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.
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