Walk with Joe
A few weeks ago, we had the chance to walk with forest ecologist Joe Wright up to the 50 hectare plot on BCI. He is a veritable encyclopedia of plant taxonomy and BCI history. Fascinating stories there and back. His dossier is as wide as it is deep, but he started by studying birds. He […]
Forest view
Our videographer was the talented Ana Endara Mislov whose insight and craft were greatly appreciated.
Monkey bomb 1
This was the guy that opened his “flap door” just as we came underneath him. Luckily, the poop didn’t hit any human target.
Monkey bomb 2
As we stood talking about hunting impact, we got a story about two scientists standing in the forest talking and having one of these clunkers fly diagonally between them at high velocity. It had been chucked at them by a monkey. Howlers have been known to pull a jaguars tale…not always with the best result.
Negative density
We learned about how hunting has a negative impact on the diversity and health of the forest. The hunters take mostly frugivors (agouti, monkeys, etc.) and so there is less seed dispersal. So, the baby trees try to grow up under the mother trees, but they don’t have defenses for the fungus and endophytes, etc. […]
57 Meters
Although Joe spoke the latin name and sometimes even the common name of the plant or tree he was pointing out, I don’t recall the name of this tree. He tells us it is one of the tallest trees on the island: 57 meters tall. Incredible. Also, the fact that in the rainforest, between 1-2% […]
Clicker beetle
Two glowing green dots in the forest at night can look like someone planted a surveillance device, or… it’s a clicker beetle. The green glowing dots come on and off like lightning bugs whenever they are threatened…but the cool part is the sound they make. It’s the same as the metal bug toys that click […]