After a laboriously slow journey to Montana (which I wrote about HERE) ZooMontana's newest addition, an 18-month-old Hoffman's two-toed sloth finally arrived to his new home in Billings a couple of weeks ago. His parents apparently neglected to give the cute little 12 pound creature a name, so once he arrived, the search was on for a proper name.

ZooMontana said they received over 1,000 suggestions and over 8,000 votes in a community driven effort to help pick a name. The Social Security Administration says the most popular boy names in the United States  (based on 2018 data, the latest available) are:

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. William
  4. James
  5. Oliver

They also say that the following boy names are increasing in popularity:

  1. Genesis
  2. Saint
  3. Baker
  4. Kairo
  5. Watson

So, when it was all said and done, what name did the sloth end up with? Winston!! We love it and think it's a great name for one of the slowest moving creatures on earth. We briefly caught up with Jeff The Nature Guy from ZooMontana who said they expect Winston's habitat/enclosure will be open and ready for a public debut the first part of August. Apparently there has been a delay is shipping with some of Winston's house. You wouldn't expect anything to happen fast when it comes to a sloth, would you?

KTVQ reported last year that the sloth exhibit was made possible by a $51,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce's Eastern Montana Tourism Partner Initiative, which is funded through hotel and motel bed taxes. ZooMontana is open with summer hours and is an easy place to maintain social distancing guidelines. Check their calendar for upcoming events, including a weekly farmers' market.

 

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