Corstorphine has a tiny new neighbour. Edinburgh Zoo has announced the arrival of Scotland’s first ever baby sloth, a male Linne’s two-toed sloth born on Monday to first-time parents Feira and Nico. Keepers at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) have named the newborn Atty, in tribute to Sir David Attenborough, who marked his 100th birthday at the weekend.
The birth is being celebrated as a landmark moment for the local zoo, which sits within the heart of west Edinburgh and has long been a fixture of family weekends for residents across Corstorphine, Murrayfield and beyond. Both parents are six years old and have been favourites with regular visitors since they arrived at the sloth house.
Head keeper Jess Brown said the moment was “groundbreaking, not just for Edinburgh Zoo, but for Scotland”. She added that seeing a sloth baby clinging to its mother for the very first time had been a special experience for the entire team, and that little Atty was already “showing plenty of personality”. Visitors lucky enough to catch a glimpse may spot a tiny face peeking out from Feira’s fur.
For the first six months of his life, Atty will grip tightly to his mother’s stomach. From around two months old, he will start to learn which leaves are safe to eat by sampling food directly from her mouth, a behaviour typical of sloths in the wild.
The name Atty is a nod to the broadcaster and environmentalist whose decades of natural history programmes have inspired generations of Edinburgh schoolchildren. In a 2017 interview, Sir David told the BBC that if he could be any animal for a day, he would “undoubtedly be a sloth” — describing the appeal of “hanging about upside down” with “nothing to do, sleeping most of the time”.
Mum and baby are currently resting together in their enclosure. The zoo confirmed that the sloth house will reopen to visitors from 2pm on Wednesday, although opening times will vary over the coming weeks as Feira and Atty settle in. Families planning a visit are encouraged to check opening hours at the gate on arrival.
The arrival of Atty adds to a string of recent good news from the Corstorphine Road site, which last year welcomed an “incredibly rare” pygmy hippo. For locals, it’s another reason to be proud of one of Edinburgh’s best-loved community institutions — and another small, slow-moving reason to visit.