Jamshedpur, Dec. 5: With almonds strewn here and there and honey trickling from tree trunks, Tata Steel Zoological Park is trying to make its sloth bears feel right at home.

The zoo management launched the initiative on the directives of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to make the animal enclosure more natural.

"The CZA directives say enclosures must simulate the wild to make animals come out of cages. We want to make the bears feel as if they were living in the wild. We started this initiative with sloth bears, which will be taken up at other enclosures too," zoo director Bipul Chakravarty said.

So, the 3,000sqft enclosure, hosting a male and two female sloth bears (Melursus ursinus), has two ponds and artificial tunnels and one hump. Caretakers smear honey daily on trees and strew almonds on the ground so that the shaggy creatures can have these delicacies in a more natural way.

The cell for the sloth bears also wears a wild look. It resembles a cave with rocks. A crawl area has also come up.

According to zoo vet Manik Palit, captive sloth bears live for 35 to 40 years. "These steps will increase their life span by two to three years. Metabolic rate increases in active animals. Monotony makes them lazy," he said.

People will also like the animals better when they are more playful, he smiled, adding next in line for the natural revamp was the langur enclosure.

The 10-year-old male sloth bear was rescued from Chaibasa in 2008 while his female counterparts, both aged 25, were freed from madaris in New Delhi in 1997. They munch on almonds, honey and carrots for breakfast, have milk and rice for lunch and chapattis for dinner. The sloth bear is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to habitat loss and poaching.