Zoo Atlanta welcomes baby sloth, second child of Nutella and Cocoa

ATLANTA — Zoo Atlanta announced resident sloths Nutella and Cocoa had their second baby at the zoo this month. Nutella gave birth on Father’s Day 2023 to Olivia.

Nutella, age 7, and Cocoa, 31, had their second child on Aug. 9, according to Zoo Atlanta.

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“We are very excited about the birth of Nutella’s infant,” Gina Ferrie, PhD, Vice President of Collections and Conservation, said. “Sloths have so many fascinating adaptations and behaviors that we can share with our Members and guests, and while they are not currently classified as endangered, they have an emerging conservation story that can help us appreciate the impact of human activities on wild animals and ecosystems.”

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Zoo officials said the normal gestation period, how long a sloth is pregnant, is between 11 to 12 months and is “unusually long,” among members of the animal kingdom, making pregnancies hard to confirm.

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Sloth born at Zoo Atlanta Nutella, a Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth at Zoo Atlanta, gave birth to an infant on August 9, 2024. The newborn is the second offspring of Nutella, 7, and male Cocoa, 31. The gestation period for sloths is unusually long for the animal kingdom at 11 to 12 months; however, pregnancies are not easily confirmed. Nutella’s firstborn, Olivia, was born on Father’s Day in 2023. Nutella and her infant may be seen daily, weather permitting, in the Zoo’s summer sloth habitat located in the KIDZone. (Zoo Atlanta)

Schmidt’s guenon born at Zoo Atlanta Zoo Atlanta is excited to welcome a newborn monkey to the animal population. A Schmidt’s guenon was born to mother Bam on June 1, 2024. The infant is the second offspring for Bam and father JJ, who were recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan® (SSP) to breed and contribute to the viability of the Schmidt’s guenon population in accredited North American zoos. Found in rainforests, woodlands, deciduous forests, and swamplands in middle Africa, guenons are monkeys characterized by large cheek pouches used for storing food during foraging. Also known as red-tailed monkeys, Schmidt’s guenons are distinguished by their long, chestnut-colored tails, which can be up to 35 inches long. The species also features heart-shaped noses and distinctive greyish-blue coloration around the eyes. Males weigh up to 10 pounds; females, up to 8 pounds.

Southern White Rhino Calf The first southern white rhino calf ever born at Zoo Atlanta has been confirmed to be female. Following a birth on Christmas Eve 2023, the nearly month-old calf, who is believed to weigh between 250 and 300 pounds, continues to do well with her mother in a behind-the-scenes area of the Zoo’s rhino complex. The calf is the first offspring for male Mumbles, who has not yet met his daughter. The teams hope to introduce Kiazi and the calf to Dakari, the new female southern white rhino who joined the animal population in October, and plan to introduce the group to Mumbles this summer. Southern white rhinos, which are the largest of the five rhino species, are not actually white, despite their name. The moniker is believed to have originated with the Afrikaans word wyd, meaning “wide” – a reference to the shape of white rhinos’ upper lips. (Zoo Atlanta)

Southern White Rhino “The Zoo Atlanta family is beyond excited about the birth of Kiazi’s calf. This birth has been long-awaited news for many months. We have had many exciting developments in our rhino population over the past year,” said Raymond B. King, President and CEO. “If there is a special connection that our Members and guests can make with Kiazi and her calf, this is a connection that can translate to conservation action. All rhino species are currently in peril, and as stewards of this brand-new ambassador here in Atlanta, we also have a responsibility to do all we can to raise awareness of the status of wild rhinos.” (Zoo Atlanta)

Guatemalan beaded lizards In an outstanding example of collaboration for the conservation of one of the world’s rarest lizard species, 11 endangered Guatemalan beaded lizards hatched at Zoo Atlanta arrived at Parque Zoológico Nacional La Aurora in Guatemala on January 10, 2024. The lizards, three males and eight females, will be part of a breeding colony to bolster the wild population of the species, which is estimated to number only 500 to 600 individuals in its native Motagua Valley. Zoo Atlanta’s contributions to the study and conservation of this species date back more than 25 years. The first group of Guatemalan beaded lizards to live at the Zoo arrived in 2000 from the University of Texas at Arlington. Zoo Atlanta has since had many successes breeding this reclusive species, with a total of 41 offspring hatched. The individuals selected to travel to La Aurora Zoo will not be released into the wild; rather, their offspring will be introduced to the wild following a quarantine period. The Guatemalan beaded lizard is an example of an animal most Americans would have no awareness of were it not for zoological populations. Discovered by science relatively recently in the mid-1980s, the lizards have been known to local people in their native Motagua Valley for thousands of years. For generations, these reptiles were shrouded in myth and legend stemming from the fact that they are venomous lizards (this species is closely related to the familiar Gila monster of the southwestern U.S.). (Zoo Atlanta)

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies Cocoa, a 30-year-old Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth at Zoo Atlanta, became a dad again on Father’s Day with the birth of an infant to female Nutella on June 18, 2023. The infant is the first for 6-year-old Nutella. Native to Central and South America, Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths are not currently classified as endangered, but wild populations face mounting threats due to human activities. In addition to challenges such as habitat loss for illegal logging, hundreds of sloths are electrocuted each year while attempting to use power lines to travel among fragmented forest patches. Based in Costa Rica, the Sloth Conservation Project is one of three programs supported by Zoo Atlanta’s 2023-2024 Quarters for Conservation initiative, which directs 25 cents of every general admission to projects for wildlife. In supporting this program, Zoo Atlanta is helping to bolster efforts to rescue, rehabilitate, and release wild sloths impacted by deforestation and electrocution.

