Amazon Creatures Two: Dolphins and Sloths

Spoiler Alert: All those fabulous photos of pink Amazon river dolphins really are fabulous and their photographs should be praised and honored for their patience (or luck).  If you want to see those photos, follow the link.

However, this is real life and your humble reporter didn't have the (time) resources to wait a month or two, or three, to wait for the pink river dolphins to jump up.  We did scour the river looking for them, and did find a few.  However, their habit is to stay underwater.  (Go figure.) And unlike their grey dolphin cousins, their dorsal fins in quite small, so when they pop to the surface, an observer (and camera) have precious little time to respond.

We did our best to get a photo to share with you.  They typically hang around at the mouths of larger tributaries to the Amazon.  We spent our time at the mouths of the Narina and Amacayacu rivers.  (See map.)

In this photo, you can see a mother and calf  surfacing briefly.  You'll notice the absence of pronounced dorsal fin.

This photo shows a hint of the pink color for which they are noted.

This view was typical when they'd surface for a breath.  Pink river dolphins are about 6 feet long.

The grey river dolphins were easier to spot, but they are tiny...about 2-3 feet long at maturity.

Here she comes...

There she goes... 

Teasing us with a peak. But nothing more.

A pair keeps their distance.

They were fun to watch, but you'll have to go there in person to enjoy fully.  Let me know when you want to go, and we'll have a great trip.

My idea of a sloth

Sometimes the hardest animals to find are those that move the slowest.  Always up for a challenge, we went looking for a sloth.  Those cute and cuddly critters that hang from trees and smile. (See right.  Photo credit here.)


First we crossed the Amazon and made an undocumented (i.e., extralegal) stop in Peru, where we had heard there was a sloth family hanging out near a small yuca farm. (Hanging out.  Yuca Yuca.  Get it??? Yuca Yuca?)


We craned our necks, stared into branches, circled and sniffed. Nada. Zilch.

Back to Colombia and try again another day.

Next day, this time in Colombia, we search again.

Hurray! Near our farthest most search (way out to the west on the map), our guide Reinaldo spots a sloth high in a tree.
We stared and stared trying to see what he saw. (We were in a boat, and re-positioned it several times.)
Eventually we saw it.  Actually, we saw an unkempt hairball that had got stuck on a branch.  This is it.

Confused?  Where's that cute baby sloth of our dreams?

Would you like some orientation about what you're looking at?

This sloth is laying on his back on a branch, and you're looking at the less-than-photogenic end of his torso (not his head).

His right lower leg is sticking up to the left.  His left arm is reaching up towards the right.  The other hairy parts?  I'm not quite sure.  

His head is on the far side of his body, out of sight.  He peeked out once in the 20 minutes we watched him. (no photo :-(  )

Did you know that sloths seldom move?  It's true.

Here's the action photos we got.

Amazing, uh?

If you want to go on a sloth photo hunt adventure, ummmm, let me know when to expect you back.

I've crossed sloths off my list. :-)

Cheers!