Slow down and enjoy new book about sloths
Big-eyed sloths gaze directly into the camera, and each face has a “Mona Lisa” kind of smile. Photographs of 84 sloths — hanging from tree branches, lounging in hammocks and striking a variety of adorable poses — fill the pages of a new book, “Life in the Sloth Lane: Slow Down and Smell the Hibiscus” (Workman Publishing, $12.95).
The book was a labor of love for Lucy Cooke, 48, who took all of the photos and wrote sparse but poignant prose in this lovely 140-page book. She’s a filmmaker, zoologist, National Geographic explorer and founder of the Sloth Appreciation Society.
“I spend a lot of time in remote jungles” in Central and South America, said Ms. Cooke, 48, in a telephone interview from her home in Hastings, England, the siteof the famous battle in 1066.
She goes to Costa Rica once a year to photograph two-toed and three-toed sloths that were rescued asbabies and taken to sanctuaries.
“In most cases their mothers had been stolen for the pet or tourism trade or killed by power lines, dogs or roads,” she writes in the book. The goal is to return the offspring to the wild as adults.
Going to Costa Rica “totally chills me out. It makes me happy,” Ms. Cooke said. “Sloths are so languid and slow. I think
humans are running too hard and too fast. We want to move faster than nature intended. I don’t think that’s getting us to a good place.”
This book should resonate with local residents who love Wookie, Valentino and Vivien — the Linnaeus’ two-toed sloths who live at the National Aviary on the North Side.
Ms. Cooke, who published an earlier book, “A Little Book of Sloth” (Simon & Schuster, $18), started the Sloth Appreciation Society six years ago. It’s free, and members get regular newsletters, fun facts, and free stickers and posters at the slothville.com website.