Do you remember that hilariously adorable sloth’s smile from Disney’s animated action comedy Zootopia? Well, someone in Brazil was lucky enough to personally encounter one.
A man left his car window open overnight and the next day was surprised by a cute uninvited guest hanging off his car’s steering wheel.
More info: Bruno Farkas
This 73-year-old resident of the Ponta Negra neighborhood of Manaus in Brazil left his car window open and the next day found a cute guest hanging off the steering wheel
Antônio Luiz Laghi, a 73-year-old resident of the Ponta Negra neighborhood of Manaus, Brazil was about to go to a doctor’s appointment when he suddenly found an irresistibly cute creature calmly hanging on the wheel staring at him.
“I opened my car door and look what I found!” he can be heard laughing in the video, which was taken by Laghi’s son Bruno and later shared on his social media.
The short clip about this unexpected encounter with a wild sloth instantly went viral all over the world and has already been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
Bruno explained that his father left the windows of his car open the evening before because he wanted the vehicle to cool off, and that, it appears, was the perfect opportunity for an uninvited new pal to occupy the driver’s seat.
After documenting such a funny moment, Antônio released the animal into its natural habitat and believes the sloth came from a nearby wooded area.
The video about an uninvited new pal in the driver’s seat instantly went viral all over the internet
People couldn’t stop laughing watching the hilarious encounter and also cracked a few jokes about it.
“Literally when you want to do something and laziness won’t let you,” wrote one of the commentators next to the clip.
“How people from the United States think life is like for everyone here in Brazil,” another one wrote.
This funny story somehow reminded me of one filmed some years ago when the guy who uploaded it joked that he had just saved 50 years of traveling for this sloth. The huge smile on the animal’s face as it comfortably sat on the boat, pondering the journey, is priceless. You can watch it here.
Or another story, when James Schwartz was on a tour of the Amazon jungle where he suddenly was joined by a sloth. The little guy accidentally dropped from a tree and enjoyed the boat ride so much that the video about him mesmerized by the water instantly went viral. You can find this short clip here.
Speaking of water, it’s probably interesting to mention that sloths can swim three times faster than they can move on the ground.
Another interesting fact is that these sweet animals are anatomically designed to fall out of trees. They can plummet from over 100 feet without injury.
Being so slow mostly has to do with sloths’ vision; they have a very rare condition called rod monochromacy. It means that sloths lack cone cells in their eyes, therefore are colorblind. They see poorly in dim light and are completely blind in bright daylight.
These animals are also known for their slightly crazy bathroom habits. Sloths will only relieve themselves once a week and at that time they can lose up to a third of their body weight!
Image credits: The Sloth Conservation (not the actual photo)
Image credits: The Sloth Conservation (not the actual photo)
Sloths were first mentioned in scientific literature in 1749, where they were labelled as ‘the lowest form of existence’ due to their extraordinary low metabolic rate, which allows the animals to spend an astonishing 15 to 20 hours per day sleeping.
While most species of sloths are not considered endangered, human expansion definitely affects the sloth’s habitat, therefore they can appear in some unusual situations.
Antônio and his son happened to experience one and I’m sure they won’t forget this lazy, smiling guest for a long time.
The adorable video melted hearts all over the internet
