Animal Wellness 2019 AnimalWellness_4_5_2019AM__SinglePagesDigital | Page 26

Success Stories Stepping in for the Sloth There was a lot of excitement in October 2018 when we welcomed a baby Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth— the first sloth ever born at the Zoo. Five-year-old Tango delivered little Lorenzo around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, and animal care staff left the two overnight for some mother-son bonding. Unfortunately, that didn’t exactly happen. Keepers found the baby away from Tango the following morning and made multiple attempts to reunite the two. She was a first-time mother whose inexperience likely led to her not taking interest in caring for the little one. We made the difficult but life-saving decision to hand-raise Lorenzo. Once again, Hinson rose to the challenge. 25