Jody came across this sloth that was climbing a mango tree one morning, on her way to school. She knew that I would be thrilled to see it and called me from her school to tell me about it. I had been looking forward to an encounter with a sloth since we moved to Bartica and though I didn't get to pet it, it was very exciting to see. This one was pretty small, or at least looked that way compared to the ones I've seen on the Discovery channel.

Sloths are pretty slow moving but very dangerous if they get a hold of you. They have huge claws and if they manage to wrap their long arms around you they can tear into you, or at least that is the prevailing myth that many Guyanese believe. It's probably a good thing though because this way most of the sloths are left alone. Having spoken to several people who have actually caught a sloth, I'm told they are very docile. All they do is cry out like a baby and actually shed tears.