Laura Lee MacLean, age 13, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, for her question:

WHAT IS A SLOTH?

Sloth is the common name of a family of South American animals which have extremely slow and peculiar ways of moving about. They walk upside down, hanging from branches in the trees.

Sloths have almost no tails or ears and their noses are blunt. They have peglike teeth and their hair is extremely long and coarse.

A sloth will move about a half mile per hour, if it moves at all. Scientists say the reason for the animal's sluggishnss is at least partly caused by its extremely low body temperature.

 G'loths seldom come down to the ground. They eat leaves, buds and young twigs. They sleep by day.