We’re just glad the little cub is safe!!
Just born in December, a tiny sloth bear cub is now having to be hand-raised at the National Zoo — and not because she’s super adorable and everyone wants to help take care of her!
It’s because her mother left her alone to go off and EAT the two other cubs born at the same time!
Ahh! So awful!!
The momma sloth bear, Khali, ate one cub just 20 minutes after it was born on December 29. The other? A week later!
Here’s what the zoo said about it:
“It is not uncommon for carnivores, including sloth bears, to ingest stillborn cubs, or even live cubs if they or the mother are compromised in some way.”
We wish it WAS uncommon, because this news isn’t sitting well with us!
To help the third survive, the zoo moved her away and into another location. She was hypothermic and weak, as the mother wasn’t helping her survive AT ALL, including with cuddles!
They treated her and began nursing her from a bottle. A team of veterinarians and nutritionists literally pretended to be her mother 24/7, carrying her around for hours:
“We quickly became in-tune with her vocalizations, movements and sleep patterns. With past cubs at this stage, we mostly only viewed them via closed-circuit television, so this has been a great chance to learn more about cub development.”
So CUTE!
The best moment for them is when the cub’s eye opened for the first time on Jan. 26th, but there’s still a long road ahead: sloth bears usually stay with their moms for THREE YEARS.
They hope to have her meet other sloth bears over the next few months!
We’re not a sloth bear, but we TOTALLY want to meet her!!
She may eventually be reintroduced to Khali, but we mean… we’re not so sure about that!
[Image via Suzan Murray / Smithsonian’s National Zoo.]