{"id":445229,"date":"2026-05-12T16:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T16:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445229\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T16:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T16:31:10","slug":"first-sloth-born-in-scotland-is-named-after-david-attenborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445229\/","title":{"rendered":"First sloth born in Scotland is named after David Attenborough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sloth has been born in Scotland for the first time \u2013 and has been named in honour of David Attenborough.<\/p>\n<p>The Linne\u2019s two-toed sloth emerged at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland\u2019s (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo on Monday, May 11th.<\/p>\n<p>He will spend the first six months of his life gripping tightly onto the stomach of his mother, Feira, who is a first-time parent, as is his father, Nico.<\/p>\n<p>Keepers have named the baby Atty in honour of Sir David Attenborough, who celebrated his 100th birthday on May 8th.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"636\" width=\"953\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/first-sloth-born-in-scotland-is-named-after-david-attenborough.jpg\" alt=\"Baby sloth clinging to mother's stomach\"\/>Baby Atty will soon start learning which leaves are safe to eat (RZSS\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>It is a nod to the moment Sir David chose the sloth when asked which animal he would like to be for a day in a BBC interview in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Staff at the zoo have shared their delight over the new arrival.<\/p>\n<p>Jess Brown, head keeper at the zoo, said: \u201cThis is ground-breaking not just for Edinburgh Zoo, but for Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing a sloth baby clinging to mum for the very first time has been so special for the whole team and we can\u2019t wait for visitors to see little Atty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is already showing plenty of personality, and visitors might spot a tiny face peeking out from mum\u2019s fur.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNico and Feira are both beautiful animals and a fan-favourite with our visitors so we\u2019re confident he\u2019ll be a big hit\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sloths, which live in tropical lowlands and forests in South America, move very slowly and spend about 15 hours a day sleeping.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/lifestyle\/stanley-tucci-the-italian-hidden-gem-travellers-still-havent-heard-of-1898835.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/lifestyle\/stanley-tucci-the-italian-hidden-gem-travellers-still-havent-heard-of-1898835.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/da85efa5-9494-4a34-bf64-a1fbb16011b1.jpg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"Stanley Tucci: The Italian Hidden Gem Travellers Still Haven\u2019t Heard Of\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Lifestyle<\/p>\n<p>Stanley Tucci: The Italian hidden gem travellers still haven\u2019t heard of<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As he grows older, Atty will soon begin learning which leaves are safe to eat by sampling food directly from his mother\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n<p>Feira and Atty are currently resting; however, people can visit the sloth house from 2pm on Wednesday, May 13th.<\/p>\n<p>Visitors are advised to check the sloth house opening hours when they arrive at the zoo, as they may vary over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sloth has been born in Scotland for the first time \u2013 and has been named in honour&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-445229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}