Only 79 Pygmy sloths left

[Surroundx]

"The ensuing decade has not been kind to the sloths. Families of indigenous fishermen from the Ngöbe–Buglé comarca (a semiautonomous region roughly equivalent to a Native American reservation) began moving to the island around 1995 and quickly started cutting down mangrove trees for firewood and lumber. Unfortunately, pygmy sloths depend on those mangroves for their food and habitat. As the trees disappeared, so did the sloths. Shockey and his fellow students spent three days counting the animals and found that just 79 remained. “We were all surprised to find such a low population,” he says. A paper detailing their census of the sloth population was published November 21 in PLoS One."

Source: Survey of Critically Endangered Pygmy Sloths Finds Just 79 Animals Remain | Extinction Countdown, Scientific American Blog Network

The paper mentioned is open access: PLOS ONE: Observations on the Endemic Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth, Bradypus pygmaeus of Isla Escudo de Veraguas, Panamá

 

[nanoboy]

Sad sad sad.

Is there a captive breeding program? I don't think that the article mentioned it.

 

[Chlidonias]

Is there a captive breeding program? I don't think that the article mentioned it.

no there is not. The pigmy sloths are a type of three-toed sloth which historically have done poorly in zoos (it was always the case that "three-toed sloths do not survive in captivity", but there are a few in a couple of zoos now [but no pigmy sloths]). I'd imagine that as mangrove specialists the pigmies would be even more difficult than regular three-toed sloths.

Pigmy sloths are one of the animals I'd love to see in the wild, but that may never happen now. It wouldn't take much to wipe the species out with its range (check out the map on the earlier link)

 

[nanoboy]

no there is not. The pigmy sloths are a type of three-toed sloth which historically have done poorly in zoos (it was always the case that "three-toed sloths do not survive in captivity", but there are a few in a couple of zoos now [but no pigmy sloths]). I'd imagine that as mangrove specialists the pigmies would be even more difficult than regular three-toed sloths.

Pigmy sloths are one of the animals I'd love to see in the wild, but that may never happen now. It wouldn't take much to wipe the species out with its range (check out the map on the earlier link)

Try to see them like tomorrow if you can, because there may be none left in 2013. 79 isn't a lot.

It looks like in-situ conservation is the only option for this species, and that looks like it could only come from the government if they forcibly evict settlers, proclaim the island a national park, and enforce it - all of which we know might never happen.