First things first. I am not one tiny bit embarrassed that I celebrated my 43rd birthday in the same way Pete's cousin's daughter celebrated her 7th birthday. Why? Because, SLOTHS!
A bit north of San Francisco in a residential Sonoma County neighborhood, you will find a house filled with a wide assortment of animals that have either been confiscated, surrendered, or orphaned by a closing facility. None of the animals can be returned to the wild, so they are used for educational programs to teach people about the animals and their habitats in the hopes of inspiring conservation.
Enter Covid and the subsequent school closings, which resulted in a near total loss of revenue for this small but mighty organization. Like many people over the last 18 months, they were forced to pivot and opened a small part of their facility to visitors. After a glowing review for Safari Encounters from Pete's cousin, Pete decided to take care of all of his family member's summer birthdays in one fell swoop.
Our visit included time with five different animals from South America: the two-toed sloth, matamata turtle, three-banded armadillo, caiman lizard, and dwarf caiman. We also got time with the brown skunk, Ernie, an extra treat.
The two sloths were the stars of the show, as expected. One of the sloths begrudgingly took the blueberry treats from us and then promptly went back to napping, while the other sloth continuously climbed around the room trying to figure out how to get in on the blueberry action. Their movement is so interesting to watch, especially as they navigate obstacles with their characteristic curved claws. Interesting sloth fact: they go to the bathroom about once per week and lose ONE THIRD of their body weight in the process!
back, the opposite of most other mammals. It helps
them shed water while they are hanging out in the trees.
The three-banded armadillo tried to steal the show from the sloths. We got to hold him while he was waking up and then turned him loose in the habitat. He explored every nook and cranny to find any scraps of food the sloths had dropped. Armadillos mainly eat termites in the wild, so they have long claws on their front feet for digging. Instead of their claws being out in front of their feet when they walk (like a dog), they walk on the tips of their claws. I thought it looked like he was prancing around in high heels.
I was worried about dropping him! (Photo by Mike)
their head protects them when they run into things.
Our extra for the day was a brown skunk. It is the same species as the black and white variety, but it was bred to have a brown coat so people would not be tempted to try to make pets out of the skunks in their backyards. Even deskunked, Ernie still had the tell-tale smell of a mustelid (weasel family). He was very soft and sweet, though.
