NEW! JUST DISCOVERED!
I was sifting through a pile back in the corner of the attic when I came across another field journal of Sir Winslows. As far as anyone knew they were all in the library at Windy Willows. Amazing! There were fresh stories and new animals that we could learn about.
See how fresh it looks compared to the others. It's like it hasn't seen the light in a hundred years!
The Amazon jungle lays in South America. During Sir Winslow’s exploring years it was vast. It would have taken a lifetime to explore even a small part. Today the rainforest covers 3.2 million square miles, which still makes it the largest in the world. Its animals are diverse, the waterways immense, and the humidity...out of this world!
The map from Sir Winslow's archives.
The cecropia (pronounced sa-crow-pee-uh) tree is the main diet of the sloth. Well, it’s leaves are anyway. It is a tree that is also home to a certain kind of very fierce ant. Sir Winslow was sitting near one (trying to stay ant free) and trying to spot a sloth. They, of course, move very slowly and to make it even more difficult to spot they blend in very well with the surroundings. The fur of a sloth is grayish, might have algae growing from it and tends to be the habitat for other bugs too.
Well anyway, as he was sitting under the tree looking up when a sloth came crashing down on him! Both of them were stunned! Looking back up to see where it had come from, was another sloth. They had been fighting up in the branches….very slowly Sir Winslow adds here...and one had lost its balance.
The sloth picked himself up and sauntered over to the tree, then began to inch his way upward. About halfway up the tree he looked down and appeared to wave to Sir Winslow as if to say “thanks for breaking my fall”.
There are many other stories about Sir Winslow’s time in the Amazon. Check back again to read more of his adventures and see what we have going on at Sir Winslow's Zoo!
You can purchase a sloth here which is based on the sketches in the field journals. The Sloth