Zach at the Zoo: The Sloth Bear

In this edition of Zach at the Zoo, we are better introduced to the only bears that call the zoo home, and one of the most unique bear species in the world, the sloth bear.

• Bodo, the 15-year-old male sloth bear, goes through his impressive training behaviors.
• Zach helps feed Bodo some of his favorite food.
• We learn all of the things that makes this bear species so incredibly unique.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

They’re the only bears at the zoo.

“His name is Bodo, he’s 15, and we have our female Kara, she is 22,” Senior Keeper of Cats and Bears Hilary Merkwan introduced us.

When it comes to bears – the sloth bear is one of one.

“This is the only bear species that doesn’t hibernate, because they don’t need to. The other bears have to because there’s no food and it gets so cold," Merkwan explained. "These guys have food throughout the whole year.”

The food they eat – and how they eat it – is quite different than a typical bear, too

“They primarily love bugs,” Merkwan said. “Their long snout is like a straw. So, they’re actually missing their top middle front incisors and that muzzle acts as a big straw.”

Merkwan continued, “So they suck and blow for their food. They go into the termite mounds, they blow into the dust, and then they suck up the bugs. They also can close their nostrils so they don’t get the bugs and the dust up in the nostrils when they’re sucking.”

And though I mistakened it for bed head – the big hump of hair on its back is actually a saddle.

“Females use that to keep their young on their back," Merkwan explained. "They’re the only bear species that keep their young on their back for up to nine months. They grab that big chunk of fur and hold on.”

Bodo and Merkwan put on a show for us.

“Down. Open. Good.”

“Spin.”

“Cradle. Good.”

“Slam. Good. That's a natural behavior by them. They would take the rotten logs, tear them up, slam them, get the ants out of there.”

Bodo had me in awe – but he hasn’t been able to wow Kara thus far.

“They are a recommended breeding pair," Merkwan said. “He goes up to her and kind of whips his head back and forth, and hops and shows off for her, but she’s not so receptive.”

While they haven’t been successful yet – they hope the two will eventually hit it off.

You can see the sloth bears for yourself at the Asian Highlands.