preview

Pygmy Sloth Research Paper

Decent Essays

During my travels, I took a trip to Costa Rica to enjoy the beaches, the views, the surfing, as well as to see my favorite animals, sloths. I found myself exploring the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica whose mission is to place focus on the rescue, rehabilitation, release and research of sloths and conserving the Costa Rican rainforest. Many of the sloths in the sanctuary were recovering from wounds due to human interference. While sloths have evolved over 64 million years making them perfectly designed for a quiet life in the rainforest, humans are encroaching on sloth homes much faster than our lazy friends can adapt. Unfortunately, due to the increase in habitat destruction over recent years sloths are at a higher risk for extinction.

The …show more content…

As more tourist being visiting Panama and the surrounding islands, the pygmy sloths are at an increase risk of endangerment. Due to the fact that this species of sloth can only be found on the Isla Escudo de Verguas it is imperative that the government of Panama recognizes the endangerment of the pygmy sloth and places more security on the island. The fate of the pygmy sloth depends largely on whether or not additional steps are taken to protect Escudo de Veraguas. The island’s current protection status leaves open the possibility of future development and is vague as to who may develop it. Declaring the island a wildlife refuge or national park would protect not only the pygmy sloths, but also the other unique species found on the island.

A similar conservation legislation has been successfully enacted in the past by the government of Panama to protect vulnerable island ecosystems. For example, Isla Iguana has been given the status of “wildlife refuge,” which protects the island's flora and fauna while also allowing tourism and local use under the supervision of park rangers (Voirin, 2015). A similar status as a protected national park, with park rangers and a ranger station, for Isla Escudo de Veraguas would not only protect the native wildlife, but could also regulate the island's usage by the local indigenous visitors and

Get Access