Oldest sloth Jan, Guinness record holder, dies in German zoo

Jan, a 54-year-old two-toed sloth, spent 38 years at the zoo. The world first heard about him in 2021 when he entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the "oldest sloth under human care." On Tuesday, the zoo management in Krefeld, Germany, announced that he had passed away.

The oldest sloth in the world, named Jan, died at the Krefeld Zoo in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the zoo management announced on Tuesday. The two-toed sloth was 54 years old, having spent 38 of those years in human care.

"It was very difficult for his caretakers to say goodbye to him, as some of them had known and cared for him for over 25 years," reads a statement from the zoo. It was reported that Jan died of old age last week.

The animal was born in the wild in 1969. In 1986, it arrived in Germany, where it spent some time at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg before moving to Krefeld, where it lived for another 38 years.

A double record holder

Jan first gained fame in 2021 when he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "oldest sloth under human care." Previously, this title belonged to Paula, a sloth that lived in another German zoo in the city of Halle.

The Krefeld Zoo management noted that Jan was exceptional not only for his age but also due to his large number of offspring. He fathered 22 sloths with two females, Lolita and Trine. Twenty-two-year-old Trine is the mother of Jan's last offspring. The youngest sloth of this pair, a male, was born in March 2024.

Sloths are herbivores found in the rainforests of South and Central America. They are solitary creatures, except for females caring for their young. The species is threatened with extinction due to deforestation of the Brazilian rainforests.