Sloths — especially baby sloths — have been burning up the internet in recent years in terms of having their cuteness spread virally via pictures and videos. I have no way of measuring, of course, but they may even be close to rivaling cats in the number of adorable and funny pics populating the web, and in number of hits their images get. I know I’ve passed along my share of photos, trying to convince friends of the awesomeness of baby sloths, and last year, thanks to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, we found out that sloths even have the power to effortlessly use their cuteness to reduce actress Kristen Bell to a blubbering mess. Not bad for critters that aren’t the most active creatures around.
But maybe they’re more active and interesting than we might think, and perhaps are more than just a cute face. We can get a chance to find out, since, finally, sloths are even getting their own TV show. Naturally, it’s on Animal Planet, and it’s called Meet the Sloths.
Premiering Nov. 9, Meet the Sloths is reminiscent of the network’s onetime hit Meerkat Manor, except this series does not follow its stars in the wild, but rather at a sanctuary where more than 150 of the animals live out their slow-moving soap operas. The cameras capture the sloths engaging in everything from adolescent pranks and sloth love triangles, to swimming lessons, jungle-gym play, grooming-time and more.
The 30-minute, eight-part series sounds fascinating (no screeners were available to me as of this posting), but above all, it sounds cute; even the adorable captions on the show photos I had to select from might have started Kristen Bell crying: “baby sloth”; “baby sloth in a bucket”; “baby sloth sleeping”; “Buttercup the sloth.” (It was a hard decision, but I went with one of the two “baby sloth in a bucket” photos offered, pictured above.)
Along with the series, Animal Planet has launched an online Sloth Cam as part of its series of live animal cams. The 24/7 Sloth Cam comes live from Zoo Atlanta, and follows two-toed sloth Cocoa, age 20, and his lady friends Okra, 19, and Bonnie, 13.
Meet the Sloths premieres Nov. 9 at 11am ET/PT on Animal Planet.
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Baby sloth in a bucket, from Meet the Sloths: Animal Planet/Lucy Cooke