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies Like other carnivore species, binturongs are born blind and entirely dependent upon their mothers. Weighing around 400 grams and roughly the size of squirrels, the bintlets, also known as “bearcats” for their physical resemblances to both, binturongs are neither bears nor cats but are instead most closely related to civets. Binturongs are one of only two members of the order Carnivora to feature a prehensile tail. Also distinctive is their scent, which is said to resemble buttered popcorn or corn chips.

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies Native to southern and southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and parts of China, binturongs are classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their most pressing threat is habitat loss for conversion to agriculture, especially for palm oil plantations. Other threats include the pet trade and hunting for their meat, which is considered a delicacy in some parts of their range.

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies A pair of tiny Georgia native turtles are the newest members of one of the rarest species in the United States. Two critically endangered bog turtles hatched at Zoo Atlanta on March 1 and 2, 2023. Bog turtles are the smallest turtles in North America. With carapaces (shells) roughly the size of a quarter, the hatchlings both entered the world weighing less than half an ounce. Their fully-grown parents are similarly diminutive at just 3.7 to 4.2 ounces. The species is found only in the eastern United States, including northeast Georgia. The ecosystem the turtles call home – the imperiled mountain bog – is as rare as the bog turtles themselves, largely due to the same challenges faced by the turtles: habitat destruction for roads, construction for human communities, and other human-made threats. One of the most critically endangered wild habitats in the southeast U.S, mountain bogs are also home to plant species found nowhere else on Earth, including state-protected montane purple pitcher plants and federally threatened swamp pinks. The Zoo Atlanta Horticulture Team has assisted the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and The Nature Conservancy in efforts to restore a mountain bog in Georgia.

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies Zoo Atlanta is excited to welcome the recent birth of a Schmidt’s guenon. Born on October 12, 2022, the infant, a male, is the offspring of first-time mother Bam. Found in rainforests, woodlands, deciduous forests, and swamplands in middle Africa, guenons are monkeys characterized by large cheek pouches used for storing food during foraging. Also known as red-tailed monkeys, Schmidt’s guenons are distinguished by their long, chestnut-colored tails, which can be up to 35 inches long. The species also features heart-shaped noses and distinctive greyish-blue coloration around the eyes. Males weigh up to 10 pounds; females, up to 8 pounds. Because they are found in multiple wild habitats in Africa and are numerous in some areas, Schmidt’s guenons are not currently classified as a threatened species, but they are not without their challenges. The species faces habitat loss due to deforestation – a serious threat for all African rainforest species – as well as predators such as wild cats and eagles. The illegal bushmeat trade, by which animal populations are overharvested for food by humans, is a growing challenge for many species in Africa. Sadly, the new infant’s grandmother, the mother of father JJ, was herself a victim of hunting for bushmeat.

Meet the Zoo Atlanta babies Zoo Atlanta is pleased to welcome Casper, a 1-year-old male bontebok, to the African Savanna. Born at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Ohio, Casper was recommended to move to Atlanta by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan® (SSP). As he is still adjusting to his new home, sightings are not yet guaranteed. This species represents one of modern history’s most dramatic and unusual conservation turnarounds. Reduced to a population of fewer than 20 individuals by the early 20th century, bonteboks faced almost certain extinction by 1931, when a group of farmers transferred a herd to protected land (Bontebok National Park) to save the species. All animals in the present-day population, which now numbers almost 2,000, descend from this original herd. These include North American zoological populations overseen by the SSP, which seeks to maintain healthy, self-sustaining and genetically diverse populations for future generations. Classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), bonteboks outside zoos are found only in protected areas in South Africa. Their primary threats are habitat fragmentation and low genetic diversity resulting from the small number of founding animals. The species is also particularly sensitive to climate variability, as bonteboks’ reproductive success is closely connected with rainfall.

While the pregnancy period for a sloth is longer than other animals, and sloths themselves are famed for moving slowly, baby sloths are known to develop faster than most mammals, being born fully furred with open eyes and teeth, plus fully developed claws to help cling to their mothers, according to Zoo Atlanta.

The Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, Nutella and Cocoa’s species, is native to Central and South America and “face mounting threats in the wild,” including habitat loss from illegal logging and electrocution when sloths try to travel along power lines through fragmented forest patches.

Zoo Atlanta said Nutella and her infant can be seen every day, weather permitting, in the summer sloth habitat, inside of the KIDZone.

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