Sloth at Drusillas Park refuses to get out of bed until after morning cuddle

Gordon the sloth, a resident at Drusillas Park in Alfriston, took a particular liking to zookeeper Amelia Jones when the pair met two years ago.

Amelia believes her nerves around working with sloths encouraged George to show affection towards her in an attempt to make her feel at ease.

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Their relationship continued to blossom, with Gordon now refusing to get out of bed until he's “been cradled like a baby” by his favourite zookeeper.

Gordon the sloth, a resident at Drusillas Park in Alfriston, and zoo keeper Amelia Jones

Amelia said Gordon then expects her to take him on a spin around the zoo to maximise their time together.

“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,” she said.

"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, who even picks up a bucket and sponge as if helping Amelia clean his cage, gets grumpy if Amelia doesn’t have time for their special routine.

“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," she said.

"When I put him down, he started pawing at me and pulling my t-shirt and acting really grumpy. And he stayed in a grumpy mood with me the rest of the day.

"That’s when I clocked that he’d expected his normal tour and was very unhappy it didn’t happen.”

Amelia added: “Gordon is a really special, sweet boy and it’s a great privilege to work with sloths, so to experience the unique relationship we have developed is a real honour."