6/30/2013

I knew I had a long day ahead of me.

I had no idea.

Getting into the lab, I quickly realized the task at hand was pretty daunting.

That's a lot of froggies to test. They're very active too, which means to be accurate, I can only test 3 or 4 at a time. More than that and they start to escape their chambers, or knock over the water tanks, or cause a general ruckus.

Don't get me wrong though.

These things are just about the cutest trouble makers I've ever run into.

Oh come on.

How am I supposed to get anything done with you looking so adorable?




Their main mode of defense is what we've come to call 'leaf mode'. It makes much more sense in the wild. When they've been spotted and you go to grab them, they shrink down, turn a different shade of green, and try to blend in with whatever leaf/surface they're on.

It doesn't work very well on wrist-watches.

Half the time they go into leaf-mode, the other half they seem too curious to put up any type of defense.

Oh, hey there little fella, where you headed?

He was very curious about the flashing box that gave him so much attention all day.

 I'm just glad these aren't my permanent study species.

I'd never get anything done.

I love a good looking rattlesnake, but they can't compete with these.





After working most of the day on getting the CTmax data for my frogs I was pretty pooped. I am 5/6 of the way through though; only 20 more critters to catch!

I spent the late afternoon working on the last logistics of my frog models. I'm hoping by tomorrow night I can put some out and start collecting some environmental data.

I was testing out some newer designs on the models in the jungle right outside the lab.

I was going out to collect them and harvest the data from the iButtons when I looked up and had to do a double take.

I really couldn't believe what I was looking at.

It was too big.

I had heard they lived here but never thought I'd see one.

Keep in mind that the largest snake I've ever caught is probably a tie between the bird-eating snake I caught the other day, and maybe a real big gopher snake I caught in Poly canyon one time.

They pale in comparison. 

Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) Admittedly I was pretty hesitant about catching this beauty. I've seen my friend/mentor Tony jump on snakes at the first sighting, seemingly without even looking to see what type it was... I am just not that type of herpetologist. As soon as I approached her she started to coil up, strike at my hand a few times and make a horrible hissing noise. It sounded like a diesel powered lawn sprinkler. I immediately started to question what I was trying to do.

Sometimes you just gotta go for it.


 They don't call them constrictors for nothing. She was nothing but muscle and tried her best to cut off circulation to my arm. A beautiful animal that is just full of power. I was pretty amped on adrenaline after I caught her. Luckily I was only ~ 30m from the lab. I ran over and yelled to everyone through the glass. It felt pretty bad ass, but at the same time I did not want to be at the business end of her. I held on to her neck for dear life.

She was no more than teeth, muscle, and a pretty bad attitude. They're always so timid in captivity. Let me tell you, they are not very calm when you pull them out of the jungle. She let me know the entire time I held her that she would have bit the hell out of me if I let her head slip.

She had an SVL of 2.14 meters (a little over 7 feet). You can see the girth of her too. This is average size, some have been found that are 5-6 meters... I can safely say there is no way in hell I would try to catch one of those monsters. I think I'll be happy if this is the largest snake I ever catch in the wild. I don't know if I have the constitution to catch anything bigger.

Whew!

Sorry to go on for so long about that. Obviously I was/am pretty darn excited.

Definitely the highlight of my day.

Later in the night I did see one more cool critter.

Fulgora laternaria (Machaca) This is the weirdest bug I've ever seen. It looks like a moth but it's actually in Hemiptera,  like cicadas or aphids. You can see where it's eyes and head are. I have no idea what the weird extension is though. It looks like a nose...I guess. There is an awesome urban legend that if you're bitten by one of these you have to have sex within 24-hours to not die a horrible death. Nice. I wonder if that's ever actually worked?

Not going to the swamp tonight, it's pouring again and I hear there have been a lot of tree falls in the jungle tonight.

When the bromelaids fill up with water it adds a lot of weight on the tree and the jungle can get pretty dangerous when the big ones fall.

I could use a night off anyway.

6/29/2013


 I got four new froggies last night. I'm up to to 86/120 now. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

One of my little babies had something pretty interesting to share with me too...

See those lines on it's back?

Those are caused by one of my favorite creatures...










PARASITES!!!

They're some kind of subcutaneous nematode. I did a pretty thorough literature search and couldn't find anything specifically. I'm going to see if we have anything to anesthatize the frogs so I can try and extract them.

Pretty cool.

When I first saw them, I thought it was just some kind of skin growth.

