In the realm of Internet viral media, the sloths of Costa Rica have managed to retain supremacy thanks to their affable demeanor and overall cuteness. The latest sloth-related viral item currently making the rounds on the Internet involves a juvenile sloth that gatecrashed or photobombed his way (a Tico tour guide identified the sloth’s male gender) into the picture frame of a youth volunteer group.

According to the Huffington Post UK, a group from the International Student Volunteers (ISV) was busy clearing a jungle trail and decided to take a break and pose for a photo. Tour guide and anthropologist Manuel Ramirez took an overhead shot position when he noticed a curious sloth descending upside down on the upper aspect of the picture frame.

Mr. Ramirez snapped the ironic moment as the volunteers were posing with smiles on their faces, and since sloths always seem to smile at the world, the photo has strong viral potential. The New York Daily News and the Daily Mail insinuated that the photo seems to have been manipulated on a computer graphic editing program such as Adobe Photoshop.

The original source of the story is the Caters News Agency in the United Kingdom, and it has already been reported by at least six British online news media sites. You can see the cute photo and some details behind the story at the following links:

• Sloth Photobomb: Hairy Mammal Flings Himself Into The Frame (Huffington Post UK)
• Cute alert: Sloth gatecrashes photo to say ‘cheese’ with jungle volunteers (Metro UK)
• Sloth photobombs student group in Costa Rican jungle (New York Daily News)

The news reports do not specify the region of our country where the photo was taken, but in recent times the ISV organization has worked with our Ministry of the Environment and our Institute of Fisheries to make Playa San Juanillo in Guanacaste a designated responsible fishing area.

The Costa Rica Star has reported on the viral appeal of sloths in two previous articles; one related to viral videos in Costa Rica and the science behind what makes them so popular, and another one about the sanctuary near Cahuita in our Caribbean region that takes in orphan baby sloths.

A sloth was also the mascot of the successful Million Dollar Gift of Happiness national tourism campaign.