They've sort of slowly crept into pop culture stealing scenes in commercials and sending celebrities into complete meltdowns. It's no wonder, I mean sloths are pretty darn cute and the Saint Louis Zoo is home to two of them.
Blondie hangs around in the primate house. Camden is the one often curled up in the Children's Zoo. He's the two-toed sloth you can actually get pretty close to on a behind the scenes tour.
"The tours come in the kitchen. We kind of explain what the diet is made of," explains Shannon Santangelo.
She's one of the zookeepers who gets to admire the five year old often.
"They're pretty unique because they spend most of their life in an upside down position even their organs are placed a little differently than other mammals," she points out.
As a keeper, she also has keys into his habitat and knows more about the little guy than most.
"I found that he likes pear a lot."
It's a little fact that comes in handy when it's your turn to feed him. But like us it depends on the day and today he's more into red peppers and downright sloppy with apples.
"So because their diet is largely just leaves, plants, twigs, fruits in the wild that don't have a lot of nutritional value to them that doesn't give them a lot of energy when they digest it."
Hence their unbelievable lack of speed. We're talking a top speed of 6 feet per minute.
"It could take up to a month to digest some of the items that they eat," she adds.
They are fascinating creatures, adorable animals that remind us that life shouldn't be rushed.
You can adopt a sloth for Valentine's Day. Obviously there isn't time to have it delivered by Wednesday, but you can swing by the zoo's welcome desk. It's 50 dollars and proceeds go to the care and feeding of the animals learn more at https://www.stlzoo.org/give/zooparentsprogram/slothadoption/
Sloth Slowdown Tours
https://www.stlzoo.org/visit/behindthescenestours
