Part of the Family Buttercup needed a lot of care at first. Baby


sloths stay close to their mothers, and Buttercup missed hers. She needed to be held oſt en. Everyone in the family took turns carrying her around the house. Buttercup oſt en dozed while clinging


to family members. T at’s because she’s nocturnal. T at means she sleeps during the day and is awake at night. A sloth’s grip is so strong, it can hang onto trees—or people— even while it sleeps. When she was awake, Buttercup was oſt en


hungry. Sloths are herbivores. T at means they eat plants. T ey like leaves best, but leaves don’t have a lot of nutrients. Leaves are also hard to digest. It can take a month or more for a sloth to digest a meal of leaves. Buttercup ate leaves, but also loved to eat


flowers. T e family would give them to her as a treat. Other types of sloths eat leaves, vegetables, and sometimes fruit.


Hanging Around T e Arroyo family watched Buttercup


carefully. She didn’t seem to do much, though. T ey worried that Buttercup might become a couch potato. She hung over the back of the couch and barely moved. T ey learned that this was normal for sloths. Wild sloths spend most of their lives


upside down, hanging from tree branches. T ey eat and sleep upside down. T ey’re able to hang on to tree branches with their long, curved claws and strong arms. Sloths have more trouble on the ground.


A sloth’s legs are half as long as its arms. T is makes walking on its legs awkward. To move forward, it pulls itself by its arms. T e family built a place for Buttercup to


hang. It was a woven chair that looked like a basket. It hung from the ceiling. It became Buttercup’s favorite place. Sometimes, she just sat in it, high off the ground. Other times, she hung from it.


A mother sloth chews on a leaf while holding her baby.


6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


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