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The Sloth Project is an excellent choice for a educational walk in Ilhéus.
Located in a preserved area of the Atlantic Forest which belongs to the Ceplac - Comissão Executiva do Plano de Lavoura Cacaueira (Executive
Comission of the Plan of Cacao Tree Farming), the center of recovery, catches and treats wounded animals.
After their recuperation, the sloths are returned to their natural habitat.
Until they return to the forest, they are kept in nurseries and in a large open space, surrounded only by a wall. When the animals are let
loose in this area, the extention is to study the behavior of the sloths.
In spite of the fact that it is a very important project and even received the
Prêmio Natureza in 1998, the Sloth Project is receiving less animal. This is definitely not very good news.
The reason is very simple: the sloths really do justice to the name and hardly
move around very much and only climb down the trees in extreme cases. However, in the last couple of years, it is incredible the number of
animals that were run over, and have had to flee from the deforestation.
The search for food is also a problem because the sloth only eats the leaves of
the Gameleira, a type of fig tree found in the Atlantic Forest. However, Gameleira seeds are not included in the reforesting programs due to
it low economic value which leaves the animal without food.
The center of the project is located on the Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 20.
To visit the Sloth Project, the tourist should mark a visit before by calling
the Public Relations Department of the Ceplac.
Phone: (73) 3214-3014 / 3214-3016 / 3214-3013. |
Presentation
