The poop drop is a signal that locates the large slow moving animal for predators. They can’t clear the area faster than a jaguar arrives to investigate.
So they wait until it looks safe, climb down and put their shit at the base of a tree and climb back up.
But jaguars who have located a sloth also know they can wait for it to come to them. Which is why sloths try not to be located.
…wait, really? I figured they’d just hang and let it plop.
No and it’s dangerous too, as predators wait for them on the ground to chomp on them. So they only poop once a week.
They wait for a sloth? On the ground? For it to crawl down to take a dump?
That entire foodchain is all kinds of janked up.
The poop drop is a signal that locates the large slow moving animal for predators. They can’t clear the area faster than a jaguar arrives to investigate.
So they wait until it looks safe, climb down and put their shit at the base of a tree and climb back up.
But jaguars who have located a sloth also know they can wait for it to come to them. Which is why sloths try not to be located.
And over half of sloth deaths are “being eaten while going to poop”.
Intelligent design my ass.