Tag Archives: leafcutter

The Reptiles of Belize Zoo (Day 8)

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!

Day 4: Ant behavior and interactions

Today we looked at two species of ants, Azteca ants and leafcutter ants. Azteca ants are a genus of ants that have a symbiosis with Cecropia trees. The ants provide protection from herbivores and competitors for the trees, and the trees provide shelter and nutrition for the ants. We wanted to look at how the trees are able to thrive when they are juveniles and before an ant queen has colonized the tree. To do this, we split into groups and designed hypotheses for how the trees adapted. My group looked into whether juvenile Cecropia trees mimicked other plant species or characteristics through physical adaptations. Tomorrow each of the groups will summarize their data and come up with a conclusion. It will be interesting to see which of the groups has the most convincing argument.

DSCN1115
Silhouette of a Cecropia tree
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Close-up of palmate Cecropia leaves

During the second half of the day we examined the life cycle of a leafcutter ant nest. Queens can live more than 20 years, although workers usually do not live longer than a year. Some colonies can have around 5 million individuals. Additionally, a mature colony can be about equal to a cow, in both weight and volume of plant material processed in a year. While we’ve been at Las Cuevas, we’ve noticed a lot of leafcutter ant trails around the area. Today we learned that those trails are only made by colonies that have been established for around 10 years. Smaller nests aren’t able to create or maintain the trails.

Scott hard at work digging up an ant's nest
Scott hard at work digging up an ant’s nest
View into a fungal chanber
View into a fungal chamber. The ants collect leaves to feed the fungi that they farm

The most interesting tree that I observed today was a papaya tree. Originally we thought that the papaya tree was a Cecropia juvenile, but the details didn’t match. The tree had large palmate leaves, a very tall and skinny trunk, and smooth bark, which are characteristics similar to Cecropia. However, the leaves were more lobed than Cecropia leaves and the reproductive structure of the papaya was different. It would be interesting to know how related Cecropia and papaya are; the books that we have access to here didn’t have information on their relatedness. I also was able to identify a tree species that we saw at Caracol with green flowers. The tree was a Mosannona garwoodii. The flowers were very camouflaged and appeared slightly waxy. I haven’t seen the same tree yet here, but it could be around.

Palmate papaya leaves
Papaya leaves are similar to Cecropia leaves but more lobed
Mossanan
Mosannona garwoodii flower at Caracol

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to explore a cave in the region. I’m excited to see what life we’re able to find in the cave.