By Staff Reports
(WAIKĪKĪ) – It is with great sadness that the Honolulu Zoo announces the passing of Harriet, our female Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth on October 26, 2023 due to the progression of kidney disease.
Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos stated that veterinary, curator and keeper staff made the decision to euthanize Harriet after several months of intensive treatment for her kidney disease.
“Harriet was a lovable sloth and a very good mother,” said Santos. “She allowed staff to work with her and her offspring and enjoyed being hand-fed healthy treats including her favorite mountain apple grown on zoo grounds. The zoo staff, visitors and viewers of the live sloth cam will all miss her dearly.”
Harriet arrived at the Honolulu Zoo in December 2013 after previously giving birth. Introduced to her new mate Quando in February 2014, the sloths became a valuable breeding pair as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan. Together they produced seven offspring at the Honolulu Zoo—six females and one male. Their breeding success has given the zoo staff valuable hands-on experience in the pregnancy, birth and rearing of sloths, and provided zoos with data including videos of live births, as very little on sloth births has been documented elsewhere. The Honolulu Zoo staff published an article, “Observations of Reproduction in the Captive Linnaeus’s Two-toed Sloth at the Honolulu Zoo” in the Animal Keepers’ Forum magazine in May 2023. While her exact age was unknown, Harriet was over 14 years of age based on her breeding history.
Quando, daughters Opihi and Liko, and son Pono, are housed in the sloth exhibits near the Honolulu Zoo entrance.
Two-toed sloths are nocturnal and sleep 16-18 hours per day, with a natural diet consisting of leaves, browse, and other leafy greens. Sloths give birth to one offspring at a time. Offspring will stay with their mom for 9-12 months. The life expectancy of a sloth is 15-20 years.