A sloth bear cub born in December at the National Zoo had to be hand-raised after her mother left her alone for several hours and ate two of the other cubs born at the same time.
No, you did not read that incorrectly. Sloth bear Khali ate one cub 20 minutes after it was born on December 29 and another seven days later. “It is not uncommon for carnivores, including sloth bears, to ingest stillborn cubs, or even live cubs if they or the mother are compromised in some way,” the National Zoo tells us in a press release.
In order to help the third cub survive, zoo keepers removed her from Khali’s den on January 6.
Veterinarians examined her and determined that she was hypothermic and weak. Khali had not been cradling her, which would have regulated the cub’s temperature and kept her warm. Veterinarians treated her with antibiotics, vitamins and fluid therapy. They also placed her in an incubator to help stabilize her body temperature. By 9 a.m. she was nursing from a bottle. For the next several days she was bottle-fed eight times each day. The cub was healthy enough to leave the veterinary hospital Jan. 9 and was returned to the sloth bear habitat, but keepers could not return her to her mother.
So a team of veterinarians and nutritionists served as the cub’s mama 24/7, carrying her around for hours. “We quickly became in-tune with her vocalizations, movements and sleep patterns,” animal keeper Stacey Tabellario said in a release. “With past cubs at this stage, we mostly only viewed them via closed-circuit television, so this has been a great chance to learn more about cub development.”
When the cub’s eyes opened Jan. 26, keepers started to increase their level of interaction with her to provide her with the social stimulation she needed. Sloth bear cubs stay with their mothers for about three years. As newborns they are cradled by their mothers, and as they grow they ride on their mothers’ backs. To simulate those types of interactions, the keepers initially carried the cub in a baby sling with them during their daily routines. Now that she is a little bigger, keepers play with the cub in her den or in a specially designated play area to encourage natural behaviors like climbing.
The Zoo hopes to introduce the cub to the other sloth bears over the next few months.
If the gradual introductions go well, the cub may eventually be reintroduced to Khali, or introduced to her father François for companionship. The cub will likely not be on exhibit until summer.
