Tag Archives: puma

2022

The Belize Zoo!

1 Comment

Hey guys! Once again, it’s Michiel : )

Today started out with us leaving Glover’s Reef! I’m sorry to leave it, but I’ve been really excited for this new part of our class. We had breakfast at 7, then everyone kept getting ready for the journey until about 9 (during that time I finished the book I was reading  – Ghost Story by Peter Straub). At 9, we boarded the boat and began to depart from the reef. Faith and I had a really fun time while that was happening, because we got emails regarding our CHEM TA applications at that time, which we had to respond to, but the wifi from the island was getting further and further away. We were both able to respond before we lost connection, though : ).

The boat ride lasted about 4 hours. The majority of us fell asleep for most of the trip, but there were a couple of times that everyone was up to look for some dolphins (I didn’t get to see any). Also, a lot of people said that they had seen flying fish as we were leaving. Anyway, we got back to Belize City around 1, and we had lunch at Calypso, which is a restaurant right on the dock that we docked at. Then, we went to a grocery store, where I bough lots of items that I started running low on while we were on the island, and Ava and I both got a Klondike Bar, which was a wonderful treat for the both of us.

Later, we got to the Tropical Education Center, which is beautiful. The trails here are wonderful to walk on, and the cabanas are delightful to stay in. I’m really sad that we’re only staying here for one night. We were also given a presentation by Dr. Boris Arevalo on Scarlet Macaws. The data he presented was really interesting, but he masterfully weaved in advice throughout the presentation about doing research and continuing in our careers, which really motivated a lot of us to do incredible work in our futures. After the presentation, we had dinner, then we went to the Belize Zoo for a night tour! It was amazing. I saw a lot of my taxanomic group (mammals), including jaguars (Panthera onca), a puma (Puma concolor), an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a margay (Leopardus wiedii), white-lipped peccaries (Dycotiles pecari), a tapir (Tapirus bairdii), a paca (Agouti paca), and a northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana). The jaguars would roll over and climb trees so that the zookeeper would feed them pieces of chicken (and one of them was named Lindo), and the ocelot made a really funny noise as it ate the chicken that literally sounded like “nom nom nom.” Also, we got to feed the tapir some carrots and feed it! It was adorable.

I’m really glad we saw all these species today, and I hope we get to see more at Las Cuevas. Here are some pictures I took during the tour!

Baird’s Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) Thank you Ava for taking this picture!
Puma (Puma concolor)
Jaguar (Panthera onca)
2022

Goodbye Atoll, Hello Savanna

Leave a comment

Just before 9:00 am this morning, the TFBs departed Glovers Reef. I had such an amazing time as a marine field biologist in training, and I already miss GRMS! I got a picture with Ruth before I left. I am so thankful for everyone at Glovers and for our amazing water safety officers! I will miss Clivus too (the composter toilet system <3).

While on the boat, I sat on the stairs so that I had a perfect view of the ocean. The view was beautiful, and I felt so at peace. I sat there serenely for an hour, and the only reason I moved was to avoid getting sunburned.

We ate lunch at Calypso, and I got fresh watermelon juice and basically a mountain of pasta bolognese with garlic bread! So delicious 🙂

We all hopped into a van and went to a supermarket called Brodies. I bought bug spray (FINALLY!!!) and a few hiking-friendly snacks. Then, we drove to the Tropical Education Center (TEC)!

We got a quick tour and then went to a guest lecture given by Dr. Boris Arevalo. He lectured on nesting ecology and habitat selection of scarlet macaws in Belize and his research and work on the subject. I really enjoyed his lecture! He opened my eyes to the struggles of conservation work and how to weigh the importance of its impacts. This lecture also taught me a lot about research of my taxa and of scarlet macaws, as birds are my rainforest taxa.

