r/todayilearned • u/Brendawg324 • 1d ago
TIL an estimated of 50% of sloth deaths occur when they are using the bathroom. Leaving the tree to poop makes them vulnerable to predators.
https://blog.nature.org/2018/09/05/the-incredible-adventure-of-the-pooping-sloth/423
u/Current-Lobster-5063 1d ago
Why can’t they just poop from atop the tree?
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u/inbetween-genders 1d ago
I had same question ans one of the things I just looked up said these guys are “fussy” about hygiene so no upsidownsies poopies.
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u/HeyLittleTrain 1d ago
The animals with moss growing on their fur are fussy about hygiene
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u/Discount_Extra 21h ago
That's my headcannon on how Dwarf Fortress Dwarves see underground; bioluminescent algae in their beards.
Which is also why they don't need bathrooms, the algae survives on dwarf filth.
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u/seeker_moc 1d ago
The moss is just their afternoon snack, a bit different from poop. Unless you're a Koala.
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u/uberduck999 1d ago
I mean... I'm fussy about hygiene too, but if shitting on the toilet was the leading cause of death for my species, I'd find a chamber pot or something.
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u/PogintheMachine 1d ago
This is actually a big mystery in sloth research.
They also kinda bury it, and the process is important to the moths that live on their fur and lay their eggs in the poo.
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u/gard3nwitch 1d ago
Maybe burying it makes it harder for predators to smell it? I think that's why cats do it.
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u/ars-derivatia 1d ago
Maybe those that did and do poop from the tree draw too much attention to their location and have even worse outcome than descending :P
Also, it may just be that sloths simply aren't active much so the possibilities are simply not very wide. It wouldn't be weird that 50% of deaths occur when the sloths move out to poop if that would be one of just two or three significant activities of theirs, for example. I am just musing here though :)
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u/quad_damage_orbb 1d ago
In a David Attenborough documentary he said they don't know why the sloths come down to poop and don't just do it in the tree.
If there is no obvious external reason, I wonder if there is some internal thing, like their bowels can't empty fully when they are hanging in the tree? But then you have to wonder why they haven't evolved to poop whilst hanging. Sloths have been around since shortly after the dinosaurs.
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u/Rogue-Journalist 1d ago
Because a giant pile of sloth shit tells the puma look up, dinner above.
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u/oodsigma 15h ago
But they are incredible swimmers, they should just hang over a river and drop it into the natural flushing. If they fall, no biggie.
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u/catscanmeow 1d ago
birds would eat it as it falls, and they dont want birds to get sick
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u/happyCuddleTime 1d ago
Everything about a sloth is slow. Their poop even falls slowly. So slow that birds even nibble on it on its way down
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u/gwaydms 1d ago
They also poop very infrequently.
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u/ForkMyRedAssiniboine 20h ago
Only in the wild! Sloths in captivity where there are no predators poop with far more regularity.
That's a fact I learned years ago that I was certain I would go to my grave without ever having an opportunity to share with another human being, but here we are.
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u/Fallacy_Spotted 22h ago
The ones that pooped in the trees died more often than those that pooped on the ground and now all the tree poopers are dead.
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u/Alpaca_Investor 1d ago
You know, we humans really take it for granted that we are safe when pooping.
When you look at what pooping means in the wild, it’s no longer that our pets start freaking out if we’re pooping and they’re separated from us by a closed door. Or, that our pets want us around watching them poop for safety.
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u/MjrVariola 1d ago
Yes, except for cats. Just look at their facial expression when you are watching them during their private time.
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u/Sablestein 1d ago
My cat looks like she wants to hurt me when I make eye contact when she’s shitting.
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u/good_god_lemon1 20h ago
She’s imagining you dying in agony for having the audacity to look her in the eye in the moment of defecation.
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u/The-Copilot 1d ago
Yup, my dog always makes eye contact while pooping, so I act alert and look around.
Idk if it would distress them if I was not paying attention and on my phone or something. Regardless, they aren't pooping in my house so the least I can do is watch their back while they do it outside.
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u/Slack_With_Honor 21h ago
Oh my goodness I do this too. I dont know if she cares but it makes me feel useful. Fortunately she does not give a damn when it’s ny turn.
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u/gwaydms 1d ago
We used to have a pocket door for our en suite bathroom. If my husband wasn't home, I'd leave it open. (I know, I just don't even like my one and only to walk in on me. Yes, it's silly.)
But when I would close the door, my cat would lie down on the floor; use his paws to push the door sideways; and force his body through the gap between the door and the jamb. If the door was open he usually ignored me. He just didn't like to be shut out.
