Today, we hiked Semaphore Hill Road and were fortunate to have multiple excellent sightings of sloth. In retrospect, this would turn out to be the best day of the trip.
First, we found a lazy, Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth sunning himself more than 100 foot up in the canopy region. Sloths sleep 15 to 20 hrs a day and wake at night to feed. Similar to reptiles, these unusual creatures warm up in the sun. The two-toed sloth has the lowest (and most variable) body temperature of any mammal -- at night, their temperature may drop to 75 degrees F.
We rounded up the morning with a Brown-necked Three-toed Sloth couple climbing through trees at the entrance to Plantation Road. They have 3 toes on the front and 5 toes on the hind feet. The male sports a striped back with a central orange spot. Unlike the two-toed, the three-toed feeds almost exclusively on the leaves of the Cecropia, a tropical relative of the mulberry.
Interestingly, the front legs of the three-toed are twice the length of their hind legs, while those of the two-toed are about the same length. In the images above, one can easily see the distinguishing two- vs. three-toed sickle claws.
As the weather deteriorated further, we took a break from nature hikes to visit the nearby Miraflora locks of the Panama Canal. The system of locks permits the elevation change to Lake Gatin which allows transit across the isthmus of central Panama. While at the Tower, we intermittently heard the explosions from the ongoing construction of the new wider waterway to open on the Canal's centennial celebration in 2014.
