Comment on If we humans have a whole range of microbial life living on our skin, do other animals have their own similar micro fauna covering them?

rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Oh hell yes.

My favorite is the biome on the sloth. This isn’t even just a microbiome, we have moths and algae. You know how sloths go to ground to crap, even though it’s a lot of energy and really dangerous for the sloth? Well, there’s a moth that requires the sloths; Moth eggs are laid in sloth poo. Moths hatch, fly up to roost in sloth fur, carrying sloth poo. Sloth poo provides nutrients for the algae that grows on the sloth and the moths eat. Sloth fur has notches that hold water and the nutrients for the algae to grow with.

Sloth goes back down to crap, moths lay eggs, fly up…

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