Zoo hopes to grow sloth family with new arrival

A new female sloth has arrived at a zoo in the hope that she may help grow its sloth family.

Midnight, a seven-year-old Linne's two-toed sloth, arrived at Colchester Zoological Society in Essex from Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park, as part of a breeding programme.

Colchester Zoological Society is already home to three Linne's two-toed sloths; two males called Tucurui and Calypso, and one female named Carmen.

Angela Matthews, the zoo's head keeper, said: "So far, so good. [The sloths] haven't had any squabbles or anything, which for sloth behaviour we take that as really good news.

"We're really hoping we get some offspring from Midnight. She's only seven years old so she's still quite young in terms of sloths at the moment, as they can get to 50 plus.

"If love does blossom in there, we're hoping it won't take too long."

Linne's two-toed sloths are found in forests across Central and South America, where they spend most of their lives in the upper levels of the tall forest trees.

Midnight has been out of public view to allow her time to settle into her new environment, however, she has now begun interacting with the male sloth, Tucurui, the zoo said.

"So far she's proven to be a very friendly animal with a good appetite and a really good temperament," Ms Matthews added.

Famous for being slow and spending their lives upside down, the zoo said sloths were a favourite among many of its visitors.

The animals have a slow metabolisms due to their low-energy diets, but the lack of energy helps them to move slowly and not be noticed by predators.

Although Linne's two-toed sloths are classed as of "least concern" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the population is decreasing and their habitat is threatened by logging.

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