Mourning the world's oldest sloth Paula: The end of comfort

Icon: enlarge

Paula in summer 2019: In the Guinness Book of Records

Paula hasn't been doing well for a long time. The world's oldest sloth suffered from poor appetite and diarrhea. Last Wednesday, she completely stopped eating. "She didn't come to us for treats either," said the spokeswoman for the mountain zoo in Halle an der Saale, Karoline Albig. Paula has now died. She "was redeemed," said the zoo spokeswoman.

It could have happened that the two-toed sloth lady would have died as Paul. "After his arrival at the mountain zoo at the beginning of the seventies, the keepers initially assumed a male specimen, as the zoo writes on its homepage. After Paul surprisingly got bigger and bigger , the nurses found out during an ultrasound scan that he was pregnant - and Paul became Paula.

Exact age unclear

Last Thursday the zoo decided to relieve Paula of her old age problems. She was 50 or 51 years old. The exact age is unclear, as Paula came to the mountain zoo in Saxony-Anhalt in 1971 when she was around two years old. The zoo also keeps the studbook of these animals for Europe.

Paula became more and more famous over time. With her old age, the sloth lady even made it into the Guinness Book of Records last year. No older two-toed sloth is known worldwide.

apr / dpa