Sloth Photobombs Student Group Picture In Costa Rica (PHOTO)

What's (almost) better than a video of baby sloths wearing onesies? A sloth photobomb, of course!

Students on a trip with International Student Volunteers in Costa Rica got the souvenir of a lifetime when a sloth decided to drop in and join their group photo.

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"As I looked through the camera lens I could see something creeping in to the frame," said Manuel Ramirez, an anthropologist and tour guide for International Student Volunteers, according to HuffPost UK. "When I realized it was a baby sloth I clicked the button as fast as I could, not that he was going anywhere fast."

You're not alone if you think the picture looks too cute to be true, but according to Rosanna Salvatore at the Daily News, "Ramirez and the volunteers stand by their claim that the animal was simply a surprise guest with a taste for the spotlight."

According to the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica, two species of sloths live in the Central American country, one three-toed species and one two-toed species.

Bradypus variegatus and Choloepus hoffmanni, both of Costa Rica, are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as being of "least concern." It's unclear what type of sloth graced the students with its presence.

Some adorable sloth species might not be around much longer. IUCN lists both the Maned Three-toed Sloth and Pygmy Three-toed Sloth as "endangered" and "critically endangered," respectively.

We can't write about animal photobombs without mentioning the monkey last summer that "stole" a photographer's camera and took some self-portraits.

If you need more slothy cuteness, be sure to watch this video of baby sloths taking a bath.

Quick Poll

Is this a real photobomb?

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No. Too cute to be true!

Don't care -- it's awesome.

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LOOK: Sloth Photobombs Group Photo:

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Comments

[Zaida Adams]

09:46 AM on 07/29/2012

heehee love this

[jf954]

10:53 AM on 07/25/2012

I think the most telling sign of "fake" is the fact that the people in the background and the leaves in the front are equally focused - which shouldn't really be possible, unless the camera has an epic focal length. Which would put the sloth in decent focus as well.

[LeeLooDallas88]

06:52 PM on 04/09/2012

who cares if it's real or not the sloth is adorable!

[ryanosaur]

02:49 PM on 04/09/2012

How is this a news story?!

I could make this photo that looks this bad in six minutes.

....using MS Paint.

[IrieMoon]

11:39 AM on 04/09/2012

Yes, it looks like a meerkat. But if you google "baby sloth" and look at the pictures of baby sloths you'll see it really is a baby sloth and not a meerkat.

And even if it is fake, it's cute!

[eyelashviper]

06:47 PM on 04/08/2012

Cute, but not a sloth...looks like a meerkat, and they don't live in trees nor in Costa Rica.

[Ohaikiwi]

05:34 PM on 04/10/2012

Wrong. Sloths do live in Costa-Rica. There's actually a special sanctuary dedicated to them. Sloths also do hang out in trees and that photo is a Sloth.

A simple google search would've given you all this information (:

[eyelashviper]

05:37 PM on 04/10/2012

I know that sloths live in trees in Costa Rica, and have seen them there. This creature looks more like a meerkat, and they do not live in CR or any other part of this hemisphere.

[hukkahukkabirninglove]

11:10 AM on 04/08/2012

I'm a liberal and I know it's a fake. For one thing, it's a meerkat!

[Debbie338]

12:45 PM on 04/09/2012

No, it isn't. It's a three-toed sloth.

[BCarlton]

09:31 AM on 04/10/2012

Yet another political junkie making an assinine political comment on a photo that is quite obviously NON-POLITICAL! Get a life!

[biglog]

02:30 PM on 04/07/2012

Right. Someone lined up a shot with all the branches right in the line of vision, and two people just happen to be perfectly placed where their faces aren't obstructed. C'mon, people.

[mlaiuppa]

10:05 PM on 04/07/2012

Well, I'm thinking the photo may have been fine and the weight of the sloth peeking into the lens brought the branch with the leaves with it.

It could also be photoshopped.

But I really don't care.

[foreverdemocrat]

02:12 PM on 04/07/2012

Hilarious.

[david14531]

01:49 PM on 04/07/2012

Forget the sloth for a moment and ask yourself: Why would someone try to take a picture of a group of people with all of those leaves in the way? This photo is a PhotoShop. The leaves are part of the sloth layer.

[rimglow]

01:35 PM on 04/07/2012

Photoshopped. Fill flash evident in the sloth's eyeball. No fill evident in the girl with the baseball cap. Two different lighting setups.This call is not even close!

[BuckyJamesDio]

01:14 PM on 04/07/2012

I'm gonna yell Photoshop because I've never used Photoshop and also have never left my house therefore cute animal moments can't happen because I've never actually seen a live animal and therefore they don't exist. Now if you'll excuse me, my Xbox won't play itself.

[idiocracyisnow]

12:56 PM on 04/07/2012

I find it suspicious when I can't find a high-resolution version of the picture. There is another photo from this group that is hi-res. It appears to be the same sloth, I'm just not convinced that this picture isn't photoshop'd.

To me, they all seem to be looking at the camera. The guys 'looking around the leaves' is just luck in their posing. At that distance, people don't know to find the lens on the camera through the leaves. Much less do it without looking at the sloth.

It looks like something I would whip up because my friends joked about it happening at the time. 'what if slothy photobombed us?!' It's funny. If I were in that group, this would be awesome. But, world news worthy?

[RustyNaerduwell]

12:27 PM on 04/07/2012

Hey, look, some d*mned students photobombed a picture of a really cute sloth. Btw, it's even cuter if you turn the picture upside-down.

[ajbernhard]

12:09 PM on 04/07/2012

Interesting composition. Can anyone say "photoshop?"