Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Grandes Cojones, Mono Pequeño

No wonder these guys howl alot when they have to carry around big balls like this all day. I imagine they bang against the branches fairly often - judging by the noise they make anyway.
There are Howlers monkeys all over Costa Rica, and their howling can be heard all over the place. You'd expect the animal to be at least asbig as a large bear. The first time I heard them was on the prison island - San Lucas, where many prisoners had died in awful circumstances. It was dusk and the place was pretty spooky anyway.

Weird Dogs

The dogs here in Costa Rica are distinctly weird. Hopefully it is pure schizophrenia rather than rabies, but they rapidly go from being super friendly to trying to chew you hand off. Even if they know you well. This one is Splatches the adopted dog of Fieldbase.
We have to be careful when sweeping as She's obviously been beaten in the past and runs away. She must have some Greyhound in her as we've clocked her doing 40kph. This makes it difficult to shake her off when going long distance on a rough road.

Monday, July 2, 2012

BIG Wildlife

This guy with the scary face is about 4 inches long...


I think it's a Grasshopper.

Even Trees Have Tatoos These Days

Raleigh Fieldbase is located on a Research farm owned by CATIE who are busy trying to find more productive coffee strains. They also have a botanical Gardens, and right there is this tree...