Tracking Down Pregnant Luiza | September 2026
As we shared in our last update, Luiza is expecting, and this month we set out to make sure she and her growing belly were doing well. That turned out to be harder than expected, because, as sloths do, she vanished.
As the weeks went by without a glimpse of her, we decided we needed to up our efforts to avoid missing the first few days of Luiza’s baby.
We decided to once again join forces and search from both the air and the ground. We sent up a thermal drone while scanning the forest below with binoculars and the telemetry antenna.
Thermal drone image of Luiza.
Eventually the antenna picked up a strong signal pointing toward a tree at the Cocles lookout point, so we sent the drone over the area. And there she was, lying relaxed on her back in a wild fig tree, feeding without a care in the world…
Drone shot from up above. Her belly is huge!
We were glad to see she is doing well and that we haven’t missed the baby’s arrival. Watch the whole video of how we honed in on her with the drone below!
We returned on another day, for a second visit and another drone flight, and Luiza did not disappoint. She was spotted nearly 30 meters up in a Sangrillo tree near the Cocles lookout. Her belly is huge, but still no baby!
Luiza, glowing in the sunlight!
We will continue to keep a close eye on Luiza so we can gather the most accurate data possible on the birth of her little one. Every sighting helps us learn more about pregnancy, birth, and early development in wild sloths living alongside people, information that is hugely valuable for protecting them in the future.
