A wild animal related to llamas is helping bring life back to barren mountain areas in South America through a simple activity – going to the bathroom in the same spots. These animals, called vicuñas, live high in the Andes Mountains. As climate change melts the glaciers there, they leave behind rocky ground where nothing grows. But vicuñas are changing that by creating natural fertilizer deposits. “It’s interesting to see how these animals can transfer nutrients to new ecosystem that is very nutrient poor,” says Cliff Bueno de Mesquita, a scientist studying this at the University of Colorado Boulder. When … Continue reading Llama Cousins’ Bathroom Habits Speed Up Andes Recovery as Ice Melts