![]() ![]() Also there might be a parallel in armadillos having insensitivity/immunity to formic acid of fire ants, and sloths having insensitivity/immunity to plant leaf alkaloids. I was thinking, that since folivorous proboscis monkeys can eat leaves and 'green' fruits but never ripe fruits (which produce bloating), that perhaps a sloth could be somehow attracted to and be unaffected by pre-processed ripe fruits in feces (assuming that humans (and monkeys?) in tropical rainforests consume much fruit). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (34), 515-529.ĭartian, thanks, interesting. The comparative anatomy of the tongues of the Mammalia. ![]() Quantitative composition and histological features of the brain in two South American edentates. But we need more quantitative data to settle that question.Īdam, P.J. I'd wager that by mammalian standards, the (two-toed) sloths' sense of smell is neither particularly keen nor particularly poor. On the other hand, the hero of Darren's post, the two-toed sloth Choloepus, has an olfactory organ that is fairly large - or at least not obviously smaller - than in other similarly-sized mammals (Adam, 1999 Yours truly, personal observation). One study (Pirlot, 1980) suggests that the three-toed sloth Bradypus has relatively smaller olfactory bulbs than an armadillo. No, or at least not relative to other xenarthrans (Sonntag, 1923). Mammalian Biology doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2010.03.003ĭo folivorous sloths have diminished taste buds Disgusting appetite: Two-toed sloths feeding in human latrines. W., Flores Amasifuén, C., Shahuano Tello, N., Tirado Herrera, E. Five things you didn't know about armadillos.Ten things you didn't know about sloths.The Panamanian Blue Hill Monster (or Cerro Azul Monster).Thanks (again) to Glyn Young for the heads-up :) Back to gekkotans next.įor previous Tet Zoo stuff on sloths see. But I think I might avoid touching them, cuddling them, or sniffing them from now on. Having thought about it, I'm actually not that bothered, and I still think sloths are neat and fascinating. or, they might have become a lot less cute, and a lot more disgusting. (2010) further speculate that sloths could act as vectors of human diseases and parasites as a result of these latrine visits.ĭepending on your perspective, sloths might just have become even more interesting than they already are. After all, sloths live close to people in many places. Indeed it's possible that this behaviour will turn out to be widespread. Were the sloths interested in the faeces for nutritional reasons? Were they drinking the urine because they required the salt? Or were they interested in the insect larvae that were present? We don't know: at the moment the reason for this behaviour is totally enigmatic. Why would a sloth want to climb into a latrine and eat human, errr, waste material? Heymann et al. The photo below shows a mother and baby emerging from the latrine. Good photos were taken, and two are reproduced here. More than 25 additional reports of sloths visiting and feeding in the latrine were made, and in fact the behaviour only stopped in 2007 when wire mesh was erected around the building. "It was scooping with one hand from the semi-liquid manure composed of faeces, urine and toilet paper and then eating from the hand" (Heymann et al. The behaviour was first reported in November 2001 when a sloth was discovered hanging from the wooden bars within the latrine. I really like sloths, but one of their recently discovered habits might make me like them a little bit less.Īs recently reported by Eckhard Heymann and colleagues, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths Choloepus didactylus at the Estación Biológica Quebrada Blanco in north-eastern Peru have developed the delightful habit of climbing into an outdoor latrine building, seeking out the latrine contents AND EATING THEM (Heymann et al.
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