Pandas are tough act to follow, but don't say that to 'amazing' animals coming to Edinburgh Zoo

Sloth bears are taking over the former panda enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo

Let’s face it, pandas are A-list. They are the animal world’s equivalents of Taylor Swift, George Clooney and Kim Kardashian combined. And don’t they know it, often doing virtually nothing at all to entertain their adoring human fans.

The ultimate divas they may be, but we can probably all agree they are a tough act to follow. Step forward the sloth bear, which will be taking over the panda enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo.

For those unaware of this particular animal, it is a nocturnal, forest-dwelling bear named for its “slow-moving habits”, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It has poor senses of sight and hearing but a good sense of smell. It likes nothing better than to eat insects like bees and termites, which it sucks up through a gap in its teeth.

A sloth bear pictured at a recue centre near the city of Agra in India (Picture: Rob Elliott) | AFP via Getty Images

The zoo says visitors should be able to “get up close to this amazing species”, which is known for being “particularly noisy”. Apparently, their “snuffling and snorting sounds can be heard from 100 metres away”.

And the loudest snort of all is one of derision when anyone even so much as mentions a panda – however quietly.