The Mother Sloth at the National Zoo Keeps Eating Her Babies

A sloth at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. had to have the third of her three babies taken away from her after she ate the first two.

Apparently, this is totally normal sloth behavior.

According to the zoo, it is not uncommon for carnivores like sloth bears to eat their stillborn or live cubs if “they or the mother are compromised in some way.”

Although it sounds like this mother is kind of not right in the head. (Hey, maybe it’s because she’s all fucking locked up at the National Zoo and not jungle slothin’ with the rest of her jungle sloth friends.)

Khali ingested the first cub right after it was born. But it ate the second cub seven days later and then started ignoring the third cub, not normal behavior for a sloth bear.

Keepers took the third cub to the veterinary hospital, which determined that she was hypothermic because her mother had not been cradling her.

So now she’s childless and deranged. This should end well.

Man, fuck zoos.

[Sloth via Shutterstock]