‘Sophie,’ male anteater, dies
A giant male anteater, misnamed Sophie, has died at the Santa Barbara Zoo.
A zoo press release says Sophie, the longest-lived captive-born male in U.S. zoo history, was euthanized on Jan. 31.
Alan Varsik, director of animal programs and conservation, said the initial necropsy found severe arthritis. Varsik says zoo officials “observed a significant decline in his mobility and apparent comfort in recent weeks.”
Misidentified at birth as a female, Sophie was born in July 1986 at the Jackson Zoo in Mississippi and had lived at the Santa Barbara Zoo since December 1986.
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