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Oh, Baby: Sloth A Surprise For Pet Store Owner

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

A female two-toed sloth is hand fed Monday as a two-day baby clings to her stomach at the Pet Safari pet store in Dunedin.

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By CHRIS URSO and RAY REYES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 23, 2009

Updated: 03/23/2009 05:33 pm

DUNEDIN - When Larry Lipke welcomed a baby into the world this weekend, he counted toes to make sure the newborn was healthy.

One.

Two.

Pretty healthy—considering the newborn is a two-toed sloth.

Lipke, the owner of the Pet Safari store in Dunedin, discovered the baby sloth Sunday when two customers mentioned it. The two young girls told Pet Safari employees that they liked the baby sloth because it was so cute.

"We were pretty surprised," Lipke said, because he didn't know his adult sloths were a breeding pair.

Pet Safari has three adult sloths rescued from a rainforest in Guyana, South America. The animals are not for sale. The store uses the sloths for educational purposes and for raising awareness on deforestation, Lipke said.

Two-toed sloths are not an endangered species, unlike their counterparts, the three-toed sloth, according to the National Geographic Society. There are no restrictions on keeping two-toed sloths as pets, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Sloths, which grow to be about 18 pounds, are the world's slowest mammal. The animals spend most of their lives hanging from trees, and young sloths generally spend their first five weeks of life clinging to their mother.

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