Why yes, it did thunder and lightning a bunch last night.
But no...
I didn't hear a darn thing!
Where would I be without my amazing wife? She thought to send earplugs in my care-package.
What a life-saver.
Brushing my teeth last night I was sure it would be another sleepless night. And then I was reminded of those cushioned angel-kisses called earplugs.
Ah... what a difference a good nights sleep can make!
Today was, mostly, rain-free. Meaning I wasn't stuck in front of the computer all day, and got some more field time in!
Before that though, maybe I should clarify something from yesterday. I realize now that throwing out some random p value and saying it was a good thing doesn't real mean diddly squat.
What I'm trying to show with this project is a relationship between niche (like forest floor, stream side, or in the trees) and what maximum temperature a lizard can handle. Regardless of the species or or how large these lizards are the most important thing that determines what their maximum temp is, is their niche.
Yesterdays stats showed that is indeed the case.
Doesn't matter what kind of lizard or what their size is. The most important aspect is what part of the environment they've carved out (evolutionarily) for themselves.
Pretty cool stuff.
But on to some purty pictures.
Today I figured I'd check out one of the 'swamps' on the map that has been dry most of our time here. With all the rain we've been having I figured something had to pool up there.
Bingo!
The swamp during the day isn't nearly as terrifying. Although there are still swamp monsters lurking about...
It sure thought it was a swamp monster with all the moving around it did in the water and tall grass. Despite my beliefs that a velociraptor was about to eat me, I was surprised to catch one of my snarling and ferocious study species!
Iguana iguana (Green Iguana) The juveniles are just too cute. Sorry godzilla, you're coming back to the lab with me for a little soak in the hot-tub!
Wandering around the swamp I learned a new and exciting lesson.
Thank you jungle, you're such a noble teacher sometimes.
Rule #12
DON'T F***ING TOUCH THESE!!!
I don't need to tell you how I learned this joyous lesson.
I don't think this photo does much justice to how bad these thorns feel. This was after I had run around screaming pulling as many as I could out on my own.
Pity was cast on me again though.
If I hadn't run around screaming I never would have found these
Theobroma cacao (Cocoa Tree) The actual fruit tastes more like a strawberry-banana treat. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed when I cut into these fruit and a fresh snickers didn't fall out, at least give me a kit kat. I must be thinking of a different variety or something.
All in all it was a pretty productive day. It's just nice to be back in the jungle again.
I even caught some more animals for my study
Corytophanes cristatus (Casque-headed Lizard) How did I get so lucky? All of my study species are just too adorable for words. I didn't even need to hold on to this little rascal, he just wanted to give me a finger hug the whole way back to the lab (I was more than willing to oblige).
One of my original hopes for this blog was to have a record of all the cool animals I see down here. That's still the case, but I was hoping to be able to identify all the animals in the photos I put up.
Screw that.
Some of these moths and spiders are way too cool to not post a picture of. I have no idea what they are, but they sure look cool.
This spider had an almost iridescent blue outline that I couldn't stop staring at... I think it wants to be a sea star when it grows up too.
Why this spider makes thicker 'spoke' webs, I'm not sure. The weird colors and spines on its abdomen were sign enough for me to stay the heck away.
There are only three days left of data collection and then we're cut off!
It's really crunch time, but at the same time I want to soak up every second I can in the jungle.
Back to it!
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