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Chispa is a young two-fingered female sloth who has been with us for almost 5 months. She was found on our land, far from the installations, when one of the workers was looking for termites for Silvia, our termite-eaters.
She was weighing only 400g and had infected injuries because of shrapnel (fortunately it didn’t stay under her skin). Also, we heard that people were feeding her with rice and fish. Needless to say, that has nothing to do with her right diet… A two-fingered sloth can eat leaves (shimbillo etc…), some fruits (papaya, mango, etc…), and roots (manioc, carrots, etc…). However, a baby sloth only drinks milk, and the only healthy substitute is goat’s milk. If you have visited Iquitos, you probably noticed that it’s hard to find specialty products like goat’s milk. For this reason, we needed to order it from Lima where it’s actually imported from the United States.
Sloths are fragile animals. Too much stress can be fatal for them. Finding the right treatment is difficult because of the side effects it has on their slow metabolism and four stomachs. For example, if it gets diarrhea, it would take one week to see the improvement by that time it might be too late.
Usually, a baby sloth almost never survives if it’s under 1kg, but our little Chispa is a survivor and she’s now doing really well! After a few months of recovering she’s now a young and healthy two-fingered sloth who is beginning to move on her own and has one big appetite!
