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Collpas
Mineral licks, also called salt licks, natural licks, clay licks or collpas in Peru, are sites visited by animals to eat soil material. These locations
range in size from a few meters to several hundred meters in diameter.
During a study of two licks along the Los Amigos River, Dyana La Rosa
found that they were visited by 12 species of mammals. Some of the most
regular visitors were tapirs (Tapirus terrestris), white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari), red brocket deer (Mazama americana), and various species of bats.
The
most common explanations for geophagy, the ingestion of soil, are
mineral supplementation, detoxification of secondary plant compounds,
and treatment of acidosis and diarrhea. Several studies from different
sites around the world suggest that sodium is the main element sought
by animals visiting licks. Other elements found in elevated
concentration in lick soils are calcium, magnesium and potassium. None
of these explanations so far has been singled out as the main reason,
and it seems likely that geophagy has multiple benefits for the animal.
However,
visiting licks is also associated with costs for the animal such as
energy needed to get to the lick, increased exposure to diseases due to
increased contact between animals, as well as increased risk of
predation and poaching. The benefits from visiting licks must outweigh
these costs. While several studies have analyzed chemical composition of
lick soils, relatively few studies have looked at the impact of lick
distribution on home range size and movement patterns of mammals.