Monthly Archives: June 2022

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Night Tour of the Belize Zoo!

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Today was a long day of travels that began with a four hour boat ride that I thankfully slept through the majority of, with no seasickness! After having a leisurely lunch at a restaurant on the dock and making a much needed pit stop for more bug spray, we took a van to the Tropical Education Center just about an hour outside of Belize City. This place is so amazing I almost wish we could stay more than one night here! Watching the landscape change from coastal areas, to savannah, and now seeing the beginnings of a rainforest environment is so exciting and the TEC is such an enticing preview of what’s to come!

While here, we got to hear a wonderful guest lecture from Dr. Boris Arevalo, one of the experts on the ecology and conservation of the scarlet macaw, which is an endangered species here in Belize. He told us about his doctoral research into the nesting behavior and habitat selection of this species and his experiences as a biologist doing conservation work. 

 

The highlight of today was undoubtedly our guided night tour of the Belize Zoo, just a 2 minute drive down the road! The zoo itself was so different than what you might typically expect from a zoo experience in the states, with plenty of rainforest wildlife existing inside and outside the cages, forming a more cohesive picture of these animals in their habitat. We saw so many cool nocturnal animals including Belize’s national animal, the tapir which has a very weirdly flexible snout. But my favorite animals we saw were the cats they had there! We got to see jaguars that knew how to roll over for treats, a grumbly ocelot, a puma, and some margays (one of the smallest wild cats!). I wish we could stay longer, but I am so excited to get to Las Cuevas tomorrow!

2022

The Reptiles of Belize Zoo (Day 8)

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Hi all, it’s Faith with Day 8 updates from the 2022 Belize trip!!!I dropped my phone in a line of lead cutter ants!!! But, a lot happened before that, so let me tell you!

This morning we woke up and had to say goodby to Middle Key, it was really sad, but we knew it was coming. The boat ride back to the the mainland was 3.5 hours, and then we waited at the Calypso restaurant for 2.5 hours trying to get lunch. What a chaotic start to traveling…

After stopping at a convenience store to restock on snacks, we arrived at the Tropical Education Center and Belize Zoo! The cabins we stay in here are so cute!!!

We quickly set our stuff down then headed up to the classroom for a presentation from Dr.  about his research on Scarlett Macaws. He was super informative about the species, and explained to us how important the Chiquibil is to their breeding and how crucial the red band area is for their foraging. His research clearly has many practical applications for conservation biology and informs us about were we should allocate preservation efforts.

In between dinner and the zoo, I noticed a few reptiles at the TEC, but none of them were living. The TEC classroom has Hickatee shells (Dermatemy mawii) , and two preserved snakes on display. The two snakes are a fer-de-lance (Borthops asper) and a jumping viper (Atropoides nummifer). Additionally, a sign in the kitchen gave me hope: 2 Hickatees were seen last week in a pond. I might get to see one of the critically endangered Central American river turtles!

After dinner, our group took trucks to the Belize zoo where we got a taste of the Belizean forest’s biodiversity. We saw “nomming” ocelots, rolling jaguars, climbing ant-eaters, Mexican raccoons (coatimudnis), and a tapir! We got to feed the tapir, and as I was grabbing the carrot from our guide, I dropped my phone into a trail of leafcutter ants! I was terrified. (Thankfully Dr. Correa kindly retrieved it for me).

The Belize Zoo also provided me the opportunity to see many reptiles that I might not get to see in the wild. The first reptile we saw was the American Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus); he was a massive 13.5 feet! This crocodile was older than me, and he was relatively calm. He laid unbothered in the water until our guide tossed a piece of chicken for him to munch; he moved very fast in pursuit.

Later on in the reptile cages, we saw a live tommygoff (Borthops asper), Boa constrictor, and a Chicken/rat snake (Spilotes pullatus). The tommygoff was curled up in a ball inside a dark log, so I couldn’t get a clear picture of it. However, the boa constrictor and chicken snake were both out on top of logs, so I have added their pictures below. This boa constrictor was actually quite small, but his patterning was the perfect example with dark and light brown spots. Likewise, the rat snake had a beautiful pattern, and the lack of red scales indicated that he was a Chicken/rat snake and not a Yellow-red rat snake.

Now that we are away from glovers, we won’t see any more echinoderms. I’m just glad I got to post a sea star for you all.

Till Tomorrow!!!

QOTD: “It’s like edgy sprite”

The internet here won’t let me upload photos, so I’ll have to add them at Las Cuevas. :'(

Chicken Snake at Belize Zoo, Spilotes pullatus
Boa Constrictor at Belize Zoo
Crocodylus acutus (American saltwater crocodile) at Belize Zoo!
2022

Day 8: Travel + Tec Zoo!!

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Today we left Glover’s, ate a delicious meal at Calypso’s, and traveled all the way to Tec Zoo!

Tec Zoo is the Belizean Zoo that holds 117 individuals and 44 different species! While building Tec Zoo, all the natural vegetation was kept in an effort to make the zoo large and provide a natural environment for all the inhabitants. Most of these animals are here due to anthropogenic reasons such as: they were hurt crossing the road, illegal poaching and pet trade, or conflict with humans (especially between farmers and big cats).

