Charles Paddock Zoo welcomes sleepy sloth to Atascadero

The Charles Paddock Zoo earlier this month welcomed a new animal to Atascadero: a Hoffman’s two-toed sloth named Rayne.

The 4-year-old slow-moving mammal is nocturnal and spends most of his life hanging upside down from trees.

“They sleep, eat, mate and give birth while hanging from a branch,” said veterinary technician and zookeeper Flavia Parotti. “They occasionally go down to the ground. One of the reasons they do that is when they need to defecate, which only happens about once a month.”

Sloths weigh about 12 pounds on average and can reach 27 inches in length.

They also love their sleep — sometimes 15 to 20 hours per day — and rely on leaves, shoots and fruit from the trees for nutrition.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Charles Paddock Zoo welcomes sleepy sloth to Atascadero."