Adorable sloth clinging to motorway barrier rescued
Pictures have emerged of the heartmelting moment a beautiful sloth clinging for its life to a motorway crash barrier was rescued.
The sloth was found after getting stuck while trying to cross the motorway in Quevedo, Ecuador.
See also: Orphaned baby sloths learning to climb is too cute (video)
See also: Cheeky sloth takes a selfie in Nicaragua
We first spotted the images on the Mirror, but government organisation Comisión de Tránsito del Ecuador originally posted pictures of the incident to its Facebook page writing: "We collaborate with a beautiful sloth, which aimed to cross the ring vial of quevedo."
En Los Ríos colaboramos con un hermoso perezoso, que pretendía cruzar el anillo vial de Quevedo
Posted by Comisión de Tránsito del Ecuador on Friday, January 22, 2016
The caption, translated on Facebook, read: "We are grateful to all for your concern. Be advised, the sloth bear rescued was reviewed by a veterinarian, the same one that determined that it was in optimal condition to be returned to its habitat.
"We are grateful to all those people who were interested in the health of the animal. We will continue to support this kind of case along with the collaboration of citizenship. Greetings to all."
According to Wikipedia, sloths are medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae (two-toed sloth) and Bradypodidae (three-toed sloth), classified into six species.
They are part of the order Pilosa and are therefore related to anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialised claws.
They are arboreal (tree-dwelling) residents of the jungles of Central and South America, and are known for being slow-moving, hence the name "sloths".
