A Good Samaritan protected a tree-climbing sloth as it tried to cross a busy road in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Take a look at this video …
Sloths are known for their slow movement and they spend most of their time hanging upside down in the trees of tropical rainforests in South and Central America.
These animals are closely related to the anteater and there are six different extant sloth species.
They get their name from their low metabolism and deliberate movements because sloth is tied to the word slow. These movements support their low-energy diet of leaves and help them avoid the detection of predatory hawks and cats. Their shaggy coat has hair that hosts green algae that acts as a camouflage in trees. Although these adorable animals are almost helpless on the ground, they are able to swim.
In the above video, the sloth was lucky enough to have a good-hearted rescuer named Jose Aldenizio nearby. Jose is a self-professed animal lover and when he saw the sloth in danger, he stopped oncoming traffic so that he could pick the sloth up in his arms and carry it to the other side of the street!
Rather than leave the animal in the grass, Jose held the sloth up to a nearby tree trunk. When he was sure the sloth had safely taken hold of the tree limb, Jose waved goodbye to his new friend — and to his surprise, the sloth returned the friendly gesture!
At Karmagawa and SaveTheReef we love these random acts of kindness! All animals are gifts to our planet and make our world beautiful. We need more of this so that we all can live in peace together.
Do you like stories like this? Would you like to keep getting stories about animals from around the world? Please follow us on Twitter and Instagram and we’ll keep sending you more news and updates. Share our information with your friends and family so that they stay aware, as well.
Do you have causes that you want the world to know about? If so, movies are a powerful way to get your message out.
Our friend and pro filmmaker Amir Zakeri created an online class for us to help the community learn how to create their own movies and documentaries — here’s 50% off.
You’ll be helping important causes, so don’t hesitate. Get started now.
What do you think about this kind rescuer going out of his way to protect this adorable sloth? Leave a comment below.
(Cover image: jdross75/Shutterstock)