Prince the two-toed sloth has been somewhat unlucky in love. His last girlfriend turned out to be male, and now it seems ZSL London Zoo’s male sloth has another obstacle to overcome… his shyness. 
 
Photo:  two-toed-sloth ZSL

PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 19, 2010 – Sloths are notoriously hard to sex and only recent advances in ultra sounding led to the discovery that Prince’s original mate, Sheila, wasn’t a “sheila” at all.

Once keepers realised the pair were not destined to be together as part of the European breeding programme, they decided to replace “her” with playful Dutch sloth Marilyn in the hope that the Zoo can successfully rear its first two-toed sloth baby for over 100 years.

They introduced three-year-old Marilyn to the Zoo’s new Rainforest Life exhibit when it opened at Easter. But apprehensive Prince, 25, has yet to be seen mating with the blonde bombshell.

It seems the presence of feminine Marilyn has given Prince a dose of nerves, so keepers have been encouraging him to move around the rainforest a bit more and make friends by leaving trails of fragrant herbs around for him to follow.

Senior zookeeper, Lucy Hawley says: “Two-toed sloths are very secretive creatures so we are never quite sure what they’re up to but we like to encourage them to meet as often as possible.

“It would be amazing if we were to have a two-toed sloth baby at ZSL London Zoo, we haven’t bred them since the 1800s so it would be a very special baby.”

End

Editors Notes:

Two-toed sloth’s (Choleopus didactylus) are from Brazil and are classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List. They are usually brown in colour, with lighter fur around the face and head. The hair grows from its belly to its back so that the rain in the forest will run off more easily. There are two claws on each front foot and three on the hind feet which help them climb the trees. Sloths take a whole month to digest their food. They have very large stomachs, where the food remains until it passes into their intestine. This means they only come down from the tree tops once a week to go to the loo – which protects them from predators.

See animals in a different light at Rainforest Life, ZSL London Zoo’s exciting new experience within the Clore Rainforest Lookout, launched March 2010. Enter London’s only living rainforest where you’ll come face to face with a variety of amazing rainforest species including monkeys, sloth and tamandua. Step out of the light and into the all-new ‘Night Life area, where you’ll discover the bats, rats and nocturnal wonders that call the dark their home.

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. This is vital for current and future human wellbeing. We need to do more. Now is the time to act. ZSL is taking an active role in this campaign.

The Clore Duffield Foundation is a grant-making organisation which concentrates its support on education, the arts, museum and gallery education, cultural leadership training, health and social care and enhancing Jewish life, whilst placing a particular emphasis on supporting children, young people and society's more vulnerable individuals. The Foundation is chaired by Dame Vivien Duffield DBE.

Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity: the key role is the conservation of animals and their habitats. The Society runs ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, carries out scientific research in the Institute of Zoology and is actively involved in field conservation in other countries worldwide. For further information please visit http://www.zsl.org

Contact: Lynsey Ford, lynsey.ford@zsl.org 0207 449 6288
High res images and B-roll footage are available

# # #

Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity: our key role is the conservation of animals and their habitats. ZSL runs ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, carries out scientific research in the Institute of Zoology and is actively involved in field conservation in other countries worldwide. For further information please visit http://www.zsl.org

--- end ---
      

Issued By  : ZSL London Zoo
Phone  : 020 7449 6236
Fax  : 020 7449 6362
Address  : Regent's Park
  : London
Zip  : NW1 4RY
City/Town  : London
State/Province  : London
Country  : United Kingdom

More Animal & Pet Stories here: http://articlesandblogs.ezreklama.com/pub/articles/animals-pets/