This morning, we got up early for a final hike before our 7 AM departure. At 7:30, the bus still hadn’t arrived. We called to discover that the bus hadn’t left yet, and was 4 hours away. We were scheduled to tour the ATM cave in the morning, but by the time we arrived we had missed our spot and wouldn’t have made it out of the cave until 7. To make matters more exciting, our bus driver decided that he was dropping us off with all our bags at the cave, and wouldn’t drive us all the way to our hotel as we had originally thought. We got a new bus driver, and stopped at a souvenir shop and ate lunch at a restaurant. I tried tamarind juice for the first time and it was delicious!

Then, we drove to the Belize Zoo. We went on a night tour of the zoo, which was amazing. All of their animals are native to Belize, either rescues or animals in rehabilitation. We got to see jaguars, ocelots, pumas, and margays that we’ve been living with all week in the forest, but never actually seen. We got to feed a tapir named Indie, who was confiscated as a baby from the pet trade. We also saw an adorable pair of pacas, which are large rodents with similar size and coloration to baby tapirs. Pacas are hunted for their skin and meat, and hunters often accidentally shoot baby tapirs while hunting pacas.

We didn’t do much hiking today, and I didn’t see any termites. Tomorrow I’ll be giving termites a rest and searching for red algae!

Today we collected the camera traps that we set out on the first day. It took us 10 hours to set out the traps the first time, but today we were done by 3 while taking a substantial lunch break. It’s amazing what a week in the jungle will do.

I didn’t see any new termite nests today, as we were walking a path we had travelled several times and didn’t stop much to poke around. We did, however, see some amazing species on the camera traps!

The first photo we looked at contained a bird, but most of the following pictures only captured leaves moving and people walking by. After sifting through hundreds of photos from 11 traps, we had seen 2 birds and a tapir. The tapir was awesome, but I think we had all been hoping to see more than 3 species. We weren’t expecting much from the 12^th trap, which we had accidentally set up on top of a massive leaf cutter ant nest. To our surprise, this trap caught an agouti and an ocelot!! Those last photos definitely made the 26 miles of hiking worthwhile. We’ve heard about all of the species in the Chiquibul, but it was so incredible to see these species (almost) in person, and know that they crossed the same path that we did sometimes only an hour before.

Tomorrow morning, we will leave Las Cuevas. I’m covered in heat rash and I’ve been perpetually sleep deprived, but I feel so complete when I’m here. I have loved waking up to the sound of the howlers and being surrounded by the buzz of the jungle. I’m going to miss this place, but I know many amazing adventures await us on the reef!

This morning, we went on another hike in search of howler monkeys.  We didn’t see any howlers, but instead we happened across a group of spider monkeys and coatis!  The coatis were much higher in the trees than I was expecting them to be, and they were jumping from tree to tree and crashing through the canopy.  Also, I saw my first termite today!  Stephanie brought me a box full from a hike yesterday.  They had black, spherical heads and appeared to be Constrictotermes cavifrons.

After breakfast, we finished up our project from yesterday and presented our results.  We spent the rest of the day listening to presentations and taxon briefings.  After dinner, we talked with a woman in grad school who has spent the year doing research at Las Cuevas.  She had some incredible stories and I would love to be in her shoes someday.

Next, we went on a night hike.  We found some termites (possibly Heterotermes tenius) in a decomposing log.  We also saw a spider several inches tall, and a stick bug the length of my forearm.  On our way back, we saw a coral snake! Tomorrow, we will head back out on the 13-mile trek to collect our camera traps.  This place is already starting to feel like home, and I’m disappointed we’re leaving so soon.

This morning, we explored the symbiosis between Cecropia trees and Azteca ants.  These species have a mutualistic relationship where the ants defend the trees from herbivores, and the trees provide a home for the ants.  However, it takes some time for the ants to colonize the trees.  We set out to study how young trees defend themselves against herbivores before colonization by Azteca ants.  We tested the hypothesis that young Cecropia trees use chemical defenses, such as pheromones or toxins, to prevent herbivory.  To do this, we gathered leaves from mature and juvenile trees.  We put a leaf fragment from both ages into containers that each contained a generalist herbivore (grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, etc).  Tomorrow, we will measure the mass change of each leaf to see if herbivorous insects determine if they prefer a certain age of leaf without the ants to deter them.  As we were looking for Cecropia trees, we found a termite foraging trail winding up the underside the branches of a tree.  They were relatively far away, and we weren’t able to identify them.

Next, we explored leafcutter ant colonies.  I was amazed to discover that leafcutter ants have domesticated their own fungus, and the ants in a mature colony weigh as much and eat as much as an adult cow.  The first colony we excavated was about a year old.    It had a single volcano shaped entrance.  The second colony was approximately 5 years old, and had 3 broad, mound shaped entrances.  In addition, it had larger majors that helped defend the colony.  Finally, we excavated a mature colony over 10 years old.  It was very large, and the ants had cleared an area approximately 20 m by 20 m in the forest.  This colony may have had millions of ants, including soldiers with very large mandibles.

As we were heading back, Lucrecia and I stopped to listen to the howler monkeys.  We didn’t see any, but it was incredible to know they were so close, hiding amongst the trees. When you stop and listen, the jungle comes to life around you, and the variety of calls you can hear is astounding.  It is such a magical experience to share this space with so many species I never would have dreamed of encountering.

*We dug down until we could just barely see the fungus chambers. The ants will quickly repair this damage.  No queens were harmed in the making of this course.