Lindo!!

We saw jaguars named Sylvia and Lindo. Jaguars are amazingly strong and beautiful big cats. Each jaguar has a unique pelt pattern so that is one way that scientists can monitor and identify big cats.

We got to feed and pet a tapir named Indie! Tapirs are large (400 lbs) herbivores which are related to rhinos and horses. It is also Belize’s national animal. It was so cute and so soft! I loved it’s snout!

We also got to see an ocelot named Rayburn feeding! Fun fact: ocelots make growling noises as a greeting and this particular ocelot made growling noises while eating. It sounded like an “om-nom-nom” sound (It was hilarious).

I also saw several of my taxa today- beetles!! I saw a beetle being eaten by a spider at dinner and there were beetles in the bathrooms. At the zoo, many people got to hold this dark brown beetle which is about an 1 inch long. I am not sure its exact species name but I believe after looking at pictures that this is a type of scarab beetle! I hope to learn more about the beetles tomorrow.

Chow! Peace and Love <3

~ Maegan

 

2022

Pumas, Ocelots, and Jaguars, Oh My!

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Today was the first of two travel days between Glover’s Reef Research Station and Las Cuevas Research Station. We started out the day by travelling via boat back to the mainland. I had taken dramamine, so I slept for almost the entire ride, although I woke up for a brief period of time, and saw a flying fish and some dolphins. I also counted all my bug bites before I fell asleep. I have roughly 374. We had lunch at the marina, stopped at the super market to stock up on anything we had run out of, and then we were on our way.

We travelled to the Tropical Education Center, located just outside Belize City. We got a tour of the lodge, and then enjoyed a talk by Dr. Boris Aravelo about his research concerning the conservation of the scarlet macaw. Afterwards, we had dinner and headed to the zoo. The Belize Zoo is a conservation zoo, as in it only takes animals that were confiscated, or can no longer live in the wild for some other reason. All the animals there are native to Belize/Central America.

We got a night tour of the animals, which was super cool. We saw quash, an anteater, two jaguars, a crocodile, a puma, ocelot, and margay, several types of owls, a kinkajou, white lipped peccary, and a tapir. The animals were super cool! We learned that jaguars are super smart and can learn to do tricks, that ocelots growl when they greet each other, and that tapirs are related to horses and rhinoceros. The peccaries were very smelly, as they have a scent gland on their posterior that helps them identify members of their own herd.

I also saw a little cricket-it was tiny, maybe a centimeter long, with antennae that were maybe three or four times its body length. I wasn’t able to identify it, but I plan on looking it up tomorrow. We also saw lots of leaf cutter ants! They were working very hard, carrying their leaves.

tiny cricket
Indy the tapir (pic courtesy of Ava)
Lindo the jaguar

By dinner time tomorrow we should be at Las Cuevas! We have a big day before that, and I’m hoping to be able to write about it here although I’m not sure about the internet situation. If you don’t see any updated blog posts, don’t worry!

-Elena

2022

Day 8: A Ribbiting Story

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Today sadly marked the end of our period at Glover’s, yet the start of our trip to Las Cuevas Research Station, an exciting new adventure. We started with a long (but immensely more comfortable) boat ride back to Belize City. This was the last encounter I will have with my taxon of stony corals, which construct the interconnected system of barrier-reefs that mirror the coastline of Belize. Once there we had a relaxing lunch in a waterfront restaurant, and then made our way to a general store/supermarket to buy snacks and the supplies I inevitably forgot or already consumed. We then made our way to the Tropical Education Center, which is associated with the Belize Zoo and is a quite cute center in the midst of the Belizean savanna.

Before dinner, we listened to a super interesting talk by Boris Arevalo, where he discussed the nesting ecology and habitat of Scarlet Macaws. We then ate dinner, after which, the real excitement took place. We went on a guided night tour of the Belize zoo! Our tour guide/zookeeper Carlos was extremely knowledgeable and affectionate towards the multitude of animals we saw such as; large cats, owls, white-lipped peccary, snakes, kinkajou, and more. I had lost hope though in encountering any amphibians today. I planned on writing about their relative shyness, and the possibility that their calls may be part of the cacophonous mix of noises which surrounds us. Yet, while approaching the last few feet before the zoo exit, a large toad sprung out of the darkness. I thought at first that it was a Southern Gulf Coast Toad, as they’re common and the coloration/body shape mostly matched the toad I saw tonight. The dry-looking bumpy skin, the ridging of the head, and the coloration all seemed to be correct for the most part (there will always be some sort of variation between individuals). However, after further research I am now thinking it was more likely a Cane Toad (Rhinella marinaI). The big giveaway are the large, balloon-like paratoid glands, which rest just behind the tympanum (ear drum). This little, or rather large hand-sized guy (the rough tan skin leads me to guess it’s a male) was a savior for my blog and field notebook and a good start for possibly encountering some elusive amphibians during this trip.

Rhinella marinus (Cane Toad)
2022, Uncategorized

Back on land!

