Today was such an exciting day because I found and caught my first basilisk lizard!!! As I mentioned in my previous blog, basilisk lizards are nicknamed the Jesus Christ lizard because they can run on water. I have been wanting to see one all trip (it’s my favorite reptile), and while the one Dr. Solomon caught on day 6 was so cool, I did not get to see it in it thriving outside on its own. This one however I did see, and I caught it! 

(baby striped basilisk)

When I first saw this lizard I thought it was anole because it was about 4 inches long and brown, but I quickly realized it was the wrong shape. It had long hind toes and a crazy long tail compared to its body size. After picking it up and getting a closer look at it, I became confident it was a young basilisk lizard. Despite it having a vastly different coloration and size from the one Dr. Solomon caught and brought us yesterday, I was able to see the morphological similarities. I looked up specific basilisk species and identified it as a striped basilisk lizard. (I named it Tom in honor of Harry Potter if you know you know)

(Me and my lizard)

(Tom)

Today we also analyzed our camera trap footage, and we saw THREE pumas. The pumas (or singular puma since they are territorial) all took the trails as opposed to off the trail where our camera traps were. The excitement in the room when we sifted through the pictures and all of a sudden a puma was on the screen was infectious. 

(Puma!)

My camera trap was off the trail and it took 4 total pictures (the second lowest count of anyone; some ppl had upwards of 100 pics). I assumed it would all be pictures of me putting up and taking down the camera, and three of them were. However, one picture was not! My camera trap got a picture of a tayra! They are medium sized, weasel like mammals.

Overall day 7 was such an exciting day, and while I am so sad to be leaving Las Cuevas tomorrow, I can’t wait to be on the reef shortly!

Claire C