Renee Shank, age 12, of South Williamsport, Pa., for her question:

WHAT IS A SLOTH?

A sloth is the common name of a group of South American animals which have a slow and peculiar way of moving about. They walk upside down, hanging from the branches of trees.

A sloth can hang so tightly from a branch with its hooklike claws that he can even sleep in this position without fear of falling.

The animals have almost no tails or ears, and their noses are blunt. They have piglike teeth and their hair is long and coarse. They feed on leaves, buds and twigs.

Because it has a low body temperature, the sloth moves very slowly. When it moves at all, which isn't often, it travels at the slow speed of about a half mile an hour.

Some types of sloths have two toes on their front feet while others have three.