Denver Zoo Sloth Baby: It's A Girl!
DENVER (CBS4) - The baby sloth born at the Denver Zoo in January now has a name.
Zoo staff on Friday afternoon were joined by a special guest to announce that the baby is a girl and that its name is Baby Ruth.
Ellie Ferris, a patient at Children's Hospital Colorado and big sloth fan, got emotional after opening a scrolling banner that showed the name.
In an update from the zoo a few weeks ago, staff said the baby -- a Linne's two-toed sloth -- was still nursing some but had begun to eat some solid food.
Charlotte Greenie, a 21-year-old sloth, was pregnant for 10 months before she gave birth to Baby Ruth. Elliot, 27, is the father.
Baby Ruth's name and gender were a mystery until just recently.
"Animal care staff had to wait until very recently to conduct a more thorough examination to determine her sex," zoo staff wrote in a news release.
LINK: Denver Zoo
Charlotte and Baby Ruth can be found in their exhibit in Bird World. Sloths sleep a lot -- 15 to 20 hours a day -- and in the exhibit they can sometimes be hard to see because of the foliage in it.