Today was our last day in Las Cuevas! We started the day by collecting our camera traps. It took wayyyy quicker than it did in the morning. We’re practically experts on the trails now. We then listened to a variety of presentations about both parasites and infectious diseases in the forest and about the reef which is our next stop!

In the afternoon we all took a brief rat and studied outside together while we had WiFi. After dinner was when we got to see the images our camera traps had taken! There were a lot of candids of people on the cameras but we managed to see some amazing wildlife. We saw three pumas, several turkeys, and a few birds on the cameras! We were all super excited about the pumas as we all really wanted to see a big cat in the jungle, and our wishes came true!  We ended the day with a special campfire in the middle of the jungle.

Dr. Solomon also had caught a bioluminescent click beetle and showed the class. These beetles are especially cool because not only do they glow through friction on their wings but they use friction to create a loud snapping sound when touched to scare and startle predators.