“It was a special moment …”
Earlier this year, Claudecy Amaral and her family were driving along a rural stretch of road near their home in Brazil when something on the shoulder caught their eye. Moving in closer, they saw that it was a three-toed sloth, who was at risk of being struck by a distracted motorist.
Then they noticed she was not alone.
Clinging to the sloth’s back as she inched along the pavement was her tiny baby. They were both lucky to have survived most of that perilous road crossing, but Claudecy and her family decided to quicken their journey to safety.
“Thank God a car didn’t run over them,” Claudecy says in a video of what happened next:
Gently lifting the mother and baby off the road, Claudecy’s husband then placed them in a tree to continue their journey, far from the dangers of traffic.
Three-toed sloths are among the animal world’s most devoted mothers, carrying their babies nearly full-time until they’re about six months old. So the family’s efforts that day didn’t just potentially save two precious lives — they also helped preserve an unbreakable bond.
Some human activities, like the building of roads and the fragmentation of forests, have made life particularly challenging for sloths, who spend nearly their entire lives traversing through the treetops. But on this day, it was an act of human kindness that helped ensure the mother sloth and her baby’s survival.
“It was a special moment for our family,” Claudecy later wrote. “These are unforgettable memories.”
@claudecy.amaralMomento emocionante em família na BR 010 entre Mãe do Rio e Irituia- PA Uma preguiça e seu filhotinho salvos pela família Amaral. A gente não se cansa de ver o vídeo! Momento histórico para a nossa família e de muitas reflexões. São memórias inesquecíveis! ♬ som original – Claudecy Amaral
