NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — Buttonwood Park Zoo is welcoming its first female sloth.
Lysander, affectionately nicknamed “Sandy” by zoo staff, is a 10-year-old Hoffman’s two-toed sloth.
“Sandy is described as being shy and aloof, and prefers to sleep at the highest point of her enclosure,” zoo officials said. “She is said to love carrots, beets, broccoli and romaine lettuce – which her zookeepers are able to feed her by hand – as well as browse like mulberry, hibiscus, mallow flowers and zinnias.”
Sandy was born at the Philadelphia Zoo on June 10, 1999. She joins the zoo’s 18-year-old male sloth Bernardo in the Rainforests, Rivers and Reefs exhibit.
The zoo said Sandy will temporarily reside in a separate habitat so she can adjust to her new environment before being introduced to Bernardo.
