Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls is celebrating the birth of two new sloth bears. This is the first time the zoo has ever had a sloth bear give birth, making the moment just a little more special.
The twin cubs, a boy and a girl, were born on November 29th, 2012. Their mom Pria; is very excited and protective over the two new babies.
“For sloth bears there’s been very low reproduction rate for the last several years, so our births are incredibly significant, there’s only about 34 sloth bears in zoos in North America, so our two cubs alone just increased the population by 5%” said Zoo Superintendent Beth Rich.
The two cubs often find themselves on their mother’s back to stay warm.
They usually eat insects but have become quite fond of peanut butter, after watching mom eat some.
“They make this incredibly loud sucking noise as they’re sucking up food, it can be heard from about 300 yards away” continued Rich.
The two cubs do not have names yet, but the zoo has some pretty exciting news about how they’re going to name them.
“Once we re-open we will do a naming contest, they don’t have official names yet, so the public will be able to help us name the two baby sloth bears” said Rich.
The zoo is planning to re-open, weather permitting, on April 13th.
Sloth bears have a life span of 20 to 25 years.
