Sloth!

I saw a sloth today! A real sloth! Also bats. I took my son to the Cranbrook Institute of Science for the Great Lakes Bat Festival, which means he also saw a sloth and also bats. His Aunt Laura accompanied us. Since my son is one year old, this would be the first ever sloth he's ever seen and the first bats. The sloth was very active when we were there, crawling along the ceiling of his cage with his huge gnarly toenails. Then he got a strip of yellow squash out of a basket and hung there looking at us and eating it. A woman who worked there told me that since his digestion is so slow they carefully monitor his diet and weigh what he eats so he doesn't eat too much (I think). She also told me he's litter box trained and pointed to a litter box in the corner of his cage. He only goes every three days, she said, and she's been told it's very stinky but she's never witnessed it herself. I am not sad that I, too, did not get to witness this. I am not sure why there is a sloth housed in Cranbrook's Bat Zone, but it certainly was an amazing thing to see. The Bat Zone as a whole smells very strongly of pee. Just a heads-up.

If you're into bats, definitely check out the Organization for Bat Conservation.