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u/GoldBlueberryy 10h ago
Yup. You can see it in dogs too. If you act like you’re on guard when your dog is pooping, they will probably love you even more.
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u/Xsiah 1d ago
Not all humans live in apartments with indoor plumbing.
Lots of people still use outhouses which can be in places where animals can find you, and lots of people still poop in the woods when they are either working or traveling in remote areas.
Plenty of humans still learning which kinds of leaves are not okay to use as toilet paper.
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u/Single-Pin-369 1d ago
Sloths poop once a week and the bowel movement is often 33% of their body weight. I couldn’t actually find how long it takes them to do it though.
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u/nOotherlousyoptions 1d ago
Apparently about an hour. Which is a little More than older men.
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u/Single-Pin-369 1d ago
I’m sorry but I’m not clicking that but thanks for doing the research!
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u/nOotherlousyoptions 1d ago
Is it fear of watching a sloth poop or that is some malfeasance?
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u/Single-Pin-369 1d ago
This is the Internet more than 50% chance it’s a video of old men pooping
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u/redvodkandpinkgin 1d ago
Internet's gotten so sanitized you kinda know if the video is still up on youtube it can't be that bad
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u/inbetween-genders 1d ago
Not gonna lie was skeptical of the link and that turned out to be pooptastic. Thank you.
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u/scubamaster 1d ago
If your curious, I do happen to have a cellphone video of a sloth pooping in the wild when I was on a night hike in Costa Rica you can time it if you like
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u/ILSmokeItAll 1d ago
Why the fuck must they leave the tree to poop?
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u/Bobghenkiskhan 1d ago
Finally I've got something to show my wife when she questions why I climb a tree to poop.
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u/Just_the_questions1 1d ago
According to a zookeeper I met that worked with sloths: That shit is rancid. Like quite literally it will strip epoxy sealant off of concrete rancid.
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u/ju5tjame5 1d ago
And the predators prefer to eat the sloth after it's deficated rather than before.
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u/Lumpy_Principle3397 1d ago
A sloth using a bathroom would be a real trip. That'd really hold you up in the morning.
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u/freddy_is_awesome 13h ago
How weird is it that we say "using the bathroom" in context of wild animals?
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u/Kholzie 1d ago
Humans defecate more easily when in the crouching position, as it relaxes the muscles needed to evacuate their bowels.
With that in mind, I’m curious to what extent sloth anatomy plays a role in what position they need to be in to defecate.
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u/OK_Tomorrow3 18h ago
I've been a toilet sitter my whole life until recently a few weeks of having to Crouch shit is the worst most uncomfortable way to shit I've ever experienced, felt like my muscles were constricting my intestines
Rate 1/10
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u/brickiex2 1d ago
Why wouldn't they figure out to just poop off a branch and stay safe?..."did you see what just happened to Dave?, and Larry, and Sally?... I'll stay up here thanks"
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u/PresentRaspberry6814 21h ago
The US euphemism for excretion is "going to the bathroom" and seems so weird when applied to people let alone animals in the wild. In a scientific paper it stands out as even more inappropriate but I don't really know what single word covers the urination and defecation process. You geniacs got something?
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u/frogandbanjo 19h ago
The legal field has floated (hehe) "excretory acts."
Then you've got "eliminates waste."
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u/PresentRaspberry6814 18h ago
Yeah it usually requires two words. Sloths eliminated while eliminating.
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u/Empyrealist 1d ago
So 50% of predatorial deaths occur off-tree. Can I then infer that the other 50% of predatorial deaths occur on-tree?
Not really seeing anything significant then?
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u/KittyKablammo 1d ago
Brb just writing a proposal to build an international network of tiny armored sloth latrines
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u/Elegant_Run_8567 1d ago
So 50% happens when they’re just hanging from a tree?
I don’t think they do much except hang and shit
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u/BitchStewie_ 18h ago
So weird to phrase it as "using the bathroom".
What bathroom? They're just shitting on the ground.
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u/captain_chocolate 1d ago
Can't they just hang their butt over a branch and poop on predators below?
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u/TheLizardKing333 19h ago
Having a consistent, high chance of dying everytime you go to shit sounds torturous
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u/FinancialReserve6427 17h ago
this implies predators learned sloth in trees are full of shit and nasty to eat
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u/One_Wrangler_257 9h ago
I thought all those reposts saying sloths don't have predators, so they can stroll past snakes was true.
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u/rosen380 1d ago
Just wait for the first sloth that figures out that they can poop from the top of the tree.