We all know sloths moved pretty slowly. But one mother sloth seemed to move with a little more urgency when she grabbed up her baby after being united with her infant.
A staff member from the Jaguar Rescue Center found the baby on May 10 after it fell out of a tree. The Costa Rica rescue center’s employee was investigating a report about an injured animal in the area at the time.
Before heading back to the center, the staff member heard crying.
He followed the sound of the sobs and saw the distressed baby three-fingered sloth weeping in the sand.
The baby was trying to call out to its mommy, but she was making her way back up to the tree canopy.
“He heard the cry and immediately recognized it was a baby sloth (their cry is like a whistle),” Noelia, a staff member at Jaguar Rescue Center, told The Dodo. “He saw the mom on the tree, but she was climbing back to the top. We believe the baby fell from his mom and he cried to attract her, but because of the noise at the beach, she probably didn’t hear him.”
The staff member wasn’t sure how far the baby had fallen, so it was taken in for a check-up with the vet to make sure that it wasn’t injured.
Thankfully, that baby sloth, who was believed to be just a few weeks old, wasn’t seriously injured.
According to The Sloth Conservation Foundation, baby sloths sometimes do fall, but they are very resilient and have even survived falls of more than 90 feet.
The poor thing was just a little tired and weak, so he was given fluids and a nap.
While the baby sloth rested, the Jaguar Rescue Center’s staff devised a plan to reunite the youngin with its mama.
They decided to record the baby’s cries and play them over a speaker on the beach hoping that the mom would hear it and come back down the tree to fetch her child.
And it worked! Staff members brought the baby back to the beach as soon as mom started to make her way back down the street.
It took about two hours before mom came close enough for the staff members to pass the baby off to mom so she could grab him up.
The staff members could sense the relief mom felt after being reunited with her baby. It was quite an emotional moment for the folks at Jaguar Rescue Center.
“When she grabbed him, we [could] tell she missed her baby so much and was grateful to have him back,” Noelia said. “It was an emotional moment for all of us, and we hope this mom and baby [do] stay safe. It melts our hearts every time we can witness the reunion of a mom and her baby.”
Apparently, the mother sloth didn’t realize the baby had fallen.
Thankfully the folks from Jaguar Rescue Center were there to help.
They quickly moved in to make sure the baby was healthy and to bring him back to his mom.
The video of Mom and baby’s reunion was viewed more than 30 million times. You can learn more about the kinds of animals Jaguar Rescue Center rescues at www.jaguarrescue.foundation.
Check out the sweet video below!
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