The male two-toed sloth had been flown in from Germany to be a suitor to Londoner Marilyn. But love can take time for these notoriously dawdling mammals, and their keepers weren’t expecting any action for up to a decade.
However, while pointedly ignoring each other in public, the pair were getting amorous in the evenings, and Marilyn fell pregnant within a mere six months of meeting her mate.
Zookeeper Tegan McPhail told LDN24, “We weren’t aware that she’d even been near the male.”
After an eleven-month pregnancy, the new arrival has been photographed in the arms of its mother and learning to climb with its tiny two toes.
The baby’s sex will not be known until after it is examined by a vet. But, despite their moment of passion, mum and dad seem to be taking parenthood in their slow and nonchalant stride.
Image credit: Thinkstock
