Ware Guyana Trip 2011
Deadly Adventures in the Guyana Shield
Dominic here. I’m going to discuss our adventures over the last few days.
Since our trip to Santa mission the vertebrate diversity of Guyana has revealed itself to us. Two new species of monkey have been seen. The first, the Squirrel Monkey, we only saw briefly but their cuteness was obvious in our short meeting. The other is the Guianan Saki. If I were to anthropomorphize this species I would say they were stern and proud, but wary. Their bushy black bodies make them look beautiful and their white poofy faces give them their character.
In addition to the primate fauna we accidentally forced ourselves into a crash course on how to handle bats. Let’s just say that leaving a mist-net up over night is not a good idea. In the morning, Ian and I went to check on the net before their daily pitfall trap checking and saw three bats stuck in the netting. Unfortunately our mist net was especially fine threaded and this resulted in three bats that were in quite a pickle. We all felt guilty for putting the winged trio in danger and we were very determined on getting them out. After contemplating the relevance of our rabies shots, and mentally rehearsing our irrational fears we tried to get them out. Luckily, Manpreet turns out to be very skilled at untangling things and displays a good bit of dexterity with surgical tools. When the first one was cut free with all involved (including the bat) unharmed, a breath of hopeful air was exhaled from our lungs with the sound of a sigh. Ian, a faithful fan of Batman, was quite enthused at being able to handle a live bat. The second bat had another happy ending, despite being significantly more tangled. The third bat was the most tangled of all and happened to be a smaller species. Whether or not you know bats you might correctly guess which species this individual was. It was a vampire. By this point we were significantly more confident in our bat saving abilities but we were hurried by the bat who seemed to be weak from a night of struggling. It lost consciousness numerous times in the course of our efforts. In the end, we could not say that there were no casualties of our lack of mist-net-foresight. The third bat did not make it. However, in the near future someone will have the halloweenish present of an alcohol-preserved vampire bat.
As a climax to our tales of danger I have saved the best, and most recent, for last. It has been a nightly task of some of us, especially Ian, to inspect the spring ever since our first encounter with the Caimen. However, it wasn’t until last night that our efforts were fruitful. As Jessica led Ian and I out of the wooded trail, we were looking to get back to CEIBA. Along the way we were to pass the spring. As we approached we saw a glowing orange orb in the distance. You see, when you walk around at night with a headlamp on, orange orbs usually mean the glowing eyes of a night bird or a perched bat. However, this time it was our crocodilian adversary, the Caimen. We were all interesting in seeing the Caimen, but to Ian this was number two on the list of things to do. Since we have yet to see any signs of an Anaconda this ended up being number 1. It was my job to shine the light at it to keep it visible. Ian approached from behind. His plan was to pounce at it and grab it behind the head. His first strike was unfruitful. The water was to deep the the caimen retreated...BUT..it retreated into shallower water. We all circled around it, Ian perched himself on a conveniently placed log behind the reptile. Before he could do anything the Caimen took a defensive pose, it was not going to run anymore. Ian stood up with the toothed prey between his legs. The growl of the 3 foot long beast was intimidating, no doubt. At this point I thought that Ian was in a compromised position, the Caimen was facing him and he had nowhere to move. The reptile is definitely faster than any of us. After a few mental calculations I made the decision to strike. My gloved hand pounded down on its neck. It immediately twisted its body and bit my glove, luckily not my hand. Ian instinctively reacted to this interaction by grabbing its torso and tail and lifting it out of the water. I felt very prepared when I realized the rubber-band I keep around my wrist would be prefect for keeping its mouth shut. Jessica and the others were enthralled when we called everyone down to inspect our bounty. The reptile was thick skinned and its dwarfed stature was preceded by its intimidating demeanor and growl. It was truly an organism deserving of all of our respect. We felt guilty for disturbing the caimen and voted to return him to his home. If it could understand us, I think we would apologize for taking liberties with it for the sake of our own naive curiosity.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
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