Medina, a 20-year-old female sloth bear, died Wednesday morning at the Woodland Park Zoo.

The bear died during a health examination to evaluate symptoms of lethargy and decreased appetite observed by zookeepers.

“When keepers noticed a sudden, drastic decrease in the bear’s activity, we immediately scheduled a health examination in order to gain more knowledge about the cause of her symptoms and provide the best care possible for Medina,” said Martin Ramirez, Woodland Park Zoo mammal curator.

Shortly after being readied for the examination, the bear’s heart stopped, and it could not be restarted. a postmortem examination discovered extensive cancer of the liver that had spread to nearby tissues.

“The cancer we discovered in this bear is known to be a leading cause of death in older, aged sloth bears,” according to Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s director of Animal Health, “and likely severely compromised her health when she was immobilized under anesthesia.”

Medina arrived at the Woodland Park Zoo in 2008 as a recommendation of the Species Survival Plan (SSP), a cooperative breeding program to help ensure genetic diversity and demographic stability in North American zoos. Medina’s partner, Randy, a 14-year-old male sloth bear, remains on exhibit at the zoo.

Sloth bears — native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka — are an endangered species. fewer than 10,000 remain in the wild. While their life span in the wild is unknown, sloth bears have been known to live up to 40 years in captivity.