Zookeeper's cute friendship with her 'baby' Gordon the Sloth who loves cuddles

dailystar.co.uk:

sloth has formed an adorable bond with a zookeeper and refuses to get out of bed until they've received a cuddle from their new friend.Gordon the sloth took a particular liking to zookeeper Amelia Jones when they met two years ago, with the unlikely friendship changing Gordon's behaviour.Amelia believes her nervousness about working with sloths are what encouraged Gordon to give her a different attitude than he gives other zookeepers, with a friendship between the two blossoming soon after.Gordon now won't get out of bed until he has been "cradled like a baby" by his favourite zookeeper.Their routine also includes a spin around the museum, with Amelia taking Gordon on her rounds to maximise their time together.

Amelia said: "When I first started working with our sloths, I was actually a little bit intimidated by sloths, they are powerful animals and I used to keep my distance. "Gordon lives with our hand-reared sloth, Flash, and Flash is very confident around humans and often acted like the boss with me."However, Gordon took a very gentle approach with me, like he knew I was nervous, and would slowly come to where I was, peer at me sweetly, and patiently watch me work."Gordon now knows to help Amelia clean his cage, picking up a bucket and sponge to help the once-nervous zookeeperThe zookeeper continued: "The day I realised I had accidentally created a routine with him, was one morning when I was in a rush and only had time to walk him quickly to his enclosure."When I put him down, he started pawing at me and pulling my t-shirt and acting really grumpy.