Newborn Sloth Called 'Baby' Main Attraction For Many At Denver Zoo
DENVER (CBS4)- Anton Morrison pretty much has his dream job. He's a zookeeper at the Denver Zoo.
"My grandma brought me here or the museum almost every single weekend since I started school so this is where I wanted to be," says Morrison.
He is getting some pieces of apple ready at Bird World inside the zoo. Along with Anton, the storm storks, and white-faced whistling ducks, a gaggle of people are here to see Charlotte the two-toed sloth.
"Do you need a little bait?" Morrison says to the sloth.
PHOTO GALLERY: Baby Sloth Born At Denver Zoo
He is trying to coax her out of her hiding spot for a checkup. He has two to give today. One for her, and one for her new little bundle of joy; Charlotte's four-day-old baby that zookeepers have yet to name but call, "Baby."
"Baby's job all day is to just hang onto mom. That's all it has to do for the next six months. She will take care of him or her," says Katie Vyas the Assistant Curator of Birds at the Denver Zoo.
Baby is so young zookeepers haven't been able to run the tests needed to determine its gender. They plan on doing that in the near future and then they can pick out a name. Until then, as you might expect from a couple of sloths, mom and baby won't be doing much. Just sleeping and bonding with the occasional Apple break. As for dad, somehow he's done even less.
Vyas explains, "We love Elliot but she's a single mom right now. The dad pretty much doesn't play any part in rearing the baby so it will be all on Charlotte."
When the checkup is over, Charlotte and her baby will be off again to her perch high in Bird World. The crowd will leave too, for now, and Anton will keep doing the job he loves just in another part of the zoo. That is until tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.when he gets to see the miracle of life up close again.
Morrison admits, "She's pretty amazing."
If you want to see the Charlotte and her new baby you can go to the Denver Zoo between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. That's when Bird World where the sloths are located is open to visitors.
LINK: Denver Zoo
Michael Abeyta is a 4th generation Coloradan and a Multimedia Journalist for CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 5 & 6. He is on Twitter! Follow him @AbeytaCBS4.
