National Aquarium Announces Winning Name For Two-Toed Sloth
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The National Aquarium announced Friday that the winning name for its two-toed sloth is Camden.
The decision followed two weeks of voting on a naming contest for the animal. More than 4,000 votes were cast in total. More than 1,000 were made for the winning name, a homage to the city and Baltimore's baseball season. Luna was the runner-up with 915 votes and Izzy came in third place with nearly 850 votes.
Last month, the National Aquarium asked the public to submit names for the sloth and was flooded with 1,726 entries. Staff members were originally told to select four names but because of the overwhelming response, they chose five: Iris, Camden, Waylay, Izzy and Luna.
Camden is the third sloth born at the aquarium and the first born to Ivy, one of the four sloths in the Upland Tropical Rain Forest exhibit.
"We are in love with Camden and so happy the public could join our Aquarium family to give the baby sloth a name," said Steven Schindler, chief marketing officer and vice president of the National Aquarium.
In honor of Camden's arrival, the aquarium is asking the public to continue to support the sloths and rain forest collection through donations.
According to the National Aquarium, the contest was launched in honor of International Sloth Day, which aims to bring awareness to illegal trafficking and the mistreatment of sloths in Central and South America. The AIUNA foundation, the starters of International Sloth Day, rehabilitate sloths that have been injured by power lines, hit by cars or sold illegally and release them back into the wild.
Sloths have been a staple at the National Aquarium. The two oldest sloths, Syd and Ivy, were acquired in May 2007. They are currently living in the rain forest. The other two sloths, Howie and Xeno, were born at the aquarium in 2008 and 2010, respectively.
Camden is a Linne's two-toed sloth. The species is currently not threatened, but other sloths, such as the maned three-toed sloth and pygmy three-toed sloth are endangered.
