Three times is the charm for Hattiesburg Zoo sloths Chewy and Mo. This time it’s a boy.
The new sloth was born July 5 and made its public debut Saturday. The Hattiesburg American on Friday got a preview of the new addition to the sloth family as well as the new outdoor enclosure.
Lumpawaroo — Lumpy for short — is the couple’s third cub and first male. It likely will be their last, zoo officials said. Lumpawaroo is a character in the Star Wars franchise and is the son of the film series’ star wookiee, Chewbacca.
Dad Chewbacca, better known as Chewy, was moved to a separate enclosure to keep the pair from mating again, said Stephen Taylor, the zoo’s animal care manager.
Momma Mo was outside, toting around baby Lumpy while sister Mochi — the middle child — was busy exploring her new environment and trying to get attention from her mother.
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The eldest sloth cub, Maple, wasn’t outside Friday, but visitors were kept busy keeping up with Mochi’s antics or trying to spot Lumpy. His protective mother moved and turned her body to shield her new cub from onlookers.
When Lumpy was born, his mother wasn’t producing milk so zookeepers had to intervene.
“When little Lumpy was born the keepers noticed pretty quickly that he wasn’t nursing,” Kristen Moore, the zoo’s animal curator, said in a news release.
Zookeepers began feeding goat’s milk to Lumpy and gave Mo some medication that helped her produce milk, all the time keeping the two together.
“By keeping Lumpy with his mother, the two were able to maintain the mother/baby bond, which is so important,” Moore said.
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Mo is a Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth, which is found in South American tropical and subtropical rainforests. Chewy is a Hoffman’s two-toed sloth, found in the rainforests of Central and South America.
Hattiesburg Zoo first opened its sloth exhibit in 2015, when Chewy was added to the zoo’s collection. Mo arrived the following year. Maple was born in 2018 and Mochi arrived in 2021.
The zoo offers a Sloth Experience where visitors can get to see the sloths up close and personal. Participants are able to interact with the animals. The Sloth Experience, held at 2 p.m. Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, must be booked in advance and costs $100 per person. August experiences are fully booked. To book a Sloth Experience visit hattiesburgzoo.com/sloth-experience.
If you go
Hattiesburg Zoo, 107 South 17th Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.
Admission is $8 for visitors 13 and older; $7 for seniors 65 and older, college students and active military with ID; $6 for children 2-12; and free for children younger than 2.
Group rates and annual passes also are available.
For more information, visit hattiesburgzoo.com or call 601-545-4576.
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