Baby Echo: Our Adopted Baby Sloth | Baby Sloth Facts

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Introducing the latest member of the eve sleep family. Plus fun facts about baby sloths in general.

meet *baby echo*: eve sleep has adopted a baby sloth

Hello again fellow sloth fans! We’ve had a new addition to our snuggly eve sleep family since our last sloth-focused blog post.

Now, no doubt you’ll have a few questions but bear with us, we’re on it. Here’s a little more info about our beautiful, adopted baby sloth, Echo.

introducing baby echo: our adopted baby sloth.

Echo lives at Drusillas Zoo Park in East Sussex with their mum and dad. Having just turned 1 year old, Echo is now ‘walking’ all by their self. Don’t worry, our baby sloth is still finding any excuse they can for some cuddle time with mum. And yes, for now Echo’s a “they”. But, this is only because it is impossible to determine the sex of a two-toed sloth without an in-depth physical examination and Echo has been clinging firmly to mum until quite recently. Check back for our gender reveal!

Baby Echo hanging about with their mum and dad in the Sloth enclosure at Drusilla's Park Zoo

Aside from this, Echo is quite a shy sloth and a very gentle one too. What’s most impressive is that Echo’s favourite foods are sweetcorn and broccoli. How many parents – adoptive or otherwise – can say that?

what species of sloth is baby echo?

Baby Echo is a Linne's two-toed sloth (or Choloepus didactylus, if we’re being scientific). Typically, Linne’s two-toed sloths have a coat of thick grey-brown fur. And they tend to spend almost all of their time hanging around upside down from trees. Linne's two-toed sloths (as their name suggests) have two toes on their front feet and three on their back feet. All of their toes feature long hook like claws which are handy when it comes to hanging around (upside down or otherwise!).

In their natural habitat, you’ll find Linne’s two-toed sloths in the tropical rainforests of northern South America.

Sloths from the Linne’s two-toed family tend to live either by themselves or in small groups. This sloth species only has one baby at a time (1).

Baby Echo hanging from a tree solo in their first act of independence.

If you’d like to visit baby Echo and see the whole sloth family in action, Drusillas Park Zoo is the place to go. And in the meantime, we’ll keep you up to date with all the latest adventures of our two-fingered sloth right here. Read on to learn a bit more about baby sloths in general!

what is a baby sloth called?

A baby sloth is called (would you believe it?)…a baby sloth! That said, baby sloths can also be referred to as pups or kittens.

While many other animal species have special names for their young – ergo calf or lamb – there is no species-specific name for baby sloths, yet (2)! Watch this space!

how big is a baby sloth when it’s born?

When they’re born, baby sloths usually weigh somewhere between 300 and 500 grams (that’s about 10-17 ounces – or less than or just over 1lb!). But three-fingered ones are usually smaller than two-fingered baby sloths (3).

Once they’ve been birthed, baby sloths instinctively crawl upwards, seeking the safety of their mums’ chests. And there, they stay, clinging to their mother’s fur until they are ready to venture out on their own.

how long does a baby sloth cling to its mum?

Baby sloths usually stick with their mummy for around 6 months. So, the first 6 months of Echo’s life were spent clutching to its mum's belly as she moved through the trees. This is a very important period of bonding time. And it helps the young sloths to learn and develop so that they will be ready to venture out alone when the time comes (4). Nawww.

how long is a sloth pregnant?

Two-toed female sloths are pregnant for nearly a year (or approximately 11 and a half months). That means that Echo’s mum was likely suffering all those pregnancy-related sleep discomforts for almost a year! Poor mum, eh?

Three-toed sloths, on the other hand, have a gestation period that is only half as long as that of two-toed sloths. This means that they are pregnant for somewhere around 6 months. But much like us humans, gestation periods can waver somewhat here and there (5).

Oh – and another interesting titbit about sloth pregnancy – the mummy sloth actually gives birth upside down! How? Well, by defying the laws of gravity of course (6)!

are sloths born with claws?

Yes! Baby sloths are born with claws. And they use these claws to latch onto their mother’s belly for some much-needed bonding and nursing time (7).

baby sloths are brilliant

Baby Echo clinging to it's mum's chest while she hangs upside down from a tree.

Baby sloths are born with their eyes open, equipped with claws and a full set of teeth. This ensures that they are ready to face life in the wild – or in the zoo in the case of Echo!

Stay tuned for more information on eve’s newly adopted sloth baby. And if you’re hungry for more facts about sloths, you’re in luck! We have a whole blog post dedicated to facts about sloths you probably didn’t already know.

Until next time, Eve Sleep.