There are some creatures that don’t use smell as active defence but are still malodorous because of the food they eat or the parasites they carry around.
Slow-moving sloths are colonized not only by green algae, but by beetles, moths and mites. These ‘residents’ make the sloth one of the worst-smelling animals on the planet.
Scarab beetles – up to a thousand have been found on a single sloth – live in the fur near their elbows and behind their knees, and the beetle larvae feed on their dung. Three species of mites dwell inside its bottom. Moths crawl around in the fur, feeding on secretions in the skin and the algae.
The hoatzin of the Amazon rainforest is called the stink bird. It gives off the smell of manure because it is the only bird in the world that lives almost exclusively on leaves. The leaves ferment in its stomach, leading to extremely smelly gases.
The sperm whale is another accidental stink bomb. It feeds on giant squid. The squid’s beak can piece the whale’s intestines so it excretes a waxy goo mixed with rotting squid called ‘ambergris’ to protect itself. Ironically the whale’s poop, like the musk deer’s musk, costs the earth because it is used as a base in expensive perfumes!
Picture Credit : Google