Wonderfully Wild Wednesday: Whose claws?

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications

Can you guess which zoo animal these claws belong to? 

We'll give you time to think.

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Did you get it? 

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Got it? It's the sloth bear!

Those sharp, 3-inch-long claws belong to the sloth bear and they are used to dig out insect mounds. After digging, sloth bears blow away the dirt with their long, mobile lips and with a huge breath, suck up the termites like a high-powered vacuum.

You’ll see these adaptations up close when we transform our sloth bears’ and tigers’ 60-year-old exhibits into state-of-the-art, naturalistic homes coming in 2014. 

Help us get started on the transformation: Give Ten for Tigers today at http://bit.ly/GiveTen

Thanks!

(Photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.)