Today was our last day here at Las Cuevas and so we spent the morning going out to collect all the camera traps we had placed at the beginning of the week. When we were out, we ran into the spider monkeys again and watched for a while as they tried to scare us off by throwing sticks down. Today must have been a good day for monkeys, because we could also hear the sound of howler monkeys calling off in the distance all day, which sounds to me a lot like we are in the movie Jurassic Park. I also managed to rack up 44 ticks pulled off of myself after our second trip down the monkey trail, and that is WITH bug spray. Certainly less than the hundreds I got at the beginning of the week though. 

In the afternoon, we finished processing the data from yesterday afternoon’s experiment before going back out into the field one last time to examine young and old leaf cutter ant mounds (which mostly involved watching Scott digging holes to look for the fungus gardens and running from the giant soldier ants that can bite through rubber). 

After dinner we had our lectures and then went through the pictures from our camera traps and found we had captured a picture of…. drum roll…. A TAPIR!!! We also had photos of some smaller mammals like a possum and skunk, and some birds, however one picture that didn’t turn out clear appeared to have some sort of large cat, perhaps a puma? Unfortunately because you can only see the faces silhouette, I guess we’ll never know what was out in the forest that night… 

Though an exciting day of mammal siting, the amphibian count for the day was zero again, likely because of the dry and hot weather we have been having. 

Today was a VERY long day of field work and quite frankly I’m exhausted. In the morning we sampled plants in disturbed and undisturbed areas of the forest and compared the diversity we found there. After making our poster presentations and eating lunch, we went back out to the disturbed habitat to take measurements of the leaf toughness of the trumpet tree leaves that do and do not contain ant colonies to defend them, and in the process I got bit on the hand by a number of ants.

Because these measurements took so long, we went right into hiking uphill to the bird tower to try and catch the sunset, but alas it was a cloudy day. We hiked back after the sun went down and I walked right over a Mexican Jumping Viper before Pierce noticed it (Yes, it’s venomous, but no, I did not get bit). We also saw a cute tree rat, the biggest cockroach in the world (literally, they are one of the largest cockroach species in the world), and a bird with reflective eyes that we all thought was a jaguar until we got closer. And THEN, it was time for all our lectures for the night.

I didn’t see any amphibians today, which I would assume is because we did our field work in the drier sun-exposed disturbed area, so the amphibians were probably deep under the leaf litter to keep from desecrating, if they were there at all. Phew, I’m tired, so that’s all the words you get today. 

Today we had another early start as we had a lot planned and far to travel. We ate breakfast at the lodge we stayed and I got to try a Belizean specialty called Fried Jacks, which are kind of like a less sweet beignet, along with others staples like refried black beans, watermelon juice, and some sort of cheese. We all loaded back into the van and headed further along the gravel road until we reached a waterfall with pools formed in the granite rocks called Rio en Pools. While there we got to swim and play in the waterfalls, as well as observe the mountain pine region close up. While walking to the falls, our group found a super tiny toad which I identified as a Gulf Coast Toad, a pretty common species in the area. We also found a basilisk lizard, which is noteworthy for the funny way it runs and the fact that it can run across water (though sadly, we did not witness this feat). 

After our swim, we drove about an hour to the Caracol Mayan ruins. I was amazed by the huge size of the buildings, as well as the fact that you are allowed to climb up the stairs of the exposed buildings and the fact that ancient pottery was just littered about. Also, we climbed the tallest ruin which is actually the tallest building in Belize and was built in 650 AD! We could even see the border of Guatemala from up there because of the deforestation line. My favorite parts of our tour included seeing Montezuma’s Oropendola birds (which make these interesting hanging sack-like nests to protect their eggs from snakes) and getting to see a whole bunch of black howler monkeys above us in the rainforest (including a baby!). 

After we finished at Caracol, we rode to our final destination- Las Cuevas Research Station and arrived right as it started to pour. Perhaps the dry season won’t be as dry as we thought. After the rain stopped, we got to see a Scarlet Macaw up in the canopy (except Keegan who didn’t believe us until it was too late). I didn’t see any amphibians after the rain, but I’m excited to see some tomorrow when we head out into the Chiquibul for the first time since it is (hopefully) an early start to the wet season!

It was a great day to be a herpetologist today! This morning while we were out collecting the pit traps we set to collect arthropods, we spotted a green tree frog asleep on a fishtail palm. When he opened his eyes he revealed his orange underside and large black eyes- it was a Morelet’s Tree Frog! The holy grail of frog hunting because it’s a critically endangered species. He remained very zen as we all took his pictures and even went back to sleep. I was surprised how big and flat he was and how sort of fleshy his legs were. I’d only seen pictures, which really don’t do them justice. What great luck! 

When we got back to the lab we spent the afternoon sorting our specimens and analyzing arthropod diversity on the ground and canopy as well as looking at species attraction to nitrogen in our urine. We found a huge amount of diversity on the forest floor, but not quite as much in the canopy. We also found out that canopy species were more attracted to the urine, showing that the canopy is more nitrogen bare, which makes sense given the relative lack of decaying matter in the branches of trees. After presenting our findings and eating dinner, I gave my taxon ID talk about amphibians. 

The darkness brought another opportunity for tarantula hunting, but this time not only did I find a bunch of big fuzzy spiders, but also some whistling birds with eyes that reflect purple in the light of my headlamp. Under the dorms I also found a fairly large sized toad with gold around its eyes. At first I thought it was a cane toad because of the eyes, but upon further inspection, it’s back markings proved it to be a Campbell’s Rainforest Toad. 

This morning, the entirety of EBIO 319 boarded a plane and headed to Belize City, and luckily TSA did not take away a single one of the 6 animal trapping cameras I had in my carry on. Once we we had all passed through customs, complete with a vague recollection of where we were going to the customs officer who made the mistake of asking where exactly Las Cuevas Research Station was “in the jungle,” we all boarded a 15 passenger van and headed down the road to our first destination: lunch. As we drove, the smoke from several wildfires lighting up the grassland clouded the sky. May is towards the end of the dry season, so wildfires are a common occurrence during this time, however unlike in the US there were no firefighters trying to put out the flames.
Though haggard from our 5:30am wake-ups, a delicious meal complete with a variety of fresh fruit juices woke us up, plus the venue- a roadside open-patio style restaurant was adorable. While we were there, Scott pointed out a huge termite nest in a nearby tree and the tunnel the termites built down to the ground to protect themselves from the elements. After lunch, we rode about an hour to a roadside grocery store where we picked up some last minute snacks and the elusive cold drink. As we drove through Belize, it was interesting to see the flat savanna land turn into scrubland, and finally into more densely forested areas.  Also, I kept seeing these super beautiful orange flowering trees along the side of the road, which turned out to be acacias (tree ID cred to our resident tree expert Amy).

When we finally made it to our destination for the night- an eco lodge part of the way to Las Cuevas, we were all very glad to be out of the van and to check into our rooms. After we saw another group at the lodge head down the hill, we decided to follow them in search of the promised river. It was an idyllic tropical river, though the people on the rope swim killed the nature vibe for me. While the others hiked back up the hill to get their swim suits and join the other group, I elected to chill out in the hammock outside and listen to all the birds as the sun set. Because of all the time we spent traveling today, I didn’t have much time to look for my assigned taxon (amphibians), however one girl in the group found a toad that based on her size description sounds like it was a gulf coast toad. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for amphibian hunting…