South American Mammals

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 1 - Two-Toed Sloth on Telephone Wire, Costa Rica: Sloths are identified by the number of long, prominent claws that they have on each front foot. There are two-toed and three-toed sloths which are found in Central and South America.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 2 - South American Grey Fox, Chile: South American Grey Foxes can be found on the plains, grasslands, forest edges and the foothills of mountain ranges in southern South America.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 3 - White-Faced Capuchin Monkey, Costa Rica: Capuchin monkeys, also called white-faced monkeys, occupy the wet lowland forests on Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Panama and deciduous dry forest on the Pacific coast. Whilst Capuchins are mainly insectivorous they eat a broad range of items including fruits, flowers, invertebrates, bird eggs, nestling squirrels, and small lizards.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 4 - Cross Breed Llama/Guanaco, Argentina: The llama is a domestic herd animal and is a member of the camelid family. Other members of this family are the alpaca and the wild guanaco and wild vicuna. The llama has been scientifically shown, through DNA analysis, to have originated from the wild guanaco and cross breeds between the two are common.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 5 - Two-Toed Sloth on Telephone Wire, Costa Rica: The sloth is the world's slowest mammal, so slow that it enables algae to grow on its furry coat. The plant provides the Sloth with a greenish tint that is useful camouflage in the trees of the rain forest. They spend the majority of the time, 15-20 hours a day, sleeping and eat leaves and fruit mainly at night.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 6 - South American Grey Fox, Torres Del Paine N.P.: South American Grey Foxes have a body length between 42 and 68 cms, a tail length between 30 and 36 cms and they weigh between 2 and 4 kgs. They are predictors feeding mainly on rodents, birds and rabbits.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 7 - Black-Howler Monkey, Costa Rica: Howler monkeys are among the largest primates in the Neotropics. They can grow to be 22 to 36 inches tall when standing. They have prehensile tails that they can use to grab onto branches. They make loud vocalizations to mark their territory, thus earning their name.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 8 - Guanaco, Argentina: Guanacos usually live at high elevations, grazing on grasses and browsing on leaves and buds. They can get by without water for long periods of time, obtaining the moisture they need from the plants they eat.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 9 - Coati, Parc Ecologique, Monti Verde, Costa Rica: The Coati Mundi is a member of the raccoon family and like the North American cousin, the Racoon, it is an omnivore. Their long nose is rich in sensory receptors so they have a heightened sense of smell. When climbing the coati can rotate his hind feet to make descending head first from a tree easier. Coatis can run up to 15 miles per hour and are excellent swimmers.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 10 - Mexican Hairy Porcupine, Monti Verde,Costa Rica: The Mexican hairy porcupine is an agile climber. It moves through the high trees using its tail to help it on hold on as it climbs. The rough, hard skin at the tip of its tail helps it grip the tree branches. The porcupine is active at night when it searches the treetops for leaves to eat.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 11 - Lesser Cavy, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Cavies are rodents native to South America whose most familiar member is the guinea pig. Other species in the family include the capybara and the mara.

SOUTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 12 - LLama, Machu Picchu, Peru: The llama is four to five feet long, four feet tall at the shoulder, and weighs approximately 260 pounds when mature. The body is covered with fairly long, dense, fine wool that may be brown, buff, gray, white or black in color.