The Sloth's Gaze from the Yarumo

On Wednesday, the 13th of May, the EPA returned to the tropical dry forest what had always belonged to it: an adult male three-toed sloth, rescued and rehabilitated by that same agency, ready to resume his life among the branches. The moment they set him down at the foot of a yarumo, the animal climbed with an agility that belies his reputation for slowness, his long curved claws gripping the pale bark of the trunk as he pulled himself toward the canopy. From up there, he paused. He turned his head with that unmistakable calm of his and looked downward — toward Alejandro, toward the EPA officers, toward the children from Colegio Avante who had come to the sanctuary that day as part of an environmental education program. The orange and black patch along his back caught the light, gleaming through the foliage. No one can say what he saw from up there, but those who were standing below all agreed: it seemed as though he held our gaze for a long while before finally deciding to move on.