Molasses, Stone Zoo’s Linne’s two-toed sloth baby, received its first exam on Saturday morning. The baby is strong and active, grips very well, and already has a couple of teeth. Molasses weighs 970 grams, which is around 2 pounds, 2 ounces.

We cannot yet say with certainty whether the baby is male or female, as it is very difficult to determine the sex of a sloth baby this young.

"Both mom and baby are doing fine," said Pete Costello, Assistant Curator of Stone Zoo. "It was an interesting experience for the staff to handle the baby sloth, who proved to be more active and vocal then we had anticipated! Molasses likes to lick mom’s face more than other sloth babies I’ve worked with, and it’s starting to pull its head out from mom’s arms more often.”

Born November 2, Molasses is the offspring of Nero, age 11, and Lunesta, age 12. Visitors can see the baby on exhibit with its parents inside Windows to the Wild.

Read more about the baby’s birth here.

Photos courtesy of Dayle Sullivan-Taylor and Bridget Collins-Lyman