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PHOEBE LEGERE sings to Sloth, plays Girl From Ipanema on accordion

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Uploaded by on Sep 29, 2006

Critically endangered animals of the Mata Atlantica in Brazil are featured in this Phoebe Legere Video - with accordion jazz by Phoebe- also features one of 300 surviving golden haired lion tamarinds in the wild and the soft, gentle MURAQUI monkey!!!. FIlmed by Phoebe

I include an article I wrote for RANGER RICK about MANED SLOTHS and my friend VERA who let me hold the sweet sloth you see! NEED A HUG?

by Ranger Songbundle (Phoebe Legere)

Everyone loves sloths. They look so COOL. Sloths move very slowly, in fact, they take life so easy that if you look at their fur under a microscope they have algae growing on them!

There is one woman in Brazil who has devoted her life to protecting sloths. Vera Lucia de Oliveira is known to everyone as Sloth Woman.

She Does What?

Vera lives in the middle of the rain forest. There she educates young people about maned sloths, which are very rare. Maned sloths have long black hair. They look like forest Rock Stars.

Vera seems to have a magic touch when it comes to sloths. Vera's sloths snuggle up in her arms and hug her like big smiley-faced teddy bears.


Life on a Brazilian Farm

When Vera was a little girl she lived on a farm. "I had close contact with animals, which aroused my curiosity. Due to my love for animals I decided to go to college and became an ecologist. My interest in ecology began when I realized that animals are defenseless."

Vera makes her choice.
When Vera grew up she became a high school biology teacher. One day, a sloth she named RICARDO appeared in a tree near her school. Vera had never seen a sloth before. "Ricardo reached out and put his arms around my neck like a big happy upside-down dog. I took him home to live in a tree in my yard."

Soon she rescued more sloths. When Vera had nine sloths living in her backyard her neighbors said, "Vera, you will have to choose between people and sloths."

I bet you know her choice. Vera convinced the nearby Cacao (Chocolate) Research Institute to grant a 43-acre forest area for sloth protection. She built a sloth center and she moved into the forest full time to be near her sloths.

"When I was moving the animals I took the trees and vines from my house and I brought them here to the center. I wanted the sloths to feel at home in a familiar surrounding."

Today Vera is Director of the maned sloth program where she teaches students about the conservation of animals and helps scientists in their research.

The Importance of Staying Close to the animals

Vera cares for a number of sloths who are sick or have been injured by hunters. Every morning she sees how the sloths are feeling and gives them medicine. She makes sure the sloths have enough fresh leaves to eat and she observes them carefully.

" It is important to check frequently to see if they are adapting well to the new environment. I have to stay close to them so that they allow me to touch them and treat them if necessary ..."

When a sloth is healthy and ready to be released she just opens the door and puts it on a tree. Vera says, "It's important to remember, sloths can't move on the ground, they only move from tree to tree. Every single tree that is cut down threatens the existence of sloths."

They Need Our Help
When Vera calls to her sloths they crawl down through the branches, pulling themselves along, hand over hand, hanging upside-down and seeming to smile at Sloth Woman the whole time. "They are so peaceful," she says, stroking their silvery fur. "What worries me most now is that this species is in danger of extinction. They need our help."

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Top Comments

  • the sloth shall overcome!

  • LONG LIVE THE SLOTH EMPIRE!

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All Comments (16)

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  • ich faultier!

  • what took that sloth so long to get outta that tree?

  • My best friend (Brazilian) and I were having a HOT lazy day in Los Angeles. He asked me to hand a coke to him, but it was just as easy for him to get it himself. I called him a sloth and would say things like, "Hand me that berry over there, would ya"? We decided to go to the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. The 1st thing we saw upon entering was ... a SLOTH! So, "Hand me that berry... I miss you Marcello, my little sloth"!

  • thats lke saying sometimes i feel like a human and sometiems i dont! lol yeah i know what you eman though.

  • sometimes I feel like a sloth, sometimes I don't.

  • wtf mate?

  • BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA­HHAHA

    wtf is this? i love it.

    as well check out the snl digital short of sloths.

  • I sloth!

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