Patterns of mineral lick visitation by Linnaeus's two-toed sloth Choloepus didactylus (Pilosa, Megalonychidae) in eastern Ecuador

Diego Mosquera; Gabriela Vinueza-Hidalgo; John G. Blake

doi:10.31687/saremNMS.19.0.07

Autores/as

Diego Mosquera Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
Gabriela Vinueza-Hidalgo Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
John G. Blake Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31687/saremNMS.19.0.07

Resumen

La geofagia involucra consumo de tierra para complementar la dieta y facilitar procesos digestivos. Utilizamos cámaras para documentar el uso de un saladero por perezosos de dos dedos de Linnaeus Choloepus didactylus (Linnaeus, 1758), desde diciembre 2014 a noviembre 2015, en un bosque de tierras bajas ecuatoriano. Obtuvimos 201 videos y analizamos si la lluvia o la fase lunar influyeron en estas visitas. Estas se correlacionaron positivamente con precipitación mensual y negativamente con iluminación lunar, pero las correlaciones no fueron significativas. Consideramos tres hipótesis para visitar saladeros: (a) complementar dieta, (b) ayudar a la digestión y (c) obtener agua.

Citas

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