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Kansas City Zoo's new sloth, Arnie, makes his debut

Posted at 12:22 PM, Aug 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-14 13:23:36-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It took him a while, but the Kansas City Zoo’s new sloth has finally made his debut.

Arnie, a Linne’s two-toed sloth, is now on display at his home in the zoo’s Discovery Barn. A donor named him Arenal after a volcano in Costa Rica, but he will go by his nickname, Arnie.

The 3-year-old, 21-pound sloth came to the Kansas City Zoo from the Biodome de Montreal in Canada.

Arnie will be one of the zoo’s slower-moving animals, but his slow speed is just his nature, according to the zoo. He eats a low-calorie diet that mostly consists of fruits, vegetables and greens.

“Although sloths are often depicted as lazy, it is this low-calorie diet that makes them notoriously slow-moving,” the zoo said in a news release. “Sloths are built to conserve energy. Their four-chambered stomach allows them to hold large quantities of food, which takes two to four weeks to digest in their bodies.”

Sloths sleep an average of 15 hours each day and typically only move from tree to tree at night. They also spend most of their time upside down — according to the zoo, the animals eat, sleep, breed and even give birth while upside down.

Arnie will be on display during zoo hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.