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Welcome to Otorongo Expeditions Amazon River Lodge Blog, here you can find many articles pertaining to the Amazon, Travel, creatures and more.
All articles unless otherwise specified are the views expressed by owner Anthony Giardenelli.
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Urine-soaked clay licking by Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, Choloepus didactylus, in Loreto, Peru
Two-toed sloths are usually content to stay high in the trees, but trail-camera footage from near Otorongo Amazon River Lodge has captured something rarely seen: a Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth spending nearly half an hour licking urine-soaked clay at the base of a tree. The site wasn’t a natural mineral lick—it was a spot a lodge worker had been using as a urination site for months.
This appears to be only the second published observation of a two-toed sloth deliberately consuming urine. The camera recorded two separate visits on the same night (likely two different individuals), with the animals scraping and chewing the clay rather than just sniffing it. While the exact nutritional benefit is still unclear, the behavior fits a broader pattern of Amazonian animals seeking sodium and other minerals that are scarce in their diets.
Read the full account of the observation, the behavior captured on camera, and what it adds to the limited literature on sloth mineral use.