National Zoo Hand-Rears Sloth Bear After Mother Eats its Siblings

Animal keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. have taken to hand-rearing a baby sloth bear cub after its mother ate its two newborn siblings.

The mother sloth bear, Khali, gave birth to three cubs on Dec. 29, 2013, but she ate one of the cubs shortly after its birth and a second one a week later. The National Zoo said it is not uncommon for carnivores, including sloth bears, to ingest stillborn cubs, or even live cubs if they or the mother have somehow been compromised. But it said that animal keepers decided to take the lone cub into their care after Khali abandoned it for several hours one day in January.

It is very abnormal for a sloth bear mother to leave a newborn cub unattended for hours on end, which is what prompted animal keepers to intervene. The zoo said the intervention likely saved the cub's life.

"Our team is always prepared to intervene and hand-rear a cub if it appears that a cub is not thriving," Tony Barthel, curator of the National Zoo's Asia Trail exhibit, said in a statement. "We already had developed a plan for hand-rearing before Khali gave birth, and our ability to act quickly was critical."

Sloth bears are native to the Indian subcontinent. When fully grown, sloth bears have long, lanky builds, shaggy coats that form a mane around its face. An adult sloth bears can weigh about 300 pounds.

The zoo says the rescued cub is growing and active and keepers are doing what they can to simulate a natural growing environment for the cub, which in the wild would spend the first three years of its life with its mother.

"It is always preferable for cubs to be raised by their mothers, but that was not possible this time," said keeper and sloth bear expert Mindy Babitz. "We had to become this cub's 'mothers.' We are caring for her needs around the clock - not just physical, but social, cognitive and emotional needs; it's very encouraging to watch her develop and grow."

The National Zoo said it will post progress of the hand-reared cub on its social media accounts.

A full set of photos of the baby sloth bear is available here.