Quote by Yann Martel
The three-toed sloth lives a peaceful, vegetarian life in perfect harmony with its environment. A good-natured smile is forever on its lips...I have seen that smile with my own eyes. I am not one given to projecting human traits and emotions onto animals, but many a time during that month in Brazil, looking up at a sloth in repose, I felt I was in the presence of upside-down yogis deep in meditation or hermits deep in prayer, wise beings whose intense imaginative lives were beyond the reach of scientific probing.
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Summary
This quote describes the author's firsthand experience observing the three-toed sloth in Brazil. Despite the author's scepticism towards attributing human emotions to animals, they compare the sloth's facial expression to a good-natured smile. The author suggests that the sloth's peaceful and tranquil existence, as they observe it in its natural habitat, evokes a sense of spiritual wisdom and heightened imagination that cannot be fully explored through scientific analysis. It portrays the sloth as a serene and mystical creature, exemplifying the harmony and depth of the natural world.
By Yann Martel