MELBOURNE, Fla. – It’s Monday, and we could all use a break to appreciate how absolutely adorable baby sloths are.
According to Brevard Zoo, zoo staff are facing a challenge after Tango, a female, Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth who gave birth on May 12, has not been interested in looking after her little one. Attempts to even reunite Tango and her baby have been unsuccessful.
This why the yet-to-be-named baby sloth, whose father is a sloth named Dustin, is now being bottle-fed goat’s milk every three hours around the clock.
Plus, since young sloths typically cling to their mothers at this age, the baby is also being given a variety of stuffed animals to hold — and the photo of the baby holding one of them is absolutely adorable.
Zoo staff have not yet identified the sex of the baby sloth, as this will require a laboratory test.
According to staff, this is the second sloth to arrive at Brevard Zoo this spring. The first was born to Sammy on April 8, and that baby is being reared by their mother and is visible to guests in the Rainforest Revealed section of the zoo.
Sloths are threatened by the wildlife trade and habitat loss. Therefore, Brevard Zoo urges tourists visiting Central or South America to skip any “photo ops” with sloths, which often feature animals unsustainably removed from their natural habitat.
To learn more about Brevard Zoo, click here.