BLOG - July 7, 2006

This morning began earlier than usual with a 5:30 a.m. walk out to a nearby tower. Armed with bug repellent and headlamps the Yorkies and some friends braved the early hour and headed out through the cattle pasture and along a baia. On the way to the tower, a certain Jeff O' the Jungle chose to impersonate a jaguar jumping out of the woods. He unfortunately forgot to inform Haley, Kortnee, and Andrew that he was making such an impersonation. After a few screams from those caught off guard, (and giggles from the rest) our walk continued. Once we got to the tower we were a little uncertain if all fourteen of us could go up the metal tower without it bending or collapsing. Either of those events would certainly put a damper on the trip. We decided to go for it, and up we went over the tops of the tallest trees. Although it was a little wobbly, we all made it and watched in awe as a magnificent sunrise spread across the horizon. We took many pictures, some of the sun, some of the sleepy-eyed onlookers while a chorus of exotic birds serenaded us. The sunrise was terrific; we even spotted a monkey and some camens out for an early morning hunt. We headed back just in time for breakfast and to prepare for our 4th day as assistant scientists.
Luke, Kiegan, Kortnee, and Jeff went on the herpetology project. In the morning they checked the six traps finding frogs, lizards, and the usual bugs that end up in the traps. A special catch was a possum that ended up in the trap. Much like the armadillo the day before, it was picked up for a few pictures and then released. The afternoon was filled with lab work. The creatures were weighed and measured. Quite often, lizards are collected that have lost their tales and students are learning the trick to measuring those.
Haley and Anna got to take their first stab at the peccary project, while Andrew returned to the project for the third time. The day began with a visit to the traps baited a day earlier to see if any peccaries had been caught. Up to this point the traps have been disappointedly empty (this is not an especially patient group, as our parents will attest!). Upon arriving at the second trap, it was apparent from the racket that this peccary-less spell had been broken. In the trap held four peccaries- two adults and two babies. After being lassoed and anesthetized (very cool), the animals were weighed, measured, and had a chip implanted into them in case they are caught again. It was very exciting for the group to finally have caught peccaries. In the afternoon, we went back out into the field to do a fruit census which only turned up three small pieces of fruit (hey, we were trying...it's the dry season after all).
Katie and Nick got to go out on the otter expedition. In the morning they very quietly looked for otters while canoeing. Katie recorded location, behavior, and species while Nick manned the boat. They saw two otters on their canoe ride in addition to the eight they had seen when getting to the canoes. In the afternoon, Katie did some data entry in the lab by recording data on the scat (otter poop) that had been collected earlier in the week. While making observations Katie and Nick spotted three more otters. Nick's excitement continued when he got knocked over trying to get out of the boat on his way to collect scat. A contender for best discovery of the day was the snow white color of caiman scat. Manuol, the otter scientist was not the best of boat-drivers. He had a bad habit of hitting things. (Must have learned to drive from cabbies in Campo Grande ...)
Kelsey and Liz got to go out water testing. Liz was in love with the plant life and had her favorite day so far. They went out to their waists in murky, mucky water only to be chased a camen provoked by another student. They focused mainly aquatic plants, given they were on water testing. The group also collected fish to bring back to the lab. In the lab the fish are photographed and the plants are classified. This data was used to compare areas on the Pantanal that are highly and lowly impacted by the cattle that are ranched throughout the region.
Guess what was for dinner tonight??? CHICKEN and beans and rice!
Kiegan missed lunch today due to a pretty significant need for a shower – he caught up at dinner though, Luke wowed us with his guitar playing – Stairway to Heaven – you could have heard a pin drop, Haley has the largest Portuguese vocabulary now (roughly 10 words or phrases – mostly animal names), Andrew is hands down the best Peccary dude (takes traps down, puts traps up, baits traps, weighs & measures the catch!), Nick had to eat rice and bananas today (water? Malaria pills?) – hopefully he'll be back to full strength tomorrow, Kelsey has made some nice friends from NY to LA, Kortnee keeps us all laughing with her brutal English accent and her ability to get anyone to do anything at anytime!, Kate's pictures are amazing, Liz's are not, Anna and Jeff are neck and neck for who tells more stories ... at least Anna doesn't repeat! Ciao for now! TEAM 9

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