FOX31 Denver

Denver Zoo expecting baby sloth to be born anytime through late February

DENVER — The Denver Zoo announced Friday which animal is going to give birth later this year after releasing video of an ultrasound earlier this week.

The new baby is a sloth, the first offspring of Charlotte and Elliot. They were matched as part of the Species Survival Plan, a zoo spokeswoman said.

The zoo had teased the pregnancy, and on Thursday it said it received several guesses, saying only that it was a mammal.

It said it wasn’t an elephant because all of the zoo elephants are male. It wasn’t a tiger because the two at the zoo are too closely related. And it wasn’t a giraffe.

The zoo said sloths have a 10-month gestation period. Zookeepers believe Charlotte is seven to 10 months pregnant, meaning the baby could arrive anytime through late February.

The pregnant Charlotte can be seen in one of the top corners of a room in Bird World. She will give birth in the exhibit, officials said.