I have visited many spots here in La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica, looking for a great photo of some sloth.
During my first tour I could see 8 of them, 3 two-toed sloths and 5 three-toed sloths. With a normal camera or cell phone, it is almost impossible to get a decent photo, you need a longer focal length lens(300mm at least) or attach your camera to a spotting scope, unless you can have the chance to see a sloth close to you, which is quite difficult in their natural environment. But most of the guides carry their own professional equipment and can take a nice photo for you.
My second experience was even better, I saw 10 sloths, including a baby sloth holding from its mother. Normally you can see around 4 to 12 sloths in a guided tour, as the guides have a lot experience and know where the sloths move around the area.
In this unforgettable adventure, I also saw some birds, toucans, frogs and many species of flora.
I have listed some important things I’ve learned about this beautiful and famous animal:
- Sloths move only when necessary, usually at an average speed of 4 mts (13 ft) per minute.
- Depending on species, they weight from 3.6 to 7.7 kg and can be 60cm (24in) to 80 cm (31in) long.
- The average lifespan in the wild is around 20 years, and up to 30 in captivity.
- The diet of Two-toed is based of insects, fruits, carrion, leaves and small lizards. On the other hand, the Three-toed basically eats a limited diet of leaves.
- Courisly sloths go downd to the ground to urinate and defecate about once a week, digging a hole and covering it afterwards “very neat, like cats” 🙂
We have two really nice experiences, single tour or combo, you can check them at our website
– Sloth Tour
– Sloth and Campesino Tour
There are six sloths species in the entire America continent and here in Costa Rica we have two of them. You can read here for more information about different species of sloths.
Pura vida!
