Sunday, February 9, 2014
A sloth's microbiome
This is about the coolest article ever, about the organisms growing on and around the three-toed sloth. Apparently, the sloth harbors a species of moth in its fur, which fertilizes a type of algae that also grows in the fur, and the sloth eats the algae as a supplementary food source. I don't imagine the preacher who wrote, "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hands have made," was imagining sloth-fur algae. But I'd put this ecological discovery right up there with the really important finds that help to explain a part of our world.
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