| Creator | Jean Cousin |
| Media Form | Printed Illustration |
| Genre | History Illustration |
| Technique | Manual Drawing |
| Date and Location of Creation | 1557, Brazil |
| Publication Information | Published in Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique (Singularities of France Antarctique) |
| Species Represented | Sloth |
The drawing of the sloth in the featured image is really interesting. It is like a raw look at what people in the 16th century really thought sloths looked like. Jean Cousin’s illustration, created during André Thevet’s expedition to Brazil, serves as a historical artifact, reflecting the curiosity and wonder of encountering exotic species for the first time. The artist likely aimed to convey the sloth’s peculiar characteristics, capturing its otherworldly appearance and presenting it as a creature both foreign and fascinating to European audiences. The artist in the 16th century used cool techniques like hand-drawing and not including color to make the sloth picture look more out there, because they had never seen it before. This drawing isn’t just about showing different animals; it also tells a story about how people were starting to figure out more about nature back then, especially during a time when everyone was exploring and finding new things.
Since Sloths are one of the most interesting animals to me I decided to look into them. I find that sloths are really cute and the fact that they move extremely slow is so fascinating. In my research I found out that According to The Sloth Conservation Foundation, sloth’s move slow because of what they eat. According to an article from Britannica, Sloths consume mostly leaves which lack in the nutrients that they need. So, just because they like eating the leaves their movement is completely hindered. According to Science Gov, The biochemistry of their muscles is different from the other animals because they use ATP at a slower rate.
This got me thinking about that if sloths were fed a different diet would they become faster overtime? Some people including me believe that sloths could gain more speed overtime. I thought that was a pretty neat theory and when I found out that multiple people had that as well I thought maybe there is something to it. Although, apparently according to a post on Quora by a Health and Nutrition Educator, if they were fed something more nutritious, or something that was easier to eat and digest, then they would just have indigestion and their speed wouldn’t really change.
“Flash Laughing Scene” by Entertainment Access is licensed under CC BY 4.0
The first thing I thought of when I saw the sloths was Zootopia. This movie is very anthropomorphic. According to Wikipedia, that means animals with humanistic , human traits and emotion. I loved the movie ever since it came out and one of my favorite character happened to be a sloth named flash which is super ironic. The character Flash, is a sloth that works at the DMV and it is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. He movies extremely slow which is a dig towards the DMV which it take hours to even get seen by an employee.
I wanted to take a look into the anthropomorphic side of media because it seemed extremely interesting. Animals that act like humans or do human things is really fun to watch because it makes me feel like they are not much different than we are. In the movie they have hierarchies like we do and they also focus on the differences we have. Foxes are seen as bad ”people” and they are categorized as violent but in the movie Nick Wilde, the fox, changes his former behavior is a good “person” at the end. Zootopia features so many scenes that could be rewritten and filmed again with humans and it would ultimately be the same.
Sources
Brittanica. (n.d.). Why are sloths so slow?. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-sloths-so-slow#:~:text=The%20slowness%20of%20sloths%20is,is%20designed%20to%20conserve%20energy.
Cellania, M., Beeman, D., & B, C. (2018, December 10). The first printed illustration of a sloth. Neatorama. https://www.neatorama.com/2018/12/09/The-First-Printed-Illustration-of-a-Sloth/
Foundation, S. C. (n.d.). What do sloths eat? sloth diet, food, and digestion – Sloco. The Sloth Conservation Foundation. https://slothconservation.org/what-do-sloths-eat-sloth-diet-food-and-digestion/
Magazine, S. (2018, December 4). The strange nature of the first printed illustration of a sloth. Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/strange-nature-first-printed-illustration-sloth-180970944/
Sc2haffer, W. (2018). Scientist say a sloth is slow because of its low-calorie diet. if they are fed with high energy food, would it improve their speed?Will. Quora. https://www.quora.com/Scientist-say-a-sloth-is-slow-because-of-its-low-calorie-diet-If-they-are-fed-with-high-energy-food-would-it-improve-their-speed
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023a, December 10). Zootopia. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zootopia
Wikipedia. (2023b, December 2). Anthropomorphism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism
Wilson, J. A. (2015). Sloths Bradypus Variegatus. Sloths bradypus variegatus: Topics by science.gov. https://www.science.gov/topicpages/s/sloths+bradypus+variegatus.html
