Story By: Kathryn Quinn, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN/ Zoo Halle

This adorable sloth has made it into the Guinness World Records as the oldest of her kind after celebrating her 50th birthday.

Paula has lived in Halle Zoo in the city of Halle, the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt since 1971 and for the first twenty years of her life keepers believed she was male until an ultrasound scan revealed otherwise.

Paula is a Linne’s two-toed sloth who came to Germany from South America, where she was captured in the wild. After her arrival at Halle Zoo she was estimated to be at least two-years-old.

Jutta Heuer a former curator at Halle Zoo and who keeps a European wide studbook on the animals said: “We applied for Paula to become a record holder and it has been confirmed.

“Paula is still fine, but you can see she is old.

“Her hair is light and not so compact. The claws grow in different ways – the same as with elderly people. Of course, she moves slowly and is very relaxed.

“When we found out she was female we were very surprised.

“This was the reason that I started the studbook. We found out that many zoos didn’t know for sure as they could only trust the dealers’ word.”

Paula celebrated her 50th birthday in June this year, which is the equivalent to 90 human years by comparison.

Sloths in the wild usually live to around 20 years old and in captivity to around 30-40 years old.

Heuer added: “There is no other sloth in the zoo or in the wild that is known to be older than her.”

Despite becoming pregnant three times, none of her cubs survived. She lives in the enclosure with two other sloths and a group of night monkeys (Aotidae).

At the end of 2018, there were 65 sloths recorded in German zoos and 266 worldwide.

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