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Anyone who goes to the Taboga Forest Reserve knows that it’s a special place. Sure, for some people it may be difficult to see that while you are there (what with the mosquitoes, snakes, mysterious rashes, and the fact that you are always sweating), but once you leave, it’s the fond memories that persist and outshine the others. People who have spent extensive time on the reserve will recall special little anecdotes, facts, or monkey stories that end up making them miss spending twelve hours fighting off clouds of mosquitoes and flicking ticks off of their pants. Herpetology enthusiasts will remember the myriad lizards and snakes, birders will remember the parrots and motmots, and everyone will remember the bevy of cool mammals that they were fortunate enough to see. Those who spend considerable time in Taboga invariably leave having seen something amazing or unexpected or memorable. As a result of all these animal observations, a good collection of stories began to accumulate about what might be out there in the forest. The speculation (often based on glimpses of tails or days-old paw prints left in dried mud) continued to the point that we just had to take the time to try to find out what kind of critters call Taboga home.

Fortunately for us, two students from the Universidad Técnica Nacional (UTN) had expressed interest in working with us. Anderson Eduardo Molina Jirón and Bryan Steven Zúñiga Cerdas took on the important task of using camera traps to set up an eight week long project in order to determine what habitats were able to support the most wildlife. By placing camera traps in various parts of the reserve, they were also able to see what Taboga actually had to offer in terms of fauna.

When their two months working with us were up, they had captured 25 different animal species on the camera traps. There were 2 reptiles, 11 birds, and 12 mammals. 25 species is by no means a large number for a tropical forest, but given the amount of time they had and the species that they captured, it was enlightening.

The biggest realization to come from this project was the fact that there was a very real and active presence of at least one puma (Puma concolor) on the reserve. It seemed like almost every week they put the cameras out they captured a puma. The photos were taken both during the day and the night and sometimes in locations very close to where we had been with the monkeys not an hour before. They were captured in a variety of different habitats and all across the reserve as well, leading us to believe that there was more than one out there (a real life sighting of two pumas together a couple of weeks later confirmed this suspicion). The fifteen or so photos of pumas that were captured backed up a story that long time monero Juan Carlos had told of seeing one near the Palmichal while he was alone one evening. While I don’t think anyone doubted him, it was nice to have his story verified by photographic proof.

The immediate question was why there were multiple big cats in such a diminutive (less than 300 hectares) and isolated forest fragment. What’s more, this fragment has been adrift in a sea of sugar cane and rice fields for decades. In thinking about how to answer this question, we remembered the many days when we would go out into the field and see 50+ coatis in just a couple of hours or the time spent on the computer sorting through thousands of collared peccary camera trap photos and the answer became clear: there’s plenty of food.

This abundance of food (i.e. small to medium sized mammals) also provides sustenance for other predators. Through camera traps and personal observations, we have also recorded the presence of ocelots, jaguarundis, tayras, greater grisons, crocodiles, rattlesnakes, boa constrictors, and many avian predators. This is, of course, not an exhaustive list and there are many other animals out there that I haven’t included and perhaps even more that we haven’t even seen yet.

In short, what the students’ project helped to reveal to us was an even more extensive and vibrant ecosystem than we had previously imagined. We all knew that Taboga was special, but now we begin to see just how important it is. Bryan and Anderson note in their paper that there is less than two percent of Central American tropical dry forest remaining and, while it makes up just a fraction of that two percent, Taboga clearly has a lot to offer in the way of animals. Researchers on the Capuchins at Taboga project have been keeping lists of all the fauna species they have observed in their short time there and have been wowed at the overall diversity and at the presence of animals like pumas and giant crocodiles, which we believed might not be able to survive in a reserve as small as Taboga. As Juan Carlos Ordoñez once casually noted after seeing an ocelot on the road just after nightfall: “que reservilla”, or in English: “what a little reserve”.

