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These Captive Dolphins Were Delighted by Their First Sloth Sighting

Image Credit: Texas State Aquarium

Move over Kristen Bell – there might be a cuter video involving a sloth than the one of you losing your mind after Dax Shepherd brought one home for your birthday.

I said maybe, y’all. You’ll have to decide for yourselves after you see these dolphins totally freak out.

It all began when the Texas State Aquarium decided to allow their famous 3-year-old sloth, Chico, take a tour of the zoo. He met many animals, of course, but none were as excited to make his acquaintance as the dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico exhibit.

“We frequently give the animals a chance to “meet” each other as a form of enrichment, which helps keep them active in body and mind. As some of our popular animals, it seemed an obvious choice for our sloths and dolphins to get a chance to see each other while we were temporarily closed. We have another sloth, Xena, but on that day, she was more interested in sleeping than meeting the dolphins!”

Posted by Texas State Aquarium on Thursday, March 26, 2020

Chico made the rounds on his favorite branch, of course, I assume because it would have taken too long to get him to move.

The four bottlenose dolphins – Shadow, Kai, Liko, and Schooner – have met other animals before, but have never been quite so pumped about it, according to the aquarium.

Posted by Texas State Aquarium on Thursday, March 26, 2020

“Our dolphins have had the opportunity to meet several other animals over the years, including baby gators, an African serval, a red-tailed boa, and others. They’re almost always very curious about the other Aquarium residents.”

Curious, yes. Thrilled? I’m thinking not.

You can see from their hilariously adorable expressions that they just can’t get enough of Chico (who smiled, I’m sure, just not in time for the camera).

Posted by Texas State Aquarium on Thursday, March 26, 2020

Those dolphins clearly love sloths at least as much as Kristen Bell does, am I right?

The aquarium, like many other businesses these days, is working hard to still meet its mission and goals, even while closed.

Posted by Texas State Aquarium on Thursday, March 26, 2020

“We’re striving to share as many of these stories as we can with our guests and viewers around the world to keep them engaged, educated, and entertained while they’re at home. Right now we’ve had the most success through social media posts like this one, along with virtual views of our animals and daily live distance learning programs.”

So, please enjoy this video of Chico’s entire VIP tour, though I promise, the dolphins are the best part.

If you were going to get the chance to tour the zoo or aquarium alone, what exhibit would you head to first?

It wouldn’t even be close for me – the lemurs. They are my sloths, even if they’re technically monkeys.

Shudder.