Two sloth bears strike up rare friendship

Two male sloth bears Bhalu and Balowat play together at American zoo, despite species' usual solitary nature

SHOWS: PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 9, 2020) (PHILADELPHIA ZOO - MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY PHILADELPHIA ZOO) 1.

TWO SLOTH BEAR BOYS PLAYING, SLOTH BEAR BOYS SEPARATING STORY: Two male sloth bears, Bhalu and Balowat, got caught on camera playing together at Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania, United States on March 9.

"Generally, bears are solitary animals and prefer to be alone.

It is not typical to see adult male sloth bears together in the wild or in zoos.

Bhalu arrived at Philadelphia Zoo first and we recognised that he showed signs of being much more social.

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo also had a very social male.

We worked with Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to bring our two very social males together and they clearly get along very well." Pennsylvania Zoo told Reuters.

Sloth bears in the wild are found in the dry to wet forested regions of India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

(Production: Pola Grzanka)