Lazy and sluggish, escaping the claws of the ocelot.

Ecuador: Camera traps in the Amazon wilderness have captured rare video of how a South American two-toed sloth escapes a swift predator, the ocelot.

Known for being arboreal and slow-moving creatures, sloths are often thought to be easily defeated by any predator on the ground. Camera traps in the Amazon wilderness have provided rare footage of such an encounter, and the surprising footage shows how the sloth fought back and escaped from an ocelot, Science Alert reported on August 10.

The incident occurred at the Tiputini Biodiversity Center in Ecuador. A South American two-toed sloth ( Choloepus didactylus ) was attacked while visiting a swampy area known as a mineral lick (where animals can go to lick essential minerals). The video shows the sloth repelling the attack from its predator, the ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ), by using quick and clever jabs to create a relatively fast escape along a wooden ramp across the swamp.

Such footage is rare, according to a research team from the University of los Andes (Colombia), the University of Texas Austin (USA), and the University of San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador). The study was recently published in the journal Food Webs.

First, predatory attacks are rarely captured on camera. Second, sloths typically visit mineral licks at night, when the area is safer. Third, sloths have never been recorded as targets of ocelots, and experts are unsure how the predator plans its prey.

"Both two-toed sloths and ocelots are difficult creatures to study. They are quiet, often reclusive, and hard to spot and observe in the wild," said Anthony Di Fiore, an anthropologist at the University of Texas Austin.

The research team wasn't sure if the sloth managed to escape completely unharmed due to the limited visibility of the camera trap. However, they returned to the swamp two days after the incident and found no evidence of the sloth's carcass.

The team of scientists said that footage like this is very useful in providing more information about the South American two-toed sloth and the ocelot, both about the sloth's habits and the ocelot's prey. This predator usually eats small creatures such as snakes, turtles, and frogs, but can also attack larger prey. The new research also serves as a reminder that animals that tend to move slowly and have slow metabolisms can still be a match for agile creatures in the wild.

Thu Thao (According to Science Alert )

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