Amphibian Research Centre

In February, the arrival of our volunteers in the 500th taricaya and who made the special month for those of us who have been involved in the project since its inception. As the family taricaya continues to grow, I am still constantly amazed by the dedication and commitment of volunteers at the center where they create their own part of history taricaya. This month was no different than any other with more than enough work to keep us all busy and much more remains to be done!

Seasonal rains finally came to the vengeance of this month and the depressions around the reserve began to fill with water. It makes some areas of the reserve inaccessible to those who do not want to cross a swamp, but fortunately few volunteers and staff and sense of adventure as "swamp" clothes were separated for when soaking is unavoidable. One such occasion was the successful launch of our ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) with a radio collar. Although this particular cat is no threat to people, its presence in the dressing room should be avoided for the safety of other residents in the program of animal liberation. A PACA young baby spider monkey would make a tasty little snack for hungry ocelot and we hade to take her further into the reserve. With the clamp attached properly volunteers took turns to carry it through the marshes and out of EMTO colpa where we released margay (Leopardus wiedii) in 2005. This site is at the bottom of our reserves, but not near a border, so a safe place for the ocelot to establish its territory. It will not compete with margay as the ocelot is larger, primarily terrestrial and more active by day, while margay is nocturnal and prefers an arboreal lifestyle, as evidenced by our observation of it on the move covered last year. With the success we have now Ocelot out the task of monitoring progress in nature by means of radio-tracking. It will be very interesting to us because we have never actively followed published animals before and it will be great to get a glimpse of its natural history where it sets back in the wild.

There was also an accidental release of February as one of our blue and yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) made a bid for freedom, one morning that the cattle were fed. The escapee flew through the door because it was open and has joined forces with the scarlet macaw (Ara macao) released last month that the two around the lodge regularly. The blue and yellow macaw is much friendlier than its cousin red and returns to the food demand of hammocks. It would be easy to find the bird, but I think it is better to fly around the camp and to strengthen its flight muscles because there is another blue and yellow macaw approaching its release date. The blue and yellow macaws will almost certainly join when the other is finally strong enough and I hope to release the scarlet macaw others in the same time so that both species form pairs and start their new life in the reserve .

The rains also caused a significant increase in the activity of reptiles and amphibians in the reserve. Frogs and toads use the temporary water for breeding sites and their mating calls and displays inevitably attract predators such as snakes. The species list continues to grow as we encounter more wonderfully bizarre individuals. capture significant / comments in February include a new species of turtle (Chelonia), a rainbow boa treefrogs (Hyla sp.) and a dwarf caiman weird (Paleosuchus trigonatus). The dwarf caiman capture came during a hunt alligator on the river one evening after dinner. One of the interviews I give the center is the caiman and after the lecture I take volunteers on the river to catch a caiman and illustrate the points I described above before release into th.