Inside the Sloth Cave

As mentioned many months ago--in a post about our trip to the Museo de Ciencias Naturales in La Plata--Emily and I have developed something of a fascination with the enormous, now-extinct mammal species that once roamed the pampas. One result is that we pretty badly wanted to visit La Cueva del Milodon--a giant cave near the Last Hope Sound in Chile, where perfectly preserved specimens of Giant Sloth (Mylodon Listai) skin and dung were discovered near the turn-of-the-century. We naively assumed that the cave was still as remote and off-the-beaten-path as when Bruce Chatwin visited it in the late 1970s, and that a great deal of hiking and orienteering from Puerto Natales might be necessary. In fact, for better or worse, the cave is now administered by CONAF, Chile's National Park Service, and excursions from Puerto Natales are both plentiful and popular. Because our legs were still pretty sore from Torres Del Paine, and because the hostel offering mountain biking excursions had already dicked us out of a room reservation (note to googlers: stay away from Patagonia Adventures) we shelled out for a remise to take us 25 km. out of town to see the cave for ourselves.

The story of the prized sloth skin's discovery is the cause of much debate. I still haven't been able to patch together a lone convincing narrative. The cave may or may not have been discovered by two Germans and a Swede who settled near Puerto Consuelo. The larger-than-life Francisco "Perito" Moreno supposedly rushed down from the La Plata museum to examine the giant piece of skin found by the Europeans. Presumably, the skin we photographed in La Plata is at least one part of the same specimen. Chatwin insists that one of his relations, Charley Milward, came away with "yards of skin and piles of bones and claws", but the interpretive center at the cave suggests that this is legend. One amusing detail that does appear to be true is that a London newspaper enlisted a skilled team of sloth hunters to deliver a live sloth specimen for the public. Although the team was led by "Expert" Moreno, they sadly couldn't fulfill their assignment.

Whether or not sloths and early humans used the cave at different times or, as some suggest, at the same time--the human hunters using it as a kind of corral for trapping the lumbering beasts--the place is undoubtedly impressive. Chatwin's description of sloth dung littering the floor is no longer true, but much of the rest holds: "The inside was dry as the desert. The ceiling was shaggy with white stalactites and the sides glittered with salt encrustration. Animal tongues had licked the back wall smooth. The straight wall of rocks dividing the cave had fallen from a fissure in the roof. By the entrance was a small shrine to the Virgin." Actually, strike that last part. Now there's a giant effigy of a roaring ground sloth. I guess that every once in a great while, time actually brings improvements. -NSH