Wild Adventures is now offering animal encounters with some of their amazing animal ambassadors including their two-toed sloths Oscar and Maya. Two-toed sloths are found in Central and South America and are known for their slow movement, nocturnal habits, and arboreal lifestyle, spending most of their time hanging upside down from trees using their powerful claws. During the encounter you get the opportunity to enter the sloth enclosure, pet them and feed them. We had the chance to experience this on opening weekend and it was amazing!

For the sloth encounter you meet the animal care staff near the sloth habitat where they’ll be waiting with a park photographer and usually another staff member or two. You’ll be guided to the back of the sloth enclosure and given a couple of ground rules before entering the back indoor area of the habitat. You can then enter the outdoor area, dodging a few tree limbs if you’re tall like me and then basically be face to face with a couple of sloths! You’ll be given a bunch of facts about sloths, be able to ask all the questions you want and be able to pet and feed them. Oscar seems to like being petted more than Maya and you want to pet sloths on their back and not their heads. The staff will help keep an eye on the animals temperament to be sure they are happy participants and the encounter will last about 20 minutes. It would also be great for families as my 8 year old was a full participant and loved it!

Getting to feed the sloths is a highlight. The animal care staff will bring a Tupperware with a couple of options for you to feed the sloths. In our case this was squash and corn and it was clear the sloths saw the corn and were most excited about it, although they ate some of the squash too. The sloths would take a few bites of the squash and let it drop while the corn they quickly ate in an almost human-like action of consuming only the kernels and dropping the empty cob.

Sloths are very curious creatures and they appear to not mind humans. I stood still and the sloths approached me slowly (they are sloths) one from the front and one from behind. It was a little disconcerting as these guys do have some little sharp teeth (and I think the animal care specialist held her breath a little). I ended up getting a cold sloth nose on my nose and getting licked by a sloth! I don’t think many people can say that and I’ll carry that memory forever.

We stayed at the Wild Adventures Safari Campground opening weekend and the animal encounters are currently exclusive to campground guests. If you’re not staying at the campground and still want an animal experience all Wild Adventure guests can participate in animal feedings throughout the day such as the giraffes, gators, goats and birds. There are also numerous shows such as Gators Live and Tiger Tales as well as several zookeeper talks and the Discovery Swamp Tour. However, if you want to participate in one of the new animal encounters the only way currently is to stay at the campground and do it as a paid extra experience. Other encounters include the African Crested Porcupine, Giraffe and Tamanduas (anteater). The sloth encounter is $49/person while the others are $39/person.

The sloth encounter was a crazy special experience at what is a very affordable price. In addition to your memories you’ll also walk away with a printed professional photograph to remember your experience. I can’t wait to do another encounter with the porcupine Spikey Mickey or anteater Tiffany in the future! The Safari Campground is great (review forthcoming), so if you plan to visit Wild Adventures you can stay literal steps from the park and have the option to add some great animal encounters too. No doubt, animal ambassadors Oscar and Maya will be thrilled to see you!