Baby Sloth Licks Mother’s Mouth to Learn What’s Safe to Eat

Talented wildlife artist and filmmaker Robert E. Fuller captured a tender moment in Panama between a brown-throated sloth mum and her tiny, one-month-old pup, who adorably licked bits of leaf around her mouth to learn what's safe to eat.

Fuller, who is based in Yorkshire, filmed the pair during a wildlife trip through Panama and shared the footage to celebrate International Sloth Day.

The baby licks at any bits of leaf around its mother's mouth. By tasting the food Mum has eaten, it learns which trees to feed from.

The pup also ventured a bit away from mum to see what these long arms could do.

At just over a month old, this sloth pup is barely bigger than my hand, yet it's so confident up there in the tree canopy it almost looks like it's doing pull ups.

Newborn sloths stay with their mothers for approximately six months, so this pup is still learning all there is to know.

Brown-throated sloths' mate between January and March, and after a six-month gestation, females give birth to a single offspring. It'll be cared for until it reaches independence at about six-months old. So, the young one I'm watching still has a bit of learning to do before then.

Mother Sloth in Costa Rica Carrying Her Pup

Mother Brown-Throated Sloth Lovingly Carries Her Baby as She Makes Her Way Across a Branch

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