Cloud Forest Trees in Costa Rica Function as Latrines Shared Among Mammals

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At the top of the cloudy forests of Costa Rica, where the treetops form an almost continuous network, researchers documented a behavior that had not been recorded: several mammals use the same points in the trees to deposit their feces repeatedly. The finding, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, describes the existence of latrines in the canopy, that is, sites shared by different species located in the high branches of the trees. So …

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When a human suddenly needs to take a number two, he can turn to the public toilets. When mammals in Costa Rica's cloud forests need to defecate, they do something similar. But porcupines, kinkajous and even lazy ones do not look for a practical portable pot. Instead [...]