A juvenile two-toed sloth swims after falling in the water from a low hanging branch. Pictures released by biologist Bryson Voirin reveal the many sides to the world's sometime slowest mammals.
A three-toed sloth lounges in Bryson's boat watching Bryson prepare his equipment. Each sloth has a different personality, with this sloth being the most friendly Bryson has encountered.
Bryson is studying sloth's sleep behaviour in the wild in Panama, something never done before. Here a three-toed sloth shows off its new EEG logger hat, used to record brainwave activity. This revealed they sleep significantly less than previously thought.
After two weeks the loggers are removed. Here a three-toed sloth and offspring climb a tree.
A large two-toed sloth lunges at the camera when its picture is taken. Handling two-toed sloths can be dangerous, as they can bite hard. Bryson prefers working with the more docile three-toed sloths.
A male pygmy three-toed sloth swims in the saltwater shallows around Isla Escudo de Veraguas, Panama. Male three-toed sloths are easily identified by the vibrant orange oil patch on their back.
Bryson climbing an extremely tall tree on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. In the background are the waters of the Panama Canal. Using specialist climbing techniques Bryson is able to study a variety of canopy mammals.
A female three-toed sloth and her baby make a quick escape down a scientist's rope. Sloths can climb away quickly, making a treetop capture by scientists quite tricky. Bryson admits to being often "out-climbed" by them.
A pygmy sloth catches some sleep next to to an epiphyte. Three-toed sloths have an unusual sleep pattern, sleeping in varied increments throughout the day and night.
Sloths are surprisingly good swimmers. Here a sloth swims in the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Sloths can swim much better than they can walk, making water crossings preferable to land crossings.
Sloths have adaptations to avoid being detected. Their fur is coloured to resemble branches and insect nests and is specially developed to house green algae. The algae found in their fur is unique and found nowhere else.
A graduate student sits on the branch of a giant Ceiba tree on Barro Colorado Island. An emergent tree, its crown extents 30m above the others, providing monkeys, sloths and tree-climbing humans with a stunning view.
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