Baby sloth at London Zoo raised by a teddy bear

London Zoo’s seven week old baby sloth Edward is getting a helping hand in the form of a specially modified teddy bear from the Zoo’s gift shop.

Kelly-Anne Kelleher started to bottle-feed this two-toed sloth every 3 hours with a mixture of goat’s milk and vitamins heated up to room temperature, just like milk fed to human babies.

He was named after Johnny Depp’s character Edward Scissorhands due to his claws, which will grow to up to four inches in length, enabling him to cling on and climb easily through trees.

“I want the baby to use all of the muscles that he would be using if he was on his mother so what we’ve done is we’ve got some carabiners and attached them to the limbs of the teddy bear”, Kelleher said.

Sloths, which are native to South America, are nocturnal mammals, and are notoriously slow, so Kelly-Anne often has to wait for him to stir from a deep slumber before being able to feed him.

“If he’s feeling particularly hungry he makes a very amusing noise to let us know: a sound somewhere between a squeak and a sneeze”.

Keeping detailed records on everything the infant does, from eating to sleeping, zookeeper Kelly-Anne even logs Edward’s potty-habits.

Still, at least Kelly-Anne doesn’t have to deal with dirty nappies with this baby: sloths only leave their tree-top habitats once a week to poop!

A valuable addition to the European breeding programme for his species, Edward’s details will be added to the global studbook, which is shared with zoos around the world.