Tour guides working in the forests of French Guiana, in South America, are no strangers to the many unique and fascinating animals who call the region home. But few wildlife encounters are quite as memorable as this.
One day, while steering visitors across a lake, a guide named Ronan, from Nature de Guyane, spotted a three-toed sloth making his way through the water. Though notoriously slow on land, sloths are surprisingly capable swimmers — able to swim about three times faster than they can walk.
But this sloth appeared to be struggling.
"He was moving with difficulty. I think he was exhausted," Ronan told The Dodo. "So I moved the boat closer, and he climbed onto the side."
Moving slowly through the water, Ronan then guided the boat and sloth
to the closest tree-lined shore.
"I took him to the forest to help him," Ronan said. "He reached up for the first branch we came across and climbed up the tree. I never had to touch him."
For the tourists aboard the boat that day, the sloth's surprise appearance no doubt left them with a lasting memory of the forests of French Guiana.
"This certainly isn't the first time we've seen a sloth. But it was the first time a sloth had climbed on the boat," Ronan said. "My clients were very happy to have seen that. It was a really amazing day."
