Two Nights Under the Guava Tree

[Our internet access has been very limited since we've minimized expenses, so here are updates from the past few months]

Update: March 10, 2021

There have been some busy nights under our guava tree at the lodge of the Tapiche Jungle Reserve. In only two nights of placing an infrared camera trap under the guava tree at the back of the lodge, we got nearly 100 recordings of animals passing through and feeding under the tree. Appearances are made by several big terrestrial mammals including Pacas (Agouti paca), a Nine-banded Long-nosed Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) and even the biggest rodent in the world, the Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris).

The water level at the Tapiche Reserve is high at the moment and most of the forest at the reserve is flooded. This means there is very little land left for terrestrial animals to forage on, which leads to a higher density of land animals on the higher ground areas during flood season.

Placing camera traps around the reserve allows us to get a good look at animals that are usually hard to observe closely. One reason for this is that some of these animals like the armadillo or the paca are nocturnal, but mostly because these terrestrial animals have been and are still heavily hunted in our region. The excessive hunting for the meat of these animals can lead to adaptive behaviour changes like naturally diurnal animals becoming mostly nocturnal, as capybaras sometimes do.

Outside of the protected area of the reserve, these bigger terrestrial animals are almost never to be seen anymore. It really encourages us that inside of the reserve which we work so hard to protect, we are able to see these animals and they even come close to the lodge. It is especially rewarding to see bigger as well as smaller Pacas, meaning they are reproducing inside the reserve in their natural habitat.