Living the Sci Life
The Life & Times of Ryan J. Haupt.
Gentleman scientist, paleodetective and future time-traveler.
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I remember reading their preliminary results from a few years ago. Glad they’re sticking with those pesky two-toed pilosans!
Sloths Thrive on Cacao Farms
Like many Neotropical fauna, sloths are running out of room to maneuver. As forests in South and Central America are cleared for agriculture and other human uses, populations of these arboreal leaf eaters, which depend on large trees for both food and refuge, can become isolated and at risk. But one type of sustainable agriculture, shade grown cacao plantations, a source of chocolate, could become critical refuges and bridges between intact forests for the iconic animals.
In an ongoing study in Costa Rica, wildlife biologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are using a complex of intact tropical forest, pasture, banana and pineapple plantations — all connected by a large shade-grown cacao farm — as a field laboratory to explore the ecology of two species of sloths in a rapidly changing environment…
(read more: Science Daily) (photo: Univ. of Wisc. - Madison)