 

Here is a list of what Anderson and Bryan were able to capture on camera for their two-month project:

 

Reptiles:

American Crocodile

Green Iguana

 

Birds:

Groove-billed Ani

Inca Dove

White-tipped Dove

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Gray Hawk

Cattle Egret

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Great Blue Heron

Anhinga

Limpkin

Black Vulture

 

Mammals:

Ocelot

Puma

Collared Peccary

Central American Agouti

White-nosed Coati

Northern Tamandua

White-tailed Deer

White-faced Capuchin Monkey

Common Opossum

Mexican Mouse Opossum

Nine-banded Armadillo

Eastern Cottontail

 

By Evan Farese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nestled between sugar cane and rice plantations lies the lovely Taboga Forest Reserve. With intermittent internet, amicable field assistants and a life seemingly disconnected from the drama of the outside world, I thought I found a place free of politics. I was mistaken. Though free from the petty politics of Homo sapiens, white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capuchinus) have a telenovela-esque drama that could rival those seen on any broadcasting network.

(Queue the entrance of Mesas) 

Mesas, one of our four habituated monkey groups in Taboga, has had a colorful background from the start.  This group of 16 has been one of the hardest groups to habituate, taking nearly 2.5 years. This reluctance is perhaps due to people throwing rocks at the monkeys prior to the project’s start.  Understandably so, this weariness is still ingrained and the group spends their time on Mountain Eskameka, or in the Valle de las Moras. Only when the farm workers leave and the sounds of the tractors and voices subside do they venture across the road or visit the mango tree near the houses.

Perhaps they were taking advantage of a quiet Sunday, when on November 10^th, 2019, crossing the road via power lines, the dynamics of their group was thrust into turmoil.  Maradona, the alpha of the group was electrocuted by a power line. The crew sprung into action! We called the electrical company to retrieve him, conducted morphometrics (If you are wondering how heavy an adult male capuchin is, it is 7 lbs), and necropsied him (thanks to the amazing vet, Dr. Marta Cordero from Las Pumas, a local rehabilitation and rescue center). Then we turned our efforts to behavior data.

And so began the drama of the male next in line to take the throne. We made it a priority for the next few weeks to follow the group, recording behavioral data and collecting fecal samples to analyze hormones.  There were only two possible options as successors: Moises, the only remaining adult male and Mozote, a sub-adult male. Despite Moises’ seemingly pleasant and amicable demeanor he quickly seized power as the new alpha. Mozote was left to reside far outside the group. His lost calls were sometimes heard in the distance and some brazen members of the group responded. Business carried on, more or less as usual. The females tumultuously vied for the alpha female position.  The juveniles gargled at Moises, a sign of submission.  Though he led the group well, every day Moises looked more and more tired. He traveled primary on the ground and was usually in the back of the group. He seemed slow, stiff and weak, setting the stage for another overthrow of power. With every conflict with the neighboring groups we wondered if an outside male could contend. Weeks of Moises’ reign turned to months and we naively began to think the group would settle into normalcy again.

In February, after a week away from Mesas, the crew returned to find Moises nowhere in sight and Mozote in the middle of the group. He was groomed and gargled at, particularly by the three youngest of the group. And aside from a flap of his skin hanging over his eye, it seemed like he had finally found his place.  After a few days of acute observation however, our suspicions started to grow that Mozote might not have complete sway in the group. Mozote would vocalize ‘Let’s Go’ calls repeatedly and no one would budge. It seemed Meza or Mulan, adult females, would lead the group at times and on occasion the lost calls of Moises were heard in the distance. Nearly a month later we still haven’t seen Moises, but perhaps he is living on the fringes of Mesas’ range. With the loyalties of the members of Mesas in question, I expect the next few months of observations to be equally enthralling. But until seen otherwise, the hierarchy of the group remains unstable, with Mozote precariously perched on top.

 

By Sophia Prisco

 

 

 

Costa Rica is a country known for its high levels of biodiversity and its complex, lush, tropical rainforests. While this appropriately describes most of the country, it does not capture the climate, essence, or forest of Taboga. The lowlands of the province of Guanacaste (in the country’s northwest) experience a completely different climate from most of the rest of the country – one defined by an extensive dry season (from November to May) during which rain seldom falls. Indeed, much of the flora of the area is adapted to this tropical dry forest ecosystem and many plants enter a period of dormancy while they wait for the rains to return in May. Walking among the leafless trees, I sometimes feel like it’s early winter back in North America. The only difference is that instead of snow on the ground, it’s 99 degrees and I’m sweating through my shirt, pants, hat, binoculars, and anything else that might touch my body.

