It's Breakfast Time for Baby Sloth
March 23, 2013
A baby Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, born on February 3 at the
Minnesota Zoo, is slowly making its public debut. The infant is only the second Sloth born at
the zoo and is a significant achievement for the Sloth breeding program.
The baby’s gender is not yet known, and it spends most of its time clinging to mom. The video below captures mom and baby nibbling a nutritious breakfast of carrots, squash, hard-boiled eggs, and romaine lettuce, hand-delivered by zoo keepers. In the wild, Sloths eat leaves, small twigs, berries, flowers, fruit, and occasionally insects and small prey.
Photo Credits: Minnesota Zoo
Sometimes called the slowest animals on earth, Sloths live high in the rain forest canopy of Central America and northern South America. Their slow movements allow them to conserve energy and avoid detection from predators like Harpy Eagles and Jaguars. Sloths sleep, eat, mate, and give birth hanging upside down in trees. They are also excellent swimmers.