Miami Zoo Miami officials confirmed Friday that the 11-year-old sloth bear recently underwent a medical examination.
Hank, a 246-pound sloth bear, was immobilized and transported to Zoo Miami’s animal hospital this week for a comprehensive physical exam, said Ron McGill, Zoo Miami’s director of public relations.
McGill said the procedure was “part of a preventive medicine program and will help prepare them for their move to their new home.”
The exam included weighing Hank, taking blood and urine samples and taking a series of X-rays. Hank also underwent ultrasounds of his heart, liver and spleen, a dental exam and an endoscopy to evaluate his gastrointestinal health, according to the zoo.
McGill said Hank also received a rabies vaccination and deworming medication, which were administered by Zoo Miami’s assistant veterinarian Dr. Rodney Shellbacher, in collaboration with the animal health and animal science teams.
“Tests revealed no abnormalities and Hank has made a full recovery,” Magill said. “He has since been transferred to a separate habitat at Zoo Miami where he will be given the opportunity to display his natural, independent behavior.”
Hank was previously housed in the sloth bear habitat with his mate, Keematy, and their two young cubs.
Sloth bears “live in the moist and dry forests of the Indian subcontinent and subsist primarily on fruit and insects, especially termites,” the zoo said in a news release.
Hank was born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on Dec. 19, 2012, and arrived at Zoo Miami on Nov. 30, 2016, McGill said.
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