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Zoo Atlanta announces gender, name of baby sloth after DNA test

Zoo Atlanta's baby sloth is making its official debut.

ATLANTA — Fun fact: You can’t immediately tell a sloth’s gender when they are born. Zoo Atlanta sent hair samples to a DNA lab to find out whether its 4-month-old baby sloth was a boy or girl. 

“The Sloth Care Team is here with what may be one of the Zoo’s most anticipated #TakeoverTuesdays to date!!” Zoo Atlanta posted on Facebook Tuesday. “If you’re wondering why it took us so long to announce the sex of Bonnie’s infant sloth, it’s because it can be very difficult to know just by looking. 

To make sure we were 100 percent correct, we had our vet staff collect a hair sample and send it in for a DNA Test!”

Zoo staff narrowed down their list of top favorite names for the baby sloth and invited the public to vote. 

Names for a girl:

  • Blossom
  • Fern
  • Willow

Names for a boy:

  • Bean
  • Clyde
  • Rio

Even Zoo Atlanta's resident primates weighed in on their votes.

After much anticipation, Zoo Atlanta announced around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday that the baby sloth is a girl -- and her name is Willow. 

If the baby sloth would have been a boy, he would have been named Bean, based on the number of votes tallied. 

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