Baby Sloth Treats Teddy Bear Like Mom

By Kelli Bender Jul 23rd 2012

Prepare yourself for an intense cute overload. According to Buzzfeed, a baby sloth under the care of the Burgers' Zoo in the Netherlands is using a teddy bear in place of a mother.

The sweet little sloth, Sjakie, had a caring and cuddly sloth mother, but unfortunately, he needed extra care. Even though Sjakie and his mom seemed to be bonding nicely, zookeepers noticed that the baby was constantly making noises for food. Sjakie's well-meaning mom wasn't producing enough milk for her thirsty son, resulting in dehydration.



The Burgers' Zoo quickly went to work to make Sjakie healthy again. Workers started hand-feeding the baby, but there was one problem: Sjakie has sharp claws. Baby sloths need to hang onto something with their "toes" while they eat. Usually, that thing is the sloth's mother, but in this case, the zoo subbed in a stuffed animal during hand-feedings.

The zoo went through a series of stuffed animals, trying to get Sjakie to hang on. He rejected them all until a special teddy bear came along. The plush that Sjakie now clings to like a parent was given to him by a little girl who saw that the animal was in need a of a teddy bear.

Today, Sjakie is doing well and has even started crawling around by himself. After the exploring session is over, the sloth still seeks out his teddy-bear mama. It looks like the two have bonded for good.

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