Coverage of ‘sloth bridges’ in Costa Rica inspires conservation action in Brazil

13 Oct 2025

In January 2022, Mongabay Latam published a story about an unusual conservation effort underway in Costa Rica: the installation of rope bridges that help sloths safely navigate fragmented forests. Later translated into English in February 2022, the article highlighted the work of the Sloth Conservation Foundation, founded by British zoologist Rebecca Cliffe, to safeguard one of the world’s slowest mammals from modern-day hazards.

As a temporary solution, the foundation has installed more than 100 bridges across gaps in the forest, while working toward long-term reforestation. Without these bridges, sloths might have to go down to the ground to cross from one tree to another – putting them at risk of being run over by a car or attacked by dogs – or electrocuted if they opt to travel over power lines. 

Sloths aren’t the only animals that use these bridges. Camera traps have confirmed that at least 14 species — including monkeys and opossums — also rely on these rope connections.

Ana Baltodano and Michael Chizkov in front of their house. The couple contacted the Sloth Conservation Foundation to ask for a bridge to connect the trees to help sloths and other wildlife move safely. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay.
Ana Baltodano and Michael Chizkov in front of their house. The couple contacted the Sloth Conservation Foundation to ask for a bridge to connect the trees to help sloths and other wildlife move safely. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay.

Mongabay’s reporter also discussed the broader threats of deforestation and forest degradation in Costa Rica, which, despite its reputation for conservation, continually loses patches of forest. Local communities expressed their support for the bridges, recognizing that connectivity is key for wildlife and for preserving the country’s biodiversity.

Impact

After reading the feature, a conservation project in Brazil recognized it was similar to the challenge faced by the endangered northern maned sloth, a species endemic to the country’s Atlantic Forest. At this point, the Mongabay article became a catalyst for action.

Conservationist José Truda Palazzo, who works for the Brazilian Nature Conservation Institute (IBRACON), is involved with a maned sloth project there, and recently participated in establishing the Maned Sloth Institute (Instituto Preguiça-de-coleira) to protect the species and its habitat. 

“This article helped us realize that cable bridges could help our situation, so I wrote to the Foundation and they helped us design our bridges, and now are helping get funding for more,” Palazzo shared with Mongabay.

Palazzo, who has worked on a wide range of conservation issues for decades, primarily focusing on marine conservation, especially international treaties and public policy, regularly looks to Mongabay: “I consider Mongabay my main source of credible environmental information nowadays, and besides using its reporting, especially on marine issues and marine protected areas, as input sources to my work, I also spread it around widely as I manage several Facebook Groups (Global Marine Conservation, Ecoturismo: Brasil & Mundo, Divers for Sharks, etc.) and am a member to some 70 others, ranging from diving to tree planting, and I post links to your articles to several groups on an almost daily basis, helping to get more people informed about what’s going on,” he wrote in an email to Mongabay.

By amplifying the work of the Sloth Conservation Foundation, Mongabay’s coverage not only documented how communities in Costa Rica are using a simple yet effective technology to give sloths a helping hand, it also inspired conservationists in Brazil to adapt this approach to their own context, in support of a lesser-known and endangered sloth species.

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Banner image: Sloth crossing a rope bridge installed as part of the Connecting Gardens Project in Costa Rica. Photo courtesy of the Sloth Conservation Foundation.