Since Sloths move so slowly, they follow a low-energy diet of leaves. The grooved hairs of the sloth's shaggy coat provide a nice home to green algae which helps the sloth camouflage itself in the trees and provides nutrients to the sloth. This is called a symbiotic relationship, or one that benefits the host (the sloth), and the algae (parisite).The algae's camouflage allows Sloths hide from predatory hawks and cats who hunt by sight. Speaking of escaping predators, while they're pretty slow on the ground, they are actually able to swim quite well!
Sadly, humans often harm both sloths and monkeys through deforestation and illegal animal trafficking. At the local level, many nearby communities will chop down masses of trees to make room for crops like plantains and yuca. On the global level, some tourists will engage in illegal animal trafficking to collect animals as pets or to sell to others.
After our trip to Mocagua, we learned that Balu had actually left a monkey sanctuary or rehabilitation center in the village just a couple of weeks prior. It's called Maikuchiga, and they shelter young monkeys who have been affected by animal trafficking. We got to know some other amazing monkeys there too!
All of the monkeys in this sanctuary are native to the area and rescued from poachers. They are also all babies - turns out monkeys can live quite happily near humans in their infancy and childhood, but once they reach adolescence their desire to set out in the wild takes hold.
