I’m feeling soft-hearted this weekend, so you get to watch a mangy sloth shaved and treated with a homemade remedy. I have no word about whether it worked:
Sick baby sloth shaved, slathered with slime
March 3, 2012 • 12:20 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
It didn’t work, Sebastian died a few days later. His twin survived.
A follow-up video said Sebastian was still sickly three months after the treatment, not dead a few days later…
So the treatment is 0.5 effective.
Not really her own idea; Using sulphur mixed in an oil is a traditional remedy for mange. I remember my dad telling me of how he treated his dogs in Indonesia with sulphur and peanut oil.
Also used in at least some parts of Europe. My grandfather used oil and sulfur during a mange outbreak. Burnt oil so the dogs wouldn’t lick it.
Hi Jerry,
This is something I think is very important to share with the scientific community. It’s called “How to Fix Science”:
http://lesswrong.com/lw/ajj/how_to_fix_science/
Please blog this, in the name of science!
Oh, sorry to hear Sebastian didn’t make it!
Few things are cuter than baby sloths!
Oh poo, I saw this during the week, but didn’t realise Sebastian didn’t survive, poor little guy.
According to http://slothville.com/:
“Meet the sloths”
Animal Planet UK
4 March 2012
There are some more videos there. Especially nice is the one with sloth-baby pajamas “out of old sports socks to keep him snuggly and warm”.
The sloths do a perfect mimicry of a human baby as son as they have been put into baby clothes.