Thursday, January 25, 2007

So, this sloth in Germany.

You know, Mats. The sloth that was part of a study on how animals move? Yeah, that one. He was supposed to climb up a pole and then back his way down the pole so that researchers could figure out how sloths back down things.

Well, he refused to comply. For three years.

So the researchers sent him off to a zoo, where he can live in slothful glory for the rest of his days.

That's not the point, though. The point is this: every story I read about Mats said that he refused to climb backward down the pole *even when tempted with spaghetti, his favorite treat.*

Who the hell figured out that sloths (or at least this sloth) like spaghetti? Does Mats like a light tomato-based sauce with plenty of basil, or does he prefer a creamy sauce with clams and capers? How does Mats feel about anchovies? Can sloths tell the difference between hand-grated Parmesan and the stuff out of the can? Where do they stand on green peppers in the sauce? Do they like linguine better than cappellini?

The mind reels.

3 comments:

shrimplate said...

Although I cannot speak on behalf of all other sloths, for my part I prefer farfalle, rotini, or penne with a bit of crushed garlic and red pepper flakes in EVOO.

Also, it has been many years, decades even, since I have slid down a pole. At my age this is an ungraceful thing to do.

Anonymous said...

Did it ever cross your mind that these scientists might not be as stupid as media put it? From what i read about the story they were trying to find a zoo that takes "mats" for over a year. Also "mats" was only one of four sloths involved in the study and the others complied. Furthermore I guess they tried feeding different things and therefore knew what sloths really like...

shrimplate said...

And a pinch of sea salt.