Coincident with this dry period, the area experiences a fire season. Wildfires here are often started by people and of relatively low intensity when compared with the infernos of western North America. That being said, they still are, of course, potentially very dangerous. On March 1st, 2019, a wildfire jumped into the forests of Taboga. Farmers on adjacent properties were burning sugar cane when flames leapt the firebreaks and entered the Palmichal, a unique area in the southeast of Taboga typified by many native Royal Palms (Attalea rostrata)(See satellite photo). Fortunately, the region’s volunteer forest firefighters, part of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), were quick to react and they quelled the fire before it affected the forest (and monkey habitat) on a large scale.

I know what you’re thinking: what if there’s another fire in Taboga and the volunteers are not so quick to respond or are otherwise occupied? Will it mean the  destruction of precious tropical dry forest and the unique blend of flora and fauna that call Taboga home? To that, I would ask you not to fret and to rest easy for it just so happens that two of our long-term team members, Alexander Fuentes and Juan Carlos Ordoñez, are volunteer firefighters. Still not satisfied? Well, how about this: on Saturday December 7th, the whole Capuchins at Taboga team was invited to participate in a workshop where we learned how to operate certain equipment so that we may be able to help in the event of another fire on the reserve. Sounds fun, right? Well, it was. I mean, if you like coiling and uncoiling hoses and doing wind sprints. And also we got to spray trees with a fire hose.

After watching the twelve official volunteers (including our own Alex Fuentes) run drills connecting water pump to nozzle through eight hoses, the rest of us got a chance to learn from some of the best around. We learned about proper techniques for holding a high pressure fire hose and what it takes to be a good lookout for your partner. We also got to run drills where we saw how quickly we could straighten out, connect, and coil back up six hoses (Our quickest time was 5 minutes. The pros do it in 3, so we are feeling pretty good about ourselves). After, we learned how to properly create a firebreak using hand tools.

As the sun began to drop in the western sky and its golden light played blithely on the waving, amber grass and verdant forest, we looked with approval at our two meter firebreak and we all (I assume) thought the same thing: we need to do more cardio. All that sprinting made us sore for days.

The good news is that if there is another fire in Taboga (and let’s hope there isn’t), we all know a little bit more now about handling firefighting equipment and will be more comfortable lending a hand and holding a hose if we are called upon. Until then, we know what we have to do: wind sprints every morning from 4-5 AM, then go watch monkeys.

By Evan Farese

Here is one last guest post from our ecotourism student interns: Ximena, Victor, Wendy, Nicole, and Luis. I asked them to do a write-up on the type of forest that Taboga is characterized as: the tropical dry forest.

 

El bosque seco tropical, es un ecosistema de densa vegetación arbolada que alterna climas estacionales lluviosos breves, con climas secos más prolongados.  En los bosques deciduos del Área de Conservación Guanacaste, hay una época seca bien definida durante 6 meses, entre mediados de diciembre y hasta mediados de mayo.

Costa Rica se puede considerar como un país que presenta dos estaciones bien marcadas, una época seca y una época lluviosa.  En el país, el Bosque Tropical seco se encuentra en el Pacífico Noroeste, desde la provincia de Guanacaste, desde el valle de Tempisque, hacia el norte, hasta la frontera con Nicaragua, y al sur hasta la desembocadura del río Tárcoles.

Características del Bosque Deciduo

• Escases de lluvia (ríos intermitentes).
• Perdida de las hojas en la época seca (vegetación decidua) para evitar la pérdida de agua.
• Abundancia de luz solar, les permite a las plantas un mejor desarrollo.
• Solo sobreviven las especies que han desarrollado adaptaciones evolutivas.
• Se encuentra en puesto el número