What do you get a sloth bear for her 26th birthday? Zoo Miami figured it out
.jpg "Keesha, a sloth bear at Zoo Miami, turned 26 on Jan. 4, 2022.")
Keesha sniffed around her birthday treat before diving in snout first.
The sloth bear, whose 26th birthday was Tuesday, tore through her cardboard cake looking for the hidden treasures — strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes and yogurt.
Her birthday celebration is part of Zoo Miami’s animal enrichment program and “is important to their overall health,” zoo spokesman Ron Magill said. Zoo visitors watched Keesha enjoy her birthday celebration Tuesday morning.
Keesha, who was born at the Smokey Mountain Zoological Park in Tennessee and arrived at Zoo Miami from the Akron Zoo in Ohio in December 2016, is one of three sloth bears at the zoo. She is believed to be the oldest in any zoo in North America, Magill said. The other sloth bears at the zoo are 9-year-old Hank and 2-year-old Keematee.
Sloth bears, not related to the sloths that hang upside down in trees, are “considered a vulnerable species,” because of poaching and the destruction of their habitats., Magill said Mainly found in both moist and dry forests of the Indian subcontinent, sloth bears mainly feed on fruit and insects, especially termites.
Magill said Keesha still has a lot of life left in her. The life expectancy of sloth bears is 25 to 35 years.
“Keesha is a very inquisitive, calm sloth bear,” he said. “She is a senior citizen now. She enjoys her rest and relaxation.”
