Female companion for sloth Odin: ZooParc welcomes Stella

Odin, the two-fingered sloth at ZooParc, has a girlfriend. One-and-a-half-year-old Stella, who came to the zoo in Overloon as part of the breeding program, arrived Wednesday. She will be on display to the public as soon as the park's doors are allowed to reopen.

"It was time for Stella to leave her parental home in the Czech Republic. She has been paired with Odin, for whom it is a great time to have a partner," says head of animal care Steven van den Heuvel. Together, Stella and Odin are to contribute to the European breeding program of the two-fingered sloth. The purpose of the breeding program is to ensure healthy populations in zoos of wild vulnerable or endangered species.

Living with OdinStella will live in the new South America Madidi area, part of which opened last September. Also residing there is Odin, who has been on display at ZooParc since August.

For now, Stella and Odin are still apart from each other. Van den Heuvel: "Stella still has to get used to her new environment. Soon we will introduce the two to each other. Both sloths are not sexually mature yet, so for now the offspring will have to wait. Eventually, of course, we do hope to welcome young in a few years."

Everything upside downThis species is native to the tropical forests of northeastern South America. The two-fingered sloth, which can live up to forty years old, has two hooked fingers on each hand and three on each foot. Very active, the sloth is not: it sleeps up to fifteen hours a day. They do this upside down, just like mating and giving birth to young, for example.

Because sloths do everything upside down, the hairs of its fur grow from its belly to its back. Coming out of the tree Stella, like Odin and their peers, does not often: this species only needs to come out of the tree once a week, and that is to relieve itself.