things below are more challenging. As a nonprofit, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to raise the funds needed to keep initiatives like Connected Gardens and the Urban Sloth Project running.
We know these may be uncertain times. But we also know that when people come together - just like the properties and gardens we reconnect with trees and canopy bridges - amazing things happen.
Thank you for making sloth stories like Deborah’s possible. We’ll be back soon with more updates from the field!
