Surprise baby sloth born at Drusillas Park!
Keepers say the baby is safe and healthy
To the complete surprise of the team at Drusillas Park Zoo, a baby sloth has been born!
Keepers say they couldn't believe their eyes when mum Halina ventured down to greet them with a new-born baby in her arms.
It's the second sloth to be born at the zoo, and the fifth Linne two-toed sloth in total
Zoo Animal Manager, Mark Kenward, spoke about the surprise arrival; “We are always prepared for the birth of new infants as we know this can happen at any time. Gemma and I remained at the zoo late into the night to make sure everything was moving in the right
direction, with this being Halina’s first born. Whilst baby and mum looked very healthy, the baby on occasion got a little confused and would climb onto dad Sophocles, remaining attached to him for a number of hours.”
“Male sloths don’t usually have anything to do with the rearing of young” Mark continued, “and wouldn’t normally take too kindly to an infant climbing all over them. Sophocles however was amazing and accepted the baby happily, giving Halina the chance to rest - but we did need to get the baby back to Halina to begin feeding.”
“Late into the evening, when sloths are most active, we calmy removed the baby from Sophocles and placed it back on Halina, but not before we had a chance to quickly weigh and check the gender. Halina and the baby - which we now believe to be a female - have been closely monitored ever since. The baby has been feeding really well and received the all-important colostrum from mum.”
Head Keeper, Gemma Romanis, added; “We are absolutely thrilled to bits to share this exciting news with you all, the new arrival is something we are immensely proud of as a team. Baby seems to be thriving under the careful watch of our keepers, and is doing everything she should be at this stage. Halina is being wonderfully attentive, and considering this is her first baby, it seems to have all come very naturally to her.”