Florida Museum wants you to know how to find survival in slowness.
Really slow. Like oh, say moving through a high forest canopy at a whopping 40 yards in a day.
That is slow. But it works for the five species of sloths living in Central and South America. Sloths like to hang from trees, sun themselves, feed on leaves – surviving and thriving through chilling out. They also have really long nails, like they carry their own cutlery with them, all the better to grab leaves and tree limbs.
Thriving through chilling out. Sounds like a plan in these pandemic times when it feels like we’re going nowhere fast.
But you do not have to travel to another country to get lessons in sloth slowness as a lifestyle.
On Saturday January 23, 2021 a new exhibit entitled Survival of the Slowest opens at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. Hours on opening day are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
See sloths in a hands on environment along with other slow survivors, like hedgehogs that sleep all day, play and eat at night. Then there are iguanas and more.
Social distancing observed. See the museum’s website for COVID 19 details and admission details.
The Florida Museum of Natural History is located in the University of Florida Cultural Plaza at 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: 352-846-2000.
Admission is $10 adults, $9 Florida residents and seniors, $7 for children ages 3-27. University of Florida students admitted free.
No hurry. Slowly find your way there.
Survival of the Slowest will be at the museum from January 23 through September 12, 2021. This is a bi-lingual exhibit with all materials in English and Spanish.
Another way to slow down – take up an activity like watching butterflies. A great new place to do just that is the butterfly house recently installed at Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, Florida.
Spanish Point is now a campus of Selby Gardens located in Sarasota.
The outdoor areas are open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Address: 337 North Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL. Selby members admitted free. Admission: adults $15, ages 5-17 $10, age 4 and under admitted free. Phone: 941-366-5731.
The Butterfly House is small but packed with Florida butterflies. We found ourselves standing in one place, rotating slowly to follow the flight of a butterfly and then another and another ….. Camera fans with serious long lens and deep camera bags were on full alert, snapping away.
What a delightful, relaxing and yet inspiring experience.
Right next to the Butterfly House is a long standing butterfly garden full of nectar and host plants.
For me, there is something magical about watching butterflies. They flit, flutter and fascinate.
Visiting butterfly gardens gives you a reason to slow down, hang out, take pictures, breathe deeply and become one with the butterflies.
In these pandemic times the slow lane is looking mighty attractive.
Go for it.
©2020 Lucy Tobias. Butterfly house and butterfly photo by Lucy Tobias.