Stop what you’re doing and look at this gorgeous sloth that just arrived at Fota
OMG.
Fota Wildlife Park, home to the world’s fastest land animal, tallest land mammal and largest flightless bird is now home the world’s slowest land mammal – the sloth.
Named Matheo, the adorable two-year-old male juvenile Linné’s Two-toed sloth was transferred from Wilhelma Zoo, Stuttgart, where he was born.
We’re cancelling our plans this weekend to head to Fota Wildlife Park and meet him in person.
But first; tell us EVERYTHING.
“We are thrilled to welcome Matheo to the collection of animals here in the Tropical House at Fota.” said Lead Ranger, Kelly Lambe.
“We also recently added seahorses who have been very popular with the public, and we are expecting Matheo the sloth to be equally as popular with visitors. This is the first time we have had a sloth reside in the Park and so far, he’s been settling in exceptionally well.”
Although they are primarily nocturnal animals – in fact, they can sleep for 15 hours a day easily, Matheo has been quite active so far, making regular trips out of his nesting box into his specially constructed high-level branches and platforms in the Tropical House – where he is essentially free roaming.
“Male sloths are solitary outside of the mating season so his new habitat at Fota will suit his needs very well. ” added Kelly, “His arrival from Germany and his initial acclimatisation to the Tropical House have been filmed by Red Pepper Productions for Virgin Media Television for a four-part documentary series to air soon – so we look forward to Matheo’s appearance across the nation’s TV screens.”
Sloths are slow-moving, nocturnal creatures that spend almost their entire life suspended from trees. The only time sloths descend to the forest floor is to go to the toilet, which they do about once a week. To move to a new area of trees, sloths often have to wait for the forest to flood which facilitates swimming to a new resting site.
Life upside down
A native of South America, sloths eat, sleep, mate, and give birth from their upside-down position high among the branches. Sloths are the only mammals whose hair grows in the opposite direction from the hair of other mammals. To accommodate their upside-down lifestyle, the hair parts in the middle of the belly and grows upward towards the back. The hair on the face points upward, allowing water to run off during rainstorms.
The impressive biology of a sloth allows it to spend 90% of its life hanging upside down. Studies show that this is made possible because their organs are attached to their rib cage, which means they don’t weigh down on the lungs. This means that, unlike us, a sloth can hang upside down with no effect on its breathing.
An average day for a sloth entails sleeping for 15-20 hours and it spends the remaining nighttime hours searching for food.
Sounds like our spirit animal.
The Tropical House at Fota Wildlife Park was opened in June 2014 and was funded by SECAD (South & East Cork Area Development). It’s home to reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, exotic fish and a state-of-the-art veterinary facility which allows for injured or sick animals to be treated onsite at Fota Wildlife Park. For further information and to book your tickets for a visit see fotawildlife.ie.