After dinner, I rode in the bed of a truck to the Belize Zoo, where we had a night tour! Carlos the zookeeper led my group’s tour. We saw jaguars, pumas, and ocelots being fed, and we also saw a tapir (Belize’s national animal)! I also got to see some of my taxa, including the spectacled owl, barn owl, and mottled owl! I’m not sure how likely we are to see owls while we’re at LCRS, so I was excited to have the opportunity at the zoo! It was incredible to see the animals active at night.

It was a late night tonight, and it’s going to be an early morning tomorrow, so I’m excited to get some sleep in these cute and cozy cabana lodgings! I’m rooming with Maggy!

My Belize ecosystem count is now at 2, and tomorrow’s travels will take it to 3!

– McKenna

Uncategorized

The Experience of A Lifetime

Leave a comment

May 21, 2019

Today, we went caving! I’m not talking just walking through a teeny cave with the convenience of manmade steps and installed lights. At points, we were swimming neck deep in water or trapped between two narrow cave walls not more than a few feet apart. We even had to slide down a small narrow waterfall going sideways to avoid collisions with rocks. The natural formations were incredible, but we also got to stand feet, or sometimes even inches, away from authentic Mayan artifacts and skeletal remains. I have no words for this experience except awesome, epic, and earth-shattering.

After caving, we made our way to the Tropical Education Center where we will be staying the night. Nearby, we got a night tour of the Belize Zoo. This meant we got to see many incredible animals that we wouldn’t otherwise see up close. Each of us got to feed a tapir and hold a boa constrictor, which are actually particularly docile snakes in case you didn’t know. My personal favorite was the puma. It was undoubtedly the most gorgeous animal I have ever seen. Its huge eyes and narrow tapering facial structure seemed unreal.

The stars here are gorgeous, and as I was looking up at them, I noticed a moving one. It was not a shooting star but a firefly (a beetle!). Unfortunately, the firefly was too far away for identification, and I don’t have any fireflies on my taxon ID card.

2017, Uncategorized

Day 8: Authenticity (05/23/2017)

Leave a comment

There we were, with flashlights in hand, meandering through the darkness of the Belize Zoo. The site was sprawling with tall tropical trees, including the Santa Maria tree (Calophyllum brasiliense) and the gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), spectacular sights on their own. The Santa Maria trees, not very common and interspersed between shorter trees, had branches high up on the trunk and were some of the tallest trees at the zoo. The gumbo-limbo trees were also fairly uncommon and were shorter with bark that was peeling in fleshy-looking pinkish layers. I was unable to see any animal activity in the trees because we visited the zoo at night.

The trees were unscathed by the human activity necessary for the zoo’s survival; enclosures were constructed around established trees to preserve the integrity of the site. All of the zoo’s animals are native to Belize, and the zookeeper addressed each and every animal by name – Carlos the puma, Junior the jaguar, Maggie the frigatebird, Brutus the American crocodile.

Carlos the Puma

One could feel the zoo’s authenticity. The zoo lacked kitsch. It lacked glamour. It was about people learning about the animals of Belize.

Earlier in the day, my class departed from Glover’s Reef, our home for the past week. Partway through our boat ride to the Belize mainland, we hiked and snorkeled through the Belize mangroves. At a glance, the area would not have looked appealing, with its sediment-filled water, knotted overgrown tree roots, and an absence of colors other than browns and corrupted greens.

However, the mangrove housed a wide variety of creatures. Today’s sightings covered the whole spectrum –red cushion sea stars (Oreaster reticulatus) to sun anemones (Stichodactyla helianthus) to a seahorse (Family Syngnathidae). The red cushion sea stars were amotile and were about six-inches in diameter. The most memorable sighting was a manatee (Genus Trichechus). Although I got little more than a glimpse of shimmery gray with chestnut speckles, it felt a sense an overwhelming sense of awe being in the present of a creature as majestic as a manatee.

Ecologically, mangroves are essential to the survival of many types of animals, including coral-residing species, as the shallow waters and networks of plant materials protect growing animals from predators. Despite not being the most popular image to send home on a postcard, mangroves are a necessity for the survival of countless living things.

That is authenticity.