Fans of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens’ Linne’s two-toed sloth Lightning are wishing her a speedy recovery as vets monitor her health issues after giving birth.
Lightning gave birth to her pup, Juno, in early June, and while the baby is healthy and doing great, Lightning suffered some postpartum complications, the zoo said.
“Juno is doing great, but we want to make sure that Lightning is in good health before we move the pair,” Cincinnati Zoo’s manager of ambassador animals, Julie Grove, said in a press release. “About a week after she gave birth, vets treated her for an infection caused by a retained placenta. She recovered well from that but has not been 100% herself. Her appetite has been off recently, so the vet staff did another full exam on her yesterday.”
The zoo says the antibiotics used to resolve the infection can be hard on the gastrointestinal system, so they looked at Lightning’s mouth and esophagus and used a scope to peer into her stomach to look for any symptoms that could explain why her appetite hadn’t been great. Cincinnati Zoo veterinarian Dr. Jessica Heinz said the good news was they couldn’t find anything majorly concerning.
“We did do a little bit of teeth work on her, and everything looks good,” Dr. Heinz said in the release. “So, we're going to give her some supportive medications for her gastrointestinal tract and hopefully that's going to get her back on the right track.”
Because of Lightning’s health, the zoo is delaying debuting Juno to zoo visitors. But if Lightning continues to improve, she and Juno will be moved to the Animal Ambassador Center (AAC), and visitors will be able to see mom and baby through the AAC window soon. Juno's father, Moe, can currently be seen in the zoo's Discovery Forest.
Juno’s sex isn’t known yet and it may be some time before the zoo can confirm it. The zoo says determining a sloth’s gender is difficult and often requires a DNA test.
Cincinnati Zoo, 3400 Vine St., Avondale. More info: cincinnatizoo.org.
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