A student has singlehandedly raised nearly £30,000 as part of a campaign to reintroduced baby orphaned sloths into the wild.
Rebecca Cliffe, who's studying at Swansea University, said she was "stunned" by the amount, which she has collated in just 40 days. Her crowdfunding campaign Save Our Sloths will use the funding to purchase GPS tracking collars and scientific equipment to "unlock the secret lives of sloths for the first time".
"Very little is known about how sloths survive in the wild and because of this the sanctuary has never been able to release hand-reared orphans," Cliffe says. "Now with these funds we have the chance to purchase the technology to understand how sloths survive and to reintroduce them back into their natural habitat."
Over three years Cliffe, who has been working as a biologist at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica since 2010, will carry out an exhaustive study in Costa Rica jungles. She will follow a number of hand-reared and wild sloths, tracking their movements and studying their behaviour.
"I am stunned by the incredible response from the public," she added. "Finally this allows us to have a real chance to save our sloths and return them back into the wild where they belong."