Then I touched it with a glass rod.

And it moved!

They're like something from a horror movie. "It came from the deep...to live in your skin!" waaaaah!


Other than that it was returning lizards a frogs back to their homes in the morning and running experiments in the early afternoon.

Even on their backs these frogs are just too cute to handle.

I ended up loosing my footing when I was out in the morning returning some of my lizards from yesterday. Why is it so much fun to get stinky and dirty?

 At about 3pm it started raining... and it didn't stop for the next 16 hours!

Of course, that didn't stop us from seeing some cool animals.

Every time I feel like the day isn't going as planned, I run into rule #1...monkeys!

And of course, we all remember what type of day you'll have after seeing a monkey.

It hadn't rained in a couple of days, so we figured we'd head out to one of the drier swamps to looks for frogs.

On our way we saw this little bad boy. I have no idea what kind of scorpion this is. I was not about to mess with it though. I've come to quickly realize that pretty much everything in the jungle (choose your own adventure: wants to/can/will) hurt you.

Many jungle frogs, especially my study species the red-eyed tree frog, are 'explosive breeders'. That means that when conditions are right (like the first good rain after a dry spell), they all come out at once to breed.

The red-eyed tree frogs lay their eggs on the underside of leaves, often times before there is even water on the ground. That way, when the water accumulates and the tadpoles hatch, they fall into the water and can begin their little frog lives.

I was told not to worry about catching them.

 "When they're out, they'll be more than you can grab."

Always a skeptic, I still had my disbelief's.

After a ~2.5 mile bike ride in the rain, I was pretty wet and miserable.

 We wanted to try out a new swamp we'd heard about.

After 15 minutes of searching I was getting over it. Then we spotted our first frog of the night.

"Oh, oh, get a picture of me catching it so I can show everyone how cool it is here."

 

I was pretty excited.

Where there's one, there's normally more.

After an hour though...







We caught 21!

The only thing that kept me from grabbing more was lack of bags. We already doubled up on all the ziplocs we brought.

In hindsight, it's a good thing we only grabbed the number we did.

 I have to remember how much work I'm goign to have to do tomorrow.

Oh boy.

It might be a long one...

 6/28/2013

It's confession time.


I should first say that I'm unbelievable grateful to be here, I couldn't ask for a more beautiful environment to work in.

That being said...

I want more.

I'm getting bored with the limits of my project and I spent a good portion of my day doing research into some relatively low-tech/low-cost methods of expanding into some immunology work.

I know what you're thinking, because Steven is probably thinking the same thing.

"What is wrong with you? Calm down and focus on what you set out to do."

I've collected, sampled and experimented on 82/120 animals already and I know I'll be done by this Monday.

Why not try diving into something I've never done!?

 I want a real challenge.

I want to try something I've never done before.

Okay, no more rant, I promise... for now.




Rule 1- You and I can no longer have a bad day. Monkey's, especially cute little baby monkey's clinging to their mothers back, will not allow a bad day!

On my way to the swamp to release some of my lizards I leaned up against a tree to catch my breath and drink some water. It's amazing how much life there is in the jungle.

That being said...

Always look where you put your hand in the jungle!!!

 I don't even know what type of insect this thing was. In this photo it looks like a moth, but up close it had a weird rhino horn on its head and a huge stinger on its backside.

 You can bet I got out of there quick.



I finally remembered to take a photo of the swamp in the daytime. It really is an inviting place. I feel like walking around this place in the dark with an oil-lantern attached to a shovel while wearing overalls. I think I was a prospector in another life.

I ran into this preying mantis which looked amazing but did not enjoy anything getting close. Mean little thing. 

And then, the Pièce de résistance of my day.

Pseustes poecilonotus (Tropical Bird-eating Snake) I was so excited to hold this beauty, I picked him real quick. It wasn't until I looked at the photo that I realized what a massive head he had. I am sure glad he didn't get nippy. It might be hard to tell from the photo, but the total length of this beastie had to be close to 2m. Little is known about these snakes, so some fellow researchers attached a radio-transmitter to it and they're going to track it for a few weeks to figure out what they do all day. Pretty cool stuff.

Tomorrow, Steven comes back to the station.

I hope he's ready for barrage of questions.

It's time to crank it up a notch.





Oh, and I almost forgot.

Funny story.

Sort of.

I learned another rule of the jungle this morning/last night.

Rule #4 - In a jungle full of researchers, you never know who is watching.

I'm not sure who should be more embarrassed.

