Nestled in Chile's Elqui Valley, Elqui Domos is perfectly situated for a spectacular view of the night sky. To cater to astronomers looking to revel in the region's starry vistas, the hotel hosts its very own observatory, as well as rooms with windows pointed skyward.

For years, it was assumed that imperial cormorants — large seabirds typically found along the southern coasts of South America — fed on fish just below the surface of the ocean. But when scientists in Argentina outfitted one with a tiny camera, they discovered that the birds are, in fact, remarkably accomplished…

Last summer, Google took its Street View cameras to the Amazon, looking to capture the same 360-degree vistas that have made the technology so useful in cities all over the world. Yesterday, the project went live. There goes the rest of your week.

You will probably never eat a sloth. For one thing, they're paralyzingly adorable. Furthermore, for as sluggish as they are, sloths meat is — surprisingly — not very tender at all; in fact, it's reported to be pretty tough and gamey. Finally, it's illegal to hunt them — and most of the South American tribes that can…

Paleontologists recently discovered rodent teeth in Peru dating back over 41 million years, making them the oldest evidence of rodents in the Americas. But despite its location, this rodent was far more closely related to today's African, not American, rodents.

This is one of the few photos ever taken of the giant armadillo, a five feet long behemoth that lives a nocturnal, solitary life in isolated wetlands of central Brazil. You can probably see why these things are so rare.

The most powerful civilization in South America before the arrival of Europeans was the mighty Inca empire, which ruled much of the continent's Pacific coast from their home in the Peru highlands. And it's all thanks to copious llama crap.

Several kinds of female animals, including spiders, are known to devour their male counterparts, often right after they finish having sex. But every so often, the female isn't deadlier than the male, as South America's wolf spider will tell you.