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Belize Day 6: Monkey Mayhem

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2:31 am

  • Lily: ZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzz
  • Howler monkey: HUWAOOOO (the phonetic spelling of howler monkey calls)
  • Lily: *wakes up halfway*

3:48 am

  • Lily: zzzzzzzzzzzz
  • Howler money: HUWAOOOO, HUWAOOOO, HUWAOOOO 
  • Lily: *puts pillow over head*

4:?? am

  • Howler monkey: HUWAOOOO
  • Lily: ……

IMG_0298 (Video of Howler Monkey Calls, taken by Sam – 05/21/25)

We’re in the howler monkey’s territory. In fact, an adorable family of howler monkeys roams these grounds. Last night, they claimed the tree next to our cabin for the night and made it known. When we woke up and saw the baby hanging by its tail in the tree, we forgave the family instantly for the few nighttime disturbances. We spent our pre-breakfast birding session watching the monkeys feast on some leaves instead.

We had an eventful day ahead – exploring caves, analyzing our pee traps, and hiking uphill to catch the sunset. After breakfast, we took a quick stroll to the cave across from our cabin (we’re living on top of a cave network), filled with cultural remnants and cool geological formations. As we ventured in, the bright, green, warmth of the rainforest quickly changed to damp, cool, stillness, with dripping water and flitters of bats from above. The landscape in front of us looked like an alien planet. The cave floor was filled with muddy grooves and slimy, translucent, blob-shaped masses (stalactites). They’re so blobby they almost look like they’re a living creature. The ceiling, on the other hand, had bell-shaped holes and icicle-shaped masses (stalagmites). Stalactites and stalagmites form when acidic water from the ground above dissolves the limestone of the walls and deposits the calcium carbonate precipitate (https://sciencenotes.org/stalagmites-and-stalactites-how-they-form-and-more/). Although we couldn’t venture far (access was restricted by the research station to protect the cultural ruins within), it was incredible to see a new pocket of the world and the nature within.

Nice reflection of stalactites in very quiet water in a cave. Luray Caverns in Virginia

(Stalagmites and Stalactites – livescience.com) 

Post-class group pic in our caving helmets, we geared up for the rainforest right above. The most important piece of gear we needed was tube caps. Today was the day we collected our pitfall (pee) traps, and we definitely preferred having lids on our vials filled with a mix of urine and insects. The retrieval process went fairly quickly, and we even saw an epiphyte arrowhead plant on the way back! Dr. Evans was able to identify it after I discussed it in my epiphyte taxonomy presentation the day before.

Upon reaching the lab, I realized my pee tube had been dripping. But the spill was totally worth it because the nitrogen in my pee (or its location) might have successfully attracted a blueberry-sized grasshopper into my tube. After compiling all class data, we found that the tubes buried on the forest floor had the greatest number of organisms and species, suggesting that there is a greater availability of nitrogen on the forest floor than on the canopy. This was a super cool mini-study (a pilot study) to better understand our test system and data trends to see if we want to continue the project on a greater scale.

Feeling proud of our project’s success, we regained the energy to hike up a steep, winding trail to the top of one of the rolling hills for a peaceful, glorious sunset. When we reached the hilltop panting, drenched in sweat, and chugging water, we breathed. The sun was just beginning to set, and rays were peeking in through the canopy. We climbed the ladder up the bird-watching tower, and once we reached the top, our view was rolling green hills as far as the eye could see. We took turns getting “golden hour” pics up on the deck and then took moments to breathe in the sounds and beauty of the jungle. I couldn’t think of a better bonding experience.

(Dr. Solomon Takes on Bird Tower – 05/21/25)

Hiking back in the dark, we were buzzing (like the insects) with excitement and eager to put our recently developed field biology skills into practice. We passed around cicada skins to wear as matching accessories, ate some carrot-flavored termites, tapped on trees to check for ant inhabitants, chased after neon-green glow-in-the-dark Click beetles, and even spotted upon the entrance to another cave system. The day unfolded like a nature-themed sandwich with caves at both ends and layers of discovery about organisms and their habitats in between.

Peace,

Lily 🙂

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Belize Day 3: Jungle Explorers or Fruit Ninjas?

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Now that we’re all situated in our jungle abode, we are really able to maximize the rainforest surrounding us to do field work. After a peaceful wake-up, sipping coffee and watching birds on our cabin porch (we saw scarlet macaws and yellow-bellied flycatchers!), we spent the first half of our morning cooking up a research project in the lab for our week at Las Cuevas Research Station. 

