The Adventures of Dr. Sloth: Rebecca Cliffe and Her Quest to Protect Sloths
INTRODUCTION Meet Dr Sloth In my job as a wildlife photographer I get to work with some amazing scientists around the world On a trip to Costa Rica I was lucky enough to meet Dr Rebecca Cliffe and now I’m very happy to introduce her to you Most people call Dr Cliffe either Becky or Dr Sloth In the course of my trip I spent many days with her in the jungle observing the sloths high above us in the tree canopy Together we even got to see a three-toed sloth mother and newborn baby The tiny baby stuck to her mother like glue The mother crawled across the forest floor right in front of us which was incredible to see Sloth Fact A sloth baby is born with sharp teeth for eating leaves claws for climbing and eyes wide open The baby stays with its mother until it is one year old See a baby sloth up close https qrs lernerbooks com babysloth
This is a wild sloth that humans named Esmerelda I was so lucky to find her with her tiny baby who was less than a week old Becky loves sloths more than anyone I know While the sloths we were observing rested in the trees she told me that there’s still a lot that humans don’t know about them Sloths are shy animals with very mysterious lives in the wild that scientists are only just starting to learn about and understand Becky explained During that trip Becky and I became fast friends She told me about her dreams of working in sloth conservation Of course as a scientist Becky wanted to continue to learn more about sloths but she also wanted to find new ways to keep them safe So we hatched a plan to continue working together so that I could photograph her journey to become the world’s leading sloth conservationist Sloths move very slowly and spend a large part of their day resting The hardest part about watching them is staying awake Clearly Becky bottom who snapped this selfie is better at this than I am 5
A Young Scientist As a child in Preston England Becky didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up She did know that she loved animals of all sizes She spent her days exploring the woods near her home and one of her favorite activities was collecting insects She would bring them home and observe them for a few days and then release them When she was seven years old Becky found a dead squirrel She was concerned and curious She wanted to know why the squirrel had died so she brought it home to study Though she never discovered what had happened to the squirrel her attempt to figure it out was the beginning of her life as a scientist In school Becky’s favorite subject was biology the study of living things She studied hard and won first prize at an international science competition at the age of twelve When she started college Becky followed her passion for science and majored in zoology the study of animals Becky at the age of five with her first furry friend Bracken her family’s golden retriever 6
After college Becky applied for a yearlong position to study sloths in Costa Rica She had no idea that this would be the start of a lifelong love affair with these animals She also never imagined that she would become one of the world’s leading sloth experts It took a lot of hard work and courage to become a sloth scientist said Becky Pursuing an unusual and adventurous career can be scary but anything is possible if you put your mind to it The local newspaper celebrated Becky’s first scientific achievement She and her team won first place in an international science competition This was the first of many awards Becky would receive over the years One of Becky’s favorite things about science is that you get to answer questions that no one else in the world knows the answers to 7
