A sloth thought to be the world's oldest living sloth, who lived in the German city of Krefeld, has died at the age of 54.
The two-toed sloth, named Jan, lived at the zoo in the western city of Krefeld near Duesseldorf. The Krefeld zoo said in a statement on Tuesday that Jan died last week.
“Some of the keepers had known and cared for him for over 25 years so saying goodbye was extremely difficult,” the statement said.
The sloth was born in the wild in 1969. He moved to Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg in 1986 and then spent the rest of his 38 years in Krefeld.
22 puppies and 2 zoo lovers
In 2021, Yang became famous when he was listed in the Guinness World Records as the “oldest sloth in human care.”
The title was previously held by another sloth, Paula, who lived at a zoo in the eastern German city of Halle.
“This sloth has been nicknamed the 'record sloth' not only because of his age but also because of the number of offspring he has,” the zoo said.
Jan is said to have fathered 22 sloth babies with the females Lolita and Trine in Crefeld, and despite his advanced age, Jan had his last baby, a girl, with Trine in March this year.
jcg/msh (AP, dpa)
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