Buttonwood Park Zoo (BPZOO) is celebrating the birth of a healthy two-toed baby sloth, the first sloth to be born in the zoo’s 127-year history.
A release from the Massachusetts zoo announced that 12-year-old Sandy the Hoffman carried her newborn for over 11 months before giving birth, People reports. Sandy shares her adorable bundle of joy with 20-year-old two-toed male sloth named Bernardo.
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The zoo is overwhelmed with excitement over their newest arrival.
"Since this is Sandy's first birth, we wanted to give her plenty of space to bond with baby before we performed an examination. We were able to quickly examine the baby at six days old, where it weighed in at 348 grams (roughly 0.76 pounds) — both baby and mom are doing exceptionally well," BPZOO's veterinarian, Dr. Erica Lipanovich, said in a statement.
The zoo claims they will continue to monitor the baby’s growth with weekly weight checks and will eventually determine the sex, which the zoo says can be an “incredibly tricky” process.
“Sandy is doing a great job,” said Jessica Martinho, one of the zookeepers who cares for the sloths. “She is sleeping and eating; the baby is nursing – both are doing exactly what they should be doing.”
The zoo staff says the baby will cling tightly to its mother’s fur, as young sloths remain near their mothers for around a year.
When discussing the first sloth birth in the Zoo’s history, BPZOO Director, Keith Lovett expressed how pleased he was to share this birth with the entire community. “Sloths are one of the most popular species at the Zoo and bringing additional awareness of these unique, fascinating animals will help further educate our audience to the importance of conserving wildlife.”
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