Zoos and sanctuaries are staying shut due to social distancing rules, with their (human) staff choosing to stay behind and take care of the animals. Some officials are even choosing to pamper long-time residents, with delightful results.
A three-year-old sloth named Chico was given a tour of the Texas State Aquarium recently. The sloth, who lives far, far away from the Gulf of Mexico exhibit, was brought face to face with dolphins, sharks, jellyfish and seahorses for the first time. Since &lsquoslow as a sloth&rsquo is an actual phrase, he didn&rsquot have to walk around. The tour was decidedly luxurious, as Chico hung from a long branch and enjoyed the marine galleries.
When Chicago's Shedd Aquarium let their penguins loose on the premises last month, it had been more of a free-spirited run. Naturally, the birds had gone bananas at the large fish enclosures.
This time, two of the dolphins at TSA, Liko and Schooner, were madly curious about Chico. As the sloth was brought closer, their demeanour quickly shifted to wide-eyed euphoria. According to the aquarium, Liko even attempted an upside-down &lsquosloth impression&rsquo
The meeting was meant to be a form of inter-species enrichment&mdashthe two animals are some of the institution's largest crowd-pullers. The aquarium is located in Corpus Christi, a coastal city in south Texas. With the enclosures' daily footfall dropping to zero, we&rsquore sure the animals enjoyed this novel interaction.