Weve been down this road before, but i got this from the article about a woman in Suriname who found herself caring for 200 baby sloths all at once. Sloths only defecate about once a week - which makes them wonderful houseguests, says Pool. Recent studies have shone a light on their curious toilet habits. Rather than allowing their poo to fall from the tree, as the two-toed sloth does, three-toed sloths make a weekly pilgrimage down to the forest floor to poo on the ground, where they are vulnerable to attack by predators - half of all sloth deaths occur on the ground. So why do they do it? It is known that this behavior benefits the sloths resident moths, who lay eggs in sloth dung. Scientists from the University of Madison now have a theory that the moths may in turn encourage the growth of luxuriant green algae on the sloths fur. This doesnt just create excellent camouflage, the scientists think it may also be an additional food source. In other words, sloths might be farming algae in their fur, with moths providing the fertilizer. The whole article:
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 17:21:37 +0000
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