NightSchool: The Slow Life of Sloths

We know you love these tree-dwelling, slow-moving mammals, but what do you know about sloth science?

• Giant sloths ahead: Take a trip back in time with Dr. Emily Lindsey, Assistant Curator and Excavation Site Director at the La Brea Tar Pits, as she covers 50 million years of sloths, including their historic diversity, extinctions and boneyards, and lessons for today.

• Find out why it’s always a multi-species party wherever there’s a sloth with Dr. Emily Fountain, Research Scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She’ll talk about the coevolution of sloths and algae and her current research with ecto-parasites, the organisms that live on sloths.

• Dr. Bryson Voirin, Academy research fellow, is an expert in sleep neuroscience in sloths, focusing his research on overturning lazy assumptions about why and how much they sleep. Join him for tales from the canopy and surprising facts about sloth lifestyles.

• Join Nestor Correa of the Panamerican Conservation Association (APPC) to learn more about his organization’s work to rehabilitate orphaned sloths impacted by deforestation and habitat fragmentation in Panama— and stay for a demo on how to feed a baby sloth.

All NightLife virtual programming is intended for audiences 21+.

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The California Academy of Sciences is a renowned scientific and educational institution dedicated to exploring, explaining, and sustaining life on Earth. Based in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, it's the only place in the world to house an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum—plus cutting-edge research programs—all under one living roof.

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