DENVER — The Denver Zoo on Tuesday announced the death of a newborn tamandua after the pup’s highly anticipated birth came earlier than expected.

In November, Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance said that Winnie, a southern tamandua, was set to deliver the first birth of her kind at the zoo since 2015. The pup’s birth was expected in late January, but it was born about three weeks premature on Dec. 27, according to a social media post by the zoo.

The zoo said that, despite tireless efforts from its animal care and veterinary medicine teams to stabilize the premature baby, it died on Sunday.

“We know many people including our staff, volunteers, members and guests were closely following this highly anticipated pregnancy for first-time parents Winnie and Santiago and the first tamandua birth at DZCA in over a decade,” the zoo said in its post. “This outcome was unexpected and has been a hard loss for our teams.”

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