Visiting sloths at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum
I was busy Friday morning: 7am strategy session, voiceover auditions to record and edit, completing homework for a course I'm taking, and periodically going over to rub my cat Paco's head with my chin so he'd know I hadn't forgotten him. By 10 o'clock I was done. And then I did nothing. Hours went by before I remembered I had a ticket celebrating International Sloth Day at the museum at 6 pm. I really wanted to skip it. I had a wonderful experience years ago holding a small two-toed sloth for 15 minutes on the beaches of Cartagena, Colombia. Why not be deliciously lazy and avoid rush hour traffic?
Thankfully I didn't succumb to my slothfulness and instead went to the The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. It was easy to get there, and Sid the sloth was waiting for me. I spent ten minutes with him; Isabella, one of the wildlife biologists, was kind enough to answer sloth-related questions. Sid has a special diet: green beans, banana peel (not the banana itself-too sweet), and special pellets and biscuits. For being such a good boy, he got to eat zucchini and pears after the event. I learned that he only goes to the bathroom once a week, always in the same place, and is very tidy. Paco could learn from him.
After spending time with Sid, I explored the rest of the museum and discovered that sloths were as tall as bears thousands of years ago, as evidenced by the claw display below.
When I left the museum, the sunset outside was breathtaking, so I decided to walk to LACMA. I stumbled upon a quartet playing jazz in the courtyard, and it was magical to see people hanging out, eating, and enjoying the music in their lawn chairs. All in all, it was a wonderful evening. Thanks for getting me out of the house, Sid. 🦥
