A tiny sloth named Sjakie was born at the Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands. It became apparent that the mother sloth was not producing adequate milk, so Sjakie would have to be fed supplementally from a bottle.
Despite the lack of milk, Sjakie's mother is very attentive, and cuddles the baby when he's not being bottle-fed. Link -via Arbroath
The only problem is that baby sloths cling to their mother's fur while feeding, so they needed a cuddly substitute.
"We tried to find something that resembled the fur of the mother," zoo biologist Wineke Schoo told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Thursday. "In the zoo, we have lots of shops with teddy bears, so we tried some."
Baby Sjakie, however, didn't care for any of them. But then the 2-year-old daughter of one of the zookeepers heard the story and offered up her own teddy bear.
The infant took to the unnamed bear and now grasps it while zookeepers feed her extra milk as well as pureed vegetables, such as carrots, fennel and zucchini.
The toddler "likes it very much that the sloth is using her bear," Schoo said.
Despite the lack of milk, Sjakie's mother is very attentive, and cuddles the baby when he's not being bottle-fed. Link -via Arbroath
I would guess that the baby did not like the new "chemical" smell of the a new bear. The little girl's bear had no new smell. Or maybe the baby likes the little girl's smell?
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what a sweet story.. thank you for sharing little child who gave up their teddy for the sloth.
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What a sweet story. :) Thanks for sharing, Neatorama.
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