One thing I noticed about sleeping in the San Jose metro area the other night, was the lack of night noises. It felt eerily silent not having the crickets to sing me to sleep. Well, last night was another night of noise in our Monteverde house. The wind has been howling for two days now and has caused a few roof panels to loosen and bang and creek. Heavy mist is pelting the windows, drip and drain sounds surround us and blowing leaves scratch at the windows.
It was about 1 AM and the rattling just would not stop. Mice found the cat food? The cat trying to get a stuck cup off of its head? This new sound need investigating, so up I sprang peering into the kitchen. Nothing. The sound was outside our dining room window. Something was clanging: the hammock? The cat trying to get in? I shined the flashlight at the window and saw two giant claws attached to a long haired limb. I new what it was. Another limb with a set of claws reached up and scratched at the window and wooden frame. Really? This isn't supposed to climb houses! Attempting to gain height, this slow moving creature's head popped up revealing its flat nose and little innocent eyes. Yes, it is a sloth! I turned the light on, put my boots on and grabbed the camera as it retreated under the bench.
After a minute of hiding under the bench, it reached out with one limb, then another and another and slowly dragged itself across the concrete patio. I snapped pictures from a few feet away. Sloths do not move rapidly, but I certainly did not want to get close to its huge daggers. Not able to support its body weight by pushing up, the shy creature looked sickly or at least from another world. Sloths have plenty of strength to hang and to pull themselves up, but apparently do not practice pushups or run from predators. It crawled to the nearest tree and methodically climbed up until its was out of my reach within a couple of minutes.
In this morning's light, the sloth is nowhere to be found. We will go outside in a few minutes to look up into the trees nearby.
Signed M.
Seems Sasquatch is alive and well... that's a foul looking creature.
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