{"id":810587,"date":"2026-08-11T23:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T23:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810587\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T23:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T23:58:10","slug":"alface-the-shedds-new-2-toed-sloth-is-ready-to-meet-chicagoans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810587\/","title":{"rendered":"Alface, The Shedd&#8217;s New 2-Toed Sloth, Is Ready To Meet Chicagoans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DOWNTOWN \u2014 Chicagoans visiting the Shedd Aquarium can now meet the adorable two-toed sloth who\u2019s been easing into her habitat behind the scenes for about a year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alface (al-FAH-see) \u2014 a Linn\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0two-toed sloth who gets her name from the Portuguese word for lettuce \u2014 is now making public appearances at the Shedd. Chicagoans can find Alface at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/stories\/8-things-to-do-at-shedd#:~:text=Discover%20surprise%20pop%2Dup%20experiences\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/stories\/8-things-to-do-at-shedd#:~:text=Discover%20surprise%20pop%2Dup%20experiences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">surprise pop-up<\/a> throughout the aquarium or at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/programs-and-events#evening-events\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/programs-and-events#evening-events\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">after-hours events<\/a>, like Jazzin\u2019 at the Shedd on Wednesdays through Sept. 2, or evening house parties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alface\u2019s debut marks the first time in 20 years that the Shedd has displayed one of the slow-moving mammals. She arrived at the Chicago aquarium from the Dallas Zoo in September 2025, and has been exploring her new habitat and building relationships with her caretakers out of the limelight over the past year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChoosing to participate in encounters with guests marks another significant milestone in Alface\u2019s journey,\u201d Shedd Public Relations Coordinator Elise Mulligan stated in a press release, adding that Alface\u2019s presence will inspire guests \u201cto make daily choices that help protect the Amazon Rainforest ecosystem,\u201d where two-toed sloths are native.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RM_8A9713_hpr-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1062082\"  \/>Alface, the Shedd\u2019s Linn\u00e9\u2019s two-toed sloth, in the aquarium\u2019s Amazing Rising exhibit. Credit: Rachel Mittelstaedt\/Shedd Aquarium<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to lettuce, Alface eats greens, vegetables and fruits, like sweet potatoes, grapes and mangos, according to the release from the Shedd. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the sloths\u2019 indigenous Amazon River Basin, they spend most of their lives in the tree canopy, sleeping up to 15 hours a day and digesting food very slowly. Their coarse fur keeps them warm and dry in rainy weather, but also hosts algae and insects that give their fur a green tint, the Shedd stated in the relase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alface is now included in a group of what the Shedd refers to as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/animals\/public-engagement-animals-group\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">public engagement animals<\/a> \u2014 such\u00a0as green-winged macaws, six-banded\u00a0armadillos\u00a0and a red-footed tortoise. Attendees can search for these interesting species encounters\u00a0at pop-ups\u00a0throughout\u00a0the aquarium\u00a0and at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/programs-and-events#evening-events\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">after-hours events.<\/a>\u00a0More information is available on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheddaquarium.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">the Shedd website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN \u2014 Chicagoans visiting the Shedd Aquarium can now meet the adorable two-toed sloth who\u2019s been easing into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[228,79,201],"class_list":["post-810587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-arts","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}