A camera caught rare footage of a sloth fighting off an ocelot. VIDEO
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In the Amazon desert, a camera trap recorded an epic duel between a sloth and a predator-ocelot, which surprisingly ended with the victory of the herbivorous and slow animal. The footage was taken at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Science alert reports. They demonstrate how a sloth fights off an ocelot. The predator, which interrupted the daytime snack of the herbivore, was forced to flee. The video was taken during an attack on a sloth in a marshy area. The footage shows how a sloth repels an attack by an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) with several quick blows. As noted by researchers from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, the University of Texas at Austin in the United States, and the University of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, the captured footage is quite rare. First, predator attacks are not often caught on camera. Second, sloths usually visit such an area at night, when it is safer. Third, sloths were not previously considered targets for ocelots, and it is not clear why the ocelot chose to attack them. “Both two-toed sloths and ocelots are difficult to study. They are quiet, elusive, and difficult to find and observe in the wild,” says anthropologist Anthony Di Fiore of the University of Texas at Austin. Researchers cannot say for sure whether the sloth managed to escape completely unharmed due to the camera trap’s field of view limitations. However, they returned to the scene two days after the video was taken and found no sign of the sloths. According to the researchers, the videos are useful for telling more about both animals. Ocelots usually eat smaller creatures such as snakes, turtles and frogs, but have been known to attack larger prey as well. It’s also a reminder that animals that tend to move slowly and have slow metabolisms can be the equals of more nimble creatures in the wild. “This video contains interesting aspects of the natural history of both species, showing a possible prey-predator relationship that has rarely been considered, and showing the diurnal activity of the predominantly nocturnal two-toed sloth,” says Di Fiore. Read also: 12 animals that became famous during the war: stories of brave four-legged friends
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