Photo Gallery Baby Sloth Gets Teddy Bear Surrogate

Baby sloths really like to cuddle, especially when they nurse. So when infant sloth Sjakie needed more milk, its Dutch zoo keepers had to turn to a teddy bear to keep their new addition company while it eats. The toddler who donated the toy is thrilled.
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Baby Sjakie was born in a Dutch zoo on May 19. Because its mother wasn't producing enough milk, zookeepers had to feed it more using a syringe. But sloths like to cuddle when they eat, so zookeepers are using a teddy bear as a subsitute mother for Sjakie to cling to during feedings.

DPA
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In addition to being fed milk from a syringe, baby Sjakie is also fed pureed vegetables such as carrots, fennel and zucchini. The newborn's gender is still unknown.

Gert Janssen/ dpa
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It's not the first time that zoo keepers have used such a trick. In 2008, sloth baby Oskar (shown here), born at the Frankfurt Zoological Garden, also had to be fed with a syringe while cuddling with a stuffed animal.

DPA