Two- Toed Baby Sloth Suprises Zookeepers With Speedy Birth (Photos, Video)

Zookeepers at ZSL London Zoo were shocked to discover two-toed sloth Marilyn had gone into labour while they were preparing her sweet potato breakfast on October 24. Keepers were aware that Marilyn was due any day but believed she was comfortably tucked away in her den.

When they returned less than an hour after their previous check they found she had given birth at a speed uncharacteristically fast for the famously slow-moving species.

The zoo has now released footage of the baby two-toed sloth clinging to her mother in the Zoo's Rainforest Life section.

The video shows Marilyn hanging from a branch with her little one on her stomach, in their tropical paradise, which is heated to 82F all year round.

Keeper Marcel McKinley said: 'We looked in on her first thing and there was no baby - and no sign at all that she was in labour.

'Less than an hour later, I spotted something that looked like a tiny arm tucked into Marilyn's tummy; I called the rest of the team to confirm my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

'They arrived just in time to see her turn around in the tree and give us the perfect view of her healthy newborn - who she'd quietly delivered, with no fuss at all, while we'd been chopping up sweet potato for her breakfast.

'She clearly took the whole thing in her stride.'

The two-week-old baby has been named Terry and is 'doing really well' as keepers await confirmation of its sex by DNA analysis.

Mr McKinley said: '(The name is) after one of the zoo's longest-serving zookeepers - our colleague Terry March, who has devoted his whole life to caring for threatened species and educating the public about wildlife.'

Mr March, 65, joined ZSL London Zoo as a trainee zookeeper in 1973 and has looked after the animals ever since - including caring for the sloths for the past 15 years. Keepers do not know the sex of the new arrival, which is spending its days clinging on to Marilyn, and will not be able to tell until it is scanned by vets as there are no external differences between male and female sloths.