Zoomarine theme park in Guia has welcomed its latest resident ‘Seb’, a male southern two-toed sloth which has moved all the way from the Ocean Park in Hong Kong to the Algarve.
“Preferring to look at life literally upside down, Seb belongs to the slowest group of animals in the world – sloths. They only move 38 metres per day on average and spend around 16 hours of the day sleeping, hence their name,” says the theme park in a statement to the press.
Sloths enjoy long hours hanging from trees and do almost everything upside down, including sleeping, eating, mating and even giving birth! Explains Zoomarine, their metabolism is so slow that it can take up to one month to digest their food.
“We added Seb to the Zoomarine family because we wanted to raise awareness of this peculiar species with such distinctive features, and highlight its importance in nature and its need to be protected,” said the theme park.
“Seb will be both a delight to visitors but he will also help us to increase our knowledge of this species, which is crucial towards its conservation.”
Zoomarine is reopening on Wednesday, June 10 – a bank holiday to celebrate Portugal Day – with a series of new rules and restrictions.
Check-in must be completed online, while the theme park’s capacity has been reduced to just one third. Using a mask or visor in closed spaces, queues and some of the venues will be mandatory.
Tickets cost €20 for adults and €15 for children and senior citizens.
