March 2025

I have no idea how we’re already in March - the first 10 weeks of 2025 have flown by in the blink of an eye! Our sloth-tracking team has been busier than ever, gearing up for a huge transition in the Urban Sloth Project. After years of studying sloths in urban areas, we’re finally heading deep into the pristine primary rainforests! (We’ve put this off for as long as possible because it’s going to be HARD - but we can’t avoid the challenge forever!)

Farewell, Urban Sloths

In January, we collared our last-ever urban sloths: Kristen and Pistachio. Then, in February, we said farewell to Thanos and Dumbledore, as their tracking collars were removed after providing us with plenty of long-term data. Right now, we have five urban sloths left, and over the coming months, we’ll be phasing out tracking for all of them - except for our eternal legends: Debbie, Luiza, and Tender.

And now, for the first time ever, we are introducing sloths from primary forests in the South Caribbean!

Primary Forests & GPS Collars

You might remember that in 2023, we dipped our toes into primary forest research when we collared George, Misty, and Selvina at La Selva Biological Station - a stunning, untouched rainforest about four hours inland from our base in the South Caribbean. These three sloths were also the first in the world to test new GPS technology, including collars equipped with a timed drop-off system.

This fancy tech allowed us to collect months of continuous movement and behavioral data - all without anyone having to brave the jungle daily to track them. Once the timer ran out, the collars automatically opened and dropped to the forest floor, ready for us to retrieve.

These GPS collars are game-changers, helping us collect detailed movement data without requiring constant in-person tracking (although we still believe human observations are irreplaceable!). Plus, they free up our team’s time for other conservation projects.

Unfortunately, each GPS collar comes with a hefty $1500 price tag - a steep but essential investment in cutting-edge sloth science! Because of this, we can’t put GPS technology on all of our sloths, but thanks to our incredible donors we have been able to purchase 8 of them.

Into the Caribbean Rainforest!

While we have already studied primary forest sloths at La Selva, this is the first time we are expanding our research into the primary forests of the South Caribbean! La Selva’s cooler, mountainous landscape is very different from the hot, humid Caribbean lowlands. Comparing sloth behavior in these contrasting habitats will give us important insights into how they adapt to different conditions.

Our first-ever Caribbean primary forest sloths are Pipa and our ‘Sloth of the Month’, Valentín! Unlike our La Selva sloths, these two are wearing standard VHF tracking collars with data loggers, which means our field team will be trekking through the jungle to find them - no GPS shortcuts this time! It’s sure to be an endless adventure, full of ups, downs, and hopefully no snake bites.