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bear, giant panda, or another Asian species!
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of Asian Art.
Bears are among the best and least known of animals. Everyone
recognizes a giant panda, for instance, while few people
can picture a sloth bear.
Native to the Indian sub-continent, sloth bears are fascinating, unusual bears that charm and delight those who visit them. Our new sloth bear exhibit on Asia Trail will introduce these animals to millions more people. The exhibit is the one closest to the Zoo's Connecticut Avenue entrance.
At the Zoo
Asia Trail is home to four sloth bears. Balawat, a male cub, was born on January 9, 2006. He is about the age when sloth bear cubs become independent of their mothers and is currently exhibited separately from his mother, Hana. His father, Merlin, and Khali, an adult female who debuted at the Zoo in the spring of 2008, can be seen together. The sloth bear yards are the ones closest to the Zoo's Connecticut Avenue entrance.
Sloth Bear Cub Weighs 200 Pounds
Balawat, our sloth bear cub, turned two on January 9! He’s currently weighing in at a little over 200 pounds, just slightly heavier than his mom, but looking much larger due to the thick, fluffy coat of hair he’s sporting.
Despite his size, Bala is still very much a cub. He still nurses occasionally, loves to run around and play with his enrichment toys (such as feeder balls), and is a star when it comes to training. He has been trained to have his teeth brushed, and gets on the scale like a pro.
It is normal for sloth bear cubs to stay with their mother for up to three years, so Bala still has a ways to go in terms of growing up, and Hana is still pretty protective of him.
Spring 2007 Update
He’s an absolute star at training. We’ve trained many behaviors with him—open mouth, show paws, show feet, stand up, lie down—and recently we started brushing his teeth.
Sloth bears have notoriously bad teeth because, when they suck up insects, some dirt or tree bark will get in too, and it wears away the bears' teeth. We’re hoping to keep Bala’s teeth in better shape by starting young. He’s very good at holding the open-mouth position and seems to enjoy the brushing sensation against his teeth and gums. Only occasionally does he try to steal the toothbrush, but every time he gives it right back so we can continue brushing.
We have moved the time of our daily sloth bear feeding demos to 11:30 since the bears have been napping in the heat of the day and not getting up for the 2:30 demos. We have also started doing some of the training with Bala on exhibit (during the demo) so the public can see something that is usually done behind the scenes. We just ask him for the behaviors up at the glass and then reward him with mealworms through the termite mound.
The termite mound is in the exhibit and has a tube that goes to the other side, kept behind a locked door. During the demos, we unlock the door, place mealworms in our hands, and hold one end of the tube over the mealworms. The sloth bears go up to the termite mound and suck up the mealworms through the long tube. 
more daily programs
See a map of the Asia Trail animal habitats.