Dr. Solomon gave us these guidelines: We were given 14 motion-sensor cameras (one for each student) to place around the jungle to measure something. We decided to look at the impacts of human disturbance on biodiversity in the area, asking how the presence of man-made trails (hiking trails and roads) affects vertebrate diversity (mammals, birds, anything with a backbone). We would look at the number of species and the number of each individual within that species recorded by camera shots. 

(Motion Sensor Cam – 05/18/25)

 

In our comfortably shaded cabin, our class gathered together around a giant map and pointed to ideal camera locations, totally underestimating the amount of steps and sweat that would go into actually setting these cams up. We decided to pair each “human disturbed” camera location on the trail with another “undisturbed” camera off-trail nearby, keeping both cameras within the same general vicinity for consistency. So we had 7 different general locations to hike to in order to install our 14 cameras. With project methodology in our heads and recorded in our little field notebooks, we slid on our boots and set out for the trails.

While hiking to placement locations, we turned over quite a few logs to reveal pretty cool (and tasty) treats. Did you know that termites taste like carrots? Genuinely just like carrots; if you ever have an infestation, just cook them up for a little protein snack…that tastes like carrots. It’s because they contain some carotenoid compounds like carrots, giving them a sweet, earthy flavor. Ooh, also! I need to add a few more pages to my epiphyte identification card. Vascular epiphytes (the ones with stems) are estimated to make up to 25% of all vascular plants in tropical rainforests (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-017-3606-0_5), and we saw a few more epiphytes than the 20 listed on my sheet today. We spotted this tiny bromeliad I need to run through Inaturalist to identify. (Update: I think it’s a Tillandsia schiedeana). 

(Tiny Mystery Endophyte – 05/18/25)

(My Epiphyte ID Sheet – 05/17/2025)

 

We were out all day scouting for ideal camera placement locations. This involved cutting through vegetation off the main trails to put cameras in “undisturbed” areas, 50 paces into the forest from each trail camera location. We recorded GPS coordinates for all camera locations and marked them with neon yellow tape for easy retrieval. 

Because Dr. Solomon had a “professor-only” policy for using the machete, he was the only one slashing through the forest. By camera #11, we began to imagine Dr. Solomon as a video game character, from either a fruit-ninja/jungle-explorer game. We called out point values based on the satisfying-ness of his chops. A clean chop of a thick stem earned him 20 points, but a thin, easy chop would be something like +5. 

There was one site off the trail that had particularly dense, unpassable vegetation, and as soon as my friend Sahana saw the thick green barrier in front of us, she exclaimed, “Wow, it’s giving undistributed.” We laughed and cheered Dr. Solomon on by shouting out points as he cut through. 

This day was super tiring (we got our steps IN) but super funny. We found ways to joke about our work while stopping along the way to learn about species and their interactions. With a tan and new inside jokes, I feel content and excited to get back to the field tomorrow. 

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(Our Hikey Day – 05/18/25)

  • Lily 🙂
2022

Smile! You’re passing a camera trap :)

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Day 1 in the rainforest was fantastic! It started bright and early for some morning birdwatching, and I saw and heard so many of my taxa! I saw a lot of black vultures, which are large black birds that can be seen perched in groups in sparse trees. I saw a plumbeous kite, some oscillated turkeys, and some type of parrot. There are so many types of parrots that can be extremely difficult to tell apart, but I knew they were parrots because of their frantic style of flying. I also saw keel-billed toucans and collared aracaris! These are both large-billed birds that can be spotted gliding into tall trees. The most spectacular sighting of all was seeing scarlet macaws! There were two pairs of them in tall trees. I could tell that they were the Northern sub-species because they had a blue coloration on their wings, as well as yellow and the dominant red. These birds were breathtaking, and I am so happy to have gotten a picture!

We spent the rest of the day hiking to set up camera traps for an experiment pertaining to mammal functional groups and their abundance in certain areas of the forest (trails, roads, dense cover). We each had a camera trap to place, and it took the whole day to set them all up. During the setup for this experiment, I experienced so many things!

I held a butterfly net in my jungle outfit and felt like an Animal Crossing character!

I climbed up the bird observation tower! I didn’t see any birds clearly, but the view was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

I briefly went into a cave and saw Mayan pottery fragments and cave spiders!

I also ate termites (they tasted like carrots), saw a huge leaf cutter ant nest, and found red-eyed treefrog eggs!

Today was a long day, but it was packed with so many unbeatable moments and sights. I am excited to see what our cameras capture!

In the meantime, I can’t wait to go on more jungle adventures. However, I can’t say that I’m excited to put my rubber boots back on. Though my feet are in a state of achy torment, my thirst for exploration gives me plenty of inspiration to tough through the more difficult parts. What I do for science!

– McKenna