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Today was sleepy. I took a dramamine to help with the 3+ hour boat ride from glovers reef back to Belize City, but the drowsiness side effect ended up meaning I slept most of the boat ride.

When we got back to Belize City I got to experience some very nice local snapper at a dockside restaurant, before we went to a convenience store where I restocked on bug repellent and other goodies.

After that we took a bus ride to the tropical education center, a lodge and education center attached to the Belize Zoo. We heard an amazing lecture from one of the leading Scarlet Macaw experts both about his work studying the nesting range ect of scarlet Macaw’s his experience trying to conserve them, and also his experience with the intersection of science and politics and public opinion which was perhaps the most interesting part!

Finally, that night we got to see all the nocturnal animals at the Belize Zoo on a tour! We saw everything from Jaguar’s to crocodiles, with one of my favorites being the Bairds Tapir (Belize’s National Animal) that had a very drippy and long flexible nose that it could wiggle every which way to try and get at the carrot in my hand!

We didn’t see any cockroaches today, probably because we stayed on relatively paved areas and did not get into any leaf litter or natural floor covering. We did see what someone thought was a cockroach in the bathroom, but I could tell it was not a cockroach as it did not have a pronoun (the head covering of a cockroach.) The beetles person thought it might be a type of Scarab!

 

Thank you Ava for taking this picture!
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No time for Reef-flection, too much to T-E-Cee

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This morning after breakfast, we had to say goodbye to Glover’s Reef (and Ruth). I had really started to get comfortable at Glover’s. The food, the views, the reefs, the hermit crabs and blue land crabs, the pelicans and frigate birds, iguanas, the snorkel shed, poster sessions, Clivus, and even the mosquito mangroves of death…. I’m grateful for it all.

After a 3.5 hour boat ride, we (quite fittingly) made our transition from ‘surf’ to ‘turf’ by dining on the shore at Calypso, a restaurant on the marina. After lunch, we all piled into two white vans and hit the road for the Tropical Education Center (TEC). On the drive, we passed a couple Police Security Checkpoints and got to see the dominant landscape features shift between developed cities, thick twisting mangroves, karstic mountains, and savannah peppered with palmettos.

At TEC, we received a lecture from Dr. Boris Arevalo, a conservation biologist who studies northern scarlet macaws. These macaws are a flagship species for several countries in Central America, so Dr. Arevalo wanted to better understand their nesting preferences on local and regional scales. The main points that I took away from his presentation was the importance of having a holistic understanding and management of BOTH breeding and foraging habitat, and that collaboration and communication are the most important tools for scientists. Some of my favorite quotes from Dr. Arevalo’s presentation:

  • “Conservation is a human issue”
  • “Scientists are professional beggars”
  • “Conservation is a business”

After dinner at TEC, we got a night-time tour of the Belize Zoo! We saw more animals in an hour than I can recount here, but I’ll try to list as many as I can remember. We saw three types of owls (spectacled, mottled, and barn), four types of cat (puma, jaguar, ocelot, margay), coatimundis, a paca, white-lipped peccaries, a tapir (which we got to touch), a four-eyed possum, a termite nest, an anteater, and most importantly…. I finally saw leafcutter ants (Atta cephalotes)! My excitement at simply seeing their little nocturnal parades across the paths bodes well for this trip. I’ll probably fully lose my mind when I get to see their fungus gardens.

2022

The Belize Zoo!

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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

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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

2022

Welcome to the jungle (we’ve got tapirs and jaguars) (15/06/22)

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I’m actually so sad to leave Glover’s Reef, I miss the hermit crabs, the iguanas and lizards, the giant blue crabs, the breeze, I even miss the sand everywhere and maybe even the mosquitos. We said our goodbye’s to Glover’s this morning, I can’t believe that was still today!

Then got back on the boat to Belize city. I slept through most of the boat ride, even the bumpier parts, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the first ride into Glover’s. I also got to eat some of the candy I bought back when we first got into Belize, some chile and chamoy lollipops, (I bought some more sweet and spicy candies when we went to the store again today). We had a long and relaxed lunch at Calypso, right on the dock where we got off of the boat. Then set off to the Belize Zoo and education center. I unfortunately did not see any of my taxon today. My rainforest taxon is lichen and fungi! Both pretty interesting but super hard to identify specific species or even classify in some cases!

Also yesterday on Glover’s we got to eat Lionfish ceviche! It was so good, I’ve never had ceviche until now and I think I’ve been missing out. I don’t know if it’ll taste as good without the fresh caught lionfish. We also had conch at dinner, it’s common to eat here in Belize but I’ve never had it before, and it was pretty good! I’m not a huge fan of seafood so I’m glad it was fried and had a relatively light flavor and a nice texture.

We also got a night tour of the zoo here after dinner. They only have animals native to Belize and all of them are rescues, either from people keeping wild animals as pets then dumping them when they get too big or aggressive, or were going to be killed for hunting livestock by farmers, or brought in as infants that wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

I think my favorite was the Tapir, his nose was just so long and funny and kept wiggling around!

Tomorrow we have another long travel day, but hopefully it’ll be just as much fun!