Mayan artifacts | BIOS 319: Tropical Field Biology

Hi Blog!

Today was Day 2 of Belize. Our morning started at 6:30 AM for breakfast, then we left around 7:30 AM from Crystal Eco Lodge. It was such a cozy and pretty place to stay at, and I hope I can return and stay for a longer duration in the future. Our bus rides were filled with unexpected surprises!

First, on our way to Caracol, we saw not only saw a dead green snake on the side of the road but a cashew nut tree. Before this, I did not know that cashew nuts had fruits attached to them, and that the skin of the fruit contained the same chemical as a poison ivy.

Then, on our way from Caracol to Las Cuevas Research Station, we saw first a Toucan, then once we looked closer, we also saw several Black Howler Monkeys on the trees! There were like 4~5 howler monkeys resting on different branches of the same tree, with even a baby monkey that was hanging off the branch with its tail! It was really cool to see the prehensile tails of these howler monkeys in action! While the baby was playfully hanging off the branch, the other howler monkeys looked like they were enjoying a peaceful nap, as they were draped over the branches and were still for the most part.

This was especially exciting, since my taxon of primary focus is rainforest mammals, and I had read up all about them! They, like their name, howl to communicate. And their howling abilities are due to the hollow bone in their neck that allows them to produce physical howling sounds!

Our actual Caracol tour was amazing as well. It was so eye opening to see the remnants of the Maya civilization, such as their dwelling and temples. Climibing the many flights of stairs to reach the top of the temple was pretty exhausting, but the view was so worth it at the end! We saw a baby fox in the bricks of the temple, and witnessed it proudly carrying a leaf back to its den. Also, we saw Montezuma Oropendola — the dark colored bird with a bright yellow tail. It was really intriguing to see that their nests were shaped liked baskets hanging from a tree — and there were so many of the nests nearby (in the same tree) to each other.

Tomorrow, we are going to have our first “big project” which I am intrigued to learn about in the morning.

Hi everyone! First things first, today was a great day for beetle spotting! We went on a small hike before lunch down the Monkey Tail Trail and found some great beetles. The first was a patent leather beetle (of the species Odontotaenius disjunctus) of about 3.5 cm long among the leaf litter, the second was a small chestnut brown colored scarab beetle (identified by its segmented antennae and fairly round body among other things) of the family Scarabaeidae. We also found a 3 cm long grub of a beetle on a log on the side of the Monkey Tail Trail and an empty black elytra abandoned in the middle of the trail. The elytra was a little difficult to identify, but it was about 3.5 cm long, had one flat edge and gently curved to the middle. Perhaps it could have come from something similar to a flower beetle or another firefly (family Lampyridae).

DSCN0766 — A scarab beetle, family Scarabaeidae

On our second trek along the Maya trail we also found a black beetle with reddish spots on its elytra about 1 cm that could possibly be of the genus Mycetina. Last, but definitely not least, I just identified another black ground beetle that appeared to be of the same species as yesterday’s (family Carabidae) crawling along the floor below my chair.

A look back at the cave entrance before we ventured further into the dark zones — A look back at the cave entrance before we ventured further into the twilight and dark zones

Other exciting things we did today was explore the Las Cuevas Cave. We went down into the different zones of the cave (entrance zone, twilight zone, and dark zone) and explored the creatures and geological structures of the cave. Some interesting things we observed there were a peccary skeleton, some wrinkle-nosed bats, and pieces of ancient Mayan pottery. Afterward we set up some pitfall traps of urine and water along the Maya trail to investigate if canopy dwelling species (particularly arthropods) were more limited to nitrogen than forest floor dwelling species and looked at what might have been some Mayan plazas. We then climbed to the top of what appears to be a hill but is suspected to be an ancient Mayan ceremonial temple. That’s all for now everybody! Thanks for reading! 🙂

BIOS 319: Tropical Field Biology

Tag Archives: Mayan artifacts

Day 2: Caracol & Las Cuevas

Beetles, Beetles Everywhere + Pitfall Traps + Cave Explorations

Rice University