But let me start from the beginning...

After learning a previous jungle lesson (mosquitoes will bite any exposed skin) I figured out a way to go pee in the jungle without having bites in unfortunate places. Without being too crude let's just say they don't bite what's always moving, so as long as there is movement, sensitive skin is bite free.

Now, onto the morning.

I had a grad student who is doing research on bats come up to me at breakfast. "Yes, um hello. I was wondering if next time you're near the SM swamp, [this is the swamp I go to every night] you keep your voice down and don't use flashlights, I have cameras up there monitoring bat behavior". At this point I didn't think anything of it.

Then her face got a little red...

"And also, please don't use the bathroom near my experiments."

Uh oh.

 Oh no!

The reality of the situation quickly sunk in.

I could only imagine what kind of pervert this lady thought I was! Here I was, pissing all over her experiment plot. And what's worse, it probably looked like I was shaking it for the camera, just to be extra lewd...

Like I said, I don't know who should be more embarrassed. 

Next step, get my hands on that footage and make sure it never sees the light of day again!
 

6/27/2013

At the suggestion of my marvelous wife I took it pretty easy today. Caught  11 lizards this morning.

I'm up to 70/120 study specimens!

One of the males I scooped up this morning was doing a mating display (I have no idea when their season is). I couldn't get a picture in the wild, but this one does justice to the purty colors.

My papa voiced some concern that he couldn't see the snake I was so excited about yesterday.

And my wife wondered if I was messing with people and there wasn't even a snake in the photo.

It really is a testament to how cryptic they are.

I've only seen one since we've been here. That doesn't mean I haven't been within a few feet of quite a few more. 

Here's the original photo

Even if you click on the photo to blow it up it's still hard to see...

Beautiful animals.

I stopped working today at 2 to get some rest. I don't think I'll go into the jungle tonight. Everything is going ahead of schedule so far. No point in burning out now.

Everyone needs a good nights rest eventually.

 6/26/2013

I can break down my day for you pretty easily.

It was humid as all hell and I sweat profusely...

In all seriousness, it was pretty ridiculous today. We had a huge storm yesterday, and skies were blue with a lot of sun today. Soaked ground + high heat = crazy humid!

I tried my best to catch lizards today, I need 60 total, and I have about 15.

They're much harder to catch than the frogs.

This may take some time.

Let's be real, if I were you the only reason I'd be reading this is for the animal pictures.

So...

The real stuff comes out at night, which is quickly turning into my favorite time in the jungle...


 I wish I had a better picture. I guess this is a pretty accurate representation of how far you can see in the swamp though. Since the storm, the water is around waste deep in the middle. It can be pretty spooky when you feel something on your leg and there's no way of finding out what it is.

 Lepidophyma reticulatum (Tropical Night Lizard) These ladies bite. And hard. The reason I knew it was a female is they all are. It's a species of lizards that are parthenogenic, meaning there are only females (esp. at La Selva) and they lay eggs that are mini clones of themselves.

Another giant black wood turtle. This one was even bigger than last nights. We measured its shell because I was sure it was a record holder...The biggest caught at La Selva was almost twice as large though...holy cow! (btw, how miserable do I look in this photo?)

Let's be honest, I have no idea the names of most of these frogs, I have to look them up. I have no idea what these are and I can't find a picture to match them. They're cute, I like them, enjoy.

Ditto previous comment.

Finally.

I dreamed this day would come.

One of the snakes I've been waiting to see this entire trip.

A fierce predator that strikes fear into even the most hardened jungle enthusiast.

This snake has a world famous reputation for being one of the baddest mo-fo's in the jungle

 It's been on my bucket list for a long time. It's Spanish name is Terciopelo, which I think means velvet skin. This first picture is a good example of a caudal lure, which is the name for that splotch of coloration on the end of the tail. This yellow tip is waved around to lure in prey like lizards, birds or mammals.

Bothrops asper (Fer-de-Lance) I was so excited to see one of these. I can't believe it's taken so long. I have nothing but respect for these beautiful creatures. This is one of the deadliest and most aggressive snakes in Costa Rica. They get a bad reputation though, because they're generally only aggressive when molested. I'm almost speechless...almost. Simply amazing! They get a hell-of-a-lot bigger too. I can't wait to see more...

Carollia sp.(Leaf-nosed Bat) On our way back from the swamp I dropped in on the bat crew and watched as they cleared the mist-nests. I'm not a big mammal guy, but damn these things are cute. They even caught a vampire bat. Something was terribly wrong with it though, it didn't even come close to resembling Edward. Clearly not up on its own culture. Pull it together bat.

This face will warm the coldest of hearts...'Oh, well hello there little fella.'

Ninia sebae (Red Coffee Snake) Just before bed I was happy to stumble across this guy. Not the best picture, but I wasn't sure if it was venomous or not (I found out later they're not)

I'm starting to hit my energy wall, I think tomorrow I'll start looking at some of my data and maybe take it easy for a while. I deserve a small break.

 6/25/2013

More work work work today.

For about half a second each day I think of how hot it is, how I'm constantly sweaty, it never stops raining, mosquitoes are everywhere, I haven't had a good nights sleep since I got here, my feet are sore, stupid birds ate one of my ibuttons, no hot water for showers, I miss my wife and family dearly...

All I have to do is take a look around though.

I mean, come on. How awesome is this place?

I feel like 'david after dentist'.

 "Is this real life?"

Dirty, stinky, sweaty and sore = one of the best experiences of my life!

At this point I think I'm harder pressed to find a spot of skin that isn't covered by scratches/blisters/mosquito bites.

It's still pretty darn hard to complain.

Did I mention I caught a f*cking Caiman!

The lab portion of my project is going well. I have 59/120 collected, sampled, measured and released.

We did have one fatality though...RIP frogrickson


I have to admit it's really hard to get any work done with some of these species.

 How am I supposed to get any work done when these animals are so darn cute?

I could either: A) stick this guy in a chamber and raise the temp and then blah blah blah

or

B) Let him jump all over me and take the world's most adorable photos

 I think I made the right choice.

It rained for 95% of the daylight hours today, so why not have some fun and take silly pictures?

I even found a cool new froggie right near the lab!

Smilisca baudinii (Mexican Treefrog) It's amazing how cryptic this thing was. It looks just like another frog, the masked treefrog. Oddly enough the characteristic that narrowed this down to species was "...web-like reticulum of thin gray markings around the groin"... Umm, are they talking about its darkstar?

 After a long days work and a hearty meal of

you guessed it

rice and beans.

It was time to go back into the swamp.

Yesss.

Step 1: Release the lizards and frogs I had caught from the night before

I bet you'll never find the fifth lizard in this photo.

That was mean.

There are only four.

Step 2:

Super Turtle!

Another white-lipped mud turtle. But this one had some meat on its bones.


After some unnecessary fooling around it was time to release my beautiful and amazingly photogenic red-eyed tree frogs.

Keep in mind when I found them they were basically glued together.

So I decided it would be best to transport them in the same bag and store them that way over night.

It was weird that the next day they didn't seem to want anything to do with one another. In fact they stayed in opposite corners the entire time.

Later that night when I released them I figured out why.

What!? I leave you frogs alone for a few hours and this is what happens?

I just hope they used protection.



It's pretty awesome that they dind't want anything to do with one another the next day.

Typical. 

 After only catching one new lizard in an hour it was time to call it quits.

Luckily for me we found one more nugget of jungle awesomeness.

Imantodes inornatus (Yellow Blunt-headed Vinesnake) Such a cool snake! It's hard to tell from the photo but it had an SVL close to a meter (SVL is Snout-Vent Length, or the distance from its lip to its privates). It had this amazing ability to stretch out in any direction. For such a skinny snake it had so much muscle! These snakes are rear-fanged venomous. So the have little fangs at the back of their mouths that they use to eat frogs and their eggs. Pretty darn cool.

I'm quickly becoming addicted the swamps.

Night in the jungle is also becoming one of my favorites.

I think I like it here.

 6/24/2013


A lot of field work today. I am pooped!

I tried my best to take a 'selfie' to show people my work environment and how cool it is.

It didn't turn out as expected.

Not my best picture...

The look on my face plus the gallons of sweat dripping from my face really capture the moment though.

Filed work in the jungle is hot and sweaty. Not to mention stressful.

I feel like everything in the jungle is out to kill you.

Have a mentioned a million times that the bugs are HUGE!

Calynda bicuspis (Walking Stick) When I first felt this thing it scarred the crap out of me. I don't think they bite. But after a quick photo I didn't let it hang around long enough to find out.

Nephila clavipes (Golden-Orb Weaver) I already added a picture of one of these. This one will have a special place in my heart though... after I almost walked face first right into it!

 I was out collecting all morning. So far I have caught and tested 50/120 animals. I'm on track to finishing early and being able to add some more species to the study. I also think it would be cool to do some immunology stuff. We'll see if Steven approves...

Gonatodes alboqularis (Yellow-headed Gecko) This is a lizard that I'm thinking about adding to the list. It's awesome that they're called yellow-headed and this is the examples I keep finding over and over. Maybe I'm color blind.

After dinner it was time to pay the piper. I needed to collect more red-eyed tree frogs.

 I needed to go out into the jungle.

At night.

But I wasn't about to go alone again! Luckily a fellow REU student Mitch needed to go out too. So we headed out together.

We weren't just headed to any part of the jungle though. It was time for my first adventure into the swamp!

Uh oh.

Here's a sign that will give a good indicator of what kind of nervous I was full of as we wandered off trail into the darkness.

The swamp was creepy, although I have to say, a little less so than the jungle.

When you're off trail at night in the jungle you really can't see more than 10 or 15 feet max in front of you. There is nothing but thick bushes and palms in every direction. Walking in the swamp you can at least see a little better.

It felt like the mellow intro part of the pirates of the caribbean, when you first get on the ride and pass by a little wooden shack. The water was knee/thigh high in the deepest spots.

I'd say the swamp was about the size of three or four football fields. It was long and relatively narrow, in the shape of an L. I don't want you to get the impression that I know my way around that place. I think I wasn't as scared this time because I was with someone else.

By myself there is no way in hell I would have gone in there by myself.

Not after the crocodile sign!

Luckily I was distracted by some of the cool animals we started to see.

Manitidae species- I'm not even going to try and identify this thing. I keep forgetting to throw a hand or my watch into pictures for scale. She was big. And she didn't look happy to have us photographing her.

Kinosternon leucostomum (White-Lipped Mud Turtle) I tried (for about 5 minutes) to not walk into the deeper parts of water and keep my feet dry with the boots above the water line...What? I could have dry feet or catch a turtle in a jungle swamp...Clearly I made the right choice

Glass Caterpillar (?) - That's what I've heard these things are called. I hear if you touch them those little hairs will get lodged in your skin and cause sever irritation that can last for week...no thanks.

Not a critter, but still pretty.

 Norops capito (Pug-nosed Anole) This is another lizard I might want to work with for my study. However I've only seen 2 so far. Pretty darn cute.

So after walking through the swamp for a about an hour. I was pretty distracted.

I was excited too, because we had seen so much cool stuff. Not to mention there were tadpoles everywhere! I was really looking for those red-eyed tree frogs. Still not a one though...

A good way to go herping at night in the swamp seems to be with a powerful flashlight and looking for eyeshine. About 10m from where I was standing I saw a pretty good set. I was sure it was a big frog, and hopefully my study species!

Keep in mind the sign we saw earlier.

Because I had completely forgotten about it.

What else cold that eyeshine be?

I was perfectly safe and clearly there was nothing in this creepy, dark, stinky jungle swamp that would or could hurt me.

Caiman crocodilus (Spectacled Caiman) Admittedly it looked A LOT BIGGER in the moment. I was scared shitless staring down at this thing in the water. "Okay, George, are you really going to grab this thing? You promised Kelly you'd be safe!. How big is this really? Do you think it will bite?" (pretty much my thought process exactly) Eventually I figured 'you only live once' and reached down and grabbed the little bugger. It was surprisingly soft and gentle. Clearly you can see from the look on my face that I was ecstatic. You have to understand, as a kid I could only ever dream of jumping into a murky swamp, and hand grabbing a caiman...I was pretty darn excited to say the least.

 My night...no, my trip, is pretty much golden after this point. I'll be living off that high for a looong time. I had almost completely forgotten why I was out in the damn swamp anyway. As far as I was concerned I went out there to grab a caiman. Boom, done.

Walking out of the swamp I felt a 'thud' on my backpack.

I was pretty sure it was the giant spider from arachnophobia and that my punishment for grabbing the caiman was a swift death by spider.

To my surprise...


Agalychnis callidryas (Red-eyed Tree Frog) My third species of frog is very generous. They were kind enough to find me. They must have jumped out of a tree or something and just landed on my backpack. What are the chances? I'm pretty pumped, 2 down, 18 more to go

Tonight I'm going to have to return to the swamp to return my animals and hopefully look for more.

I hope I don't have to go alone.

If that's the case I might b releasing those frogs a little premature.

We'll see how the nigh goes.