Scott is a cute sloth from the tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a beautiful country in Central America, where a lot of exotic animals like Scott live.
He loves playing and hanging upside down from the treetops. Scott is a three-toed sloth, which is different than the other type of sloths that just have two toes on each front leg.
Sloths move at a very slow pace, so it seems like they are moving in slow motion. Some people think that they are lazy, but on the contrary, they are very active! Just because they move very slow doesn't mean they are lazy. They are considered the slowest mammal, due to their leafy diet and their slow metabolism.
Sloths sleep around 20 hours per day, which is a lot! They descend to the ground just about once every week to go to the bathroom.
Sometimes, if there is water around, they go swimming. They are great swimmers and love to swim across the river or in the ocean. They love the water. They don't stay on the ground for so long because they need to be careful from the predators, especially jaguars and hawks who they are really afraid of. The algae that grows on a sloth's fur helps it to camouflage from these predators.
Three toed sloths have some color on their face that makes them look as if they are smiling all the time. They look very cute with that friendly face! They also do funny things like hanging upside down and turning their head 360 degrees. They can turn their head like that because they have two more vertebrae in their neck, which makes it very flexible.
There are many places in Costa Rica where you can see sloths. I grew up in Costa Rica and have seen a lot of them, and I think it is one of the cutest animals on earth! There are a lot of them in the forest, the animal reserves, the beaches, and even at some hotels that are surrounded by nature. Sometimes, they even come and scratch their paws on your window.
If you travel to Costa Rica one day, pay attention carefully when you are taking a walk in the middle of the forest. You might see Scott!