Buttercup, an orphaned sloth, sits in her basket chair.


It began with a knock on the door. When Judy Avey-Arroyo answered, she


found three girls on her doorstep. One of the girls held a small bundle. Avey-Arroyo gently pulled back a corner of


the bundle. A tiny face stared up at her. It was fuzzy with large eyes. Clearly, it belonged to a baby, but a baby what? It turned out that the bundle was a baby


sloth. Avey-Arroyo did not know it then, but this sloth would change her life.


Meeting a Sloth T e girls told her that the baby sloth was an


orphan. A car had struck its mother. T e girls brought the baby to Avey-Arroyo. She seemed kind. Maybe she could care for the orphan. Avey-Arroyo was from Alaska. She had


moved to Central America with her husband. T ere, they owned a small hotel. She had never seen a sloth before. She knew she had to do something or it


would die. T e baby was too young to be leſt on its own. She took the bundle from the girls and promised she would do all she could.


4 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Baby Buttercup Avey-Arroyo carefully unwrapped the bundle


to see the baby. T e sloth reached up for her. She leaned forward, and the sloth wrapped its arms around her neck. T e sloth was so tiny. Avey-Arroyo named her Buttercup. She studied the sloth. Buttercup had a


white forehead and bands on her eyes. Her gray and brown fur looked wiry, but it was very soſt . Buttercup had a short body. Her arms were


nearly twice as long as her legs. She had three sharp, curved claws on each front paw. T ere was no way to know how old this


orphan was. Buttercup’s mouth was full of tiny teeth. Maybe that meant Buttercup was old enough to eat solid food. Avey-Arroyo knew that wild sloths lived


in cecropia trees. T ese trees are common in Costa Rica. So she gathered some tree leaves to see if Buttercup would eat them. Buttercup grabbed one leaf and studied


it. She stuff ed it into her mouth and chewed. It must have tasted good, because Buttercup grabbed the handful of leaves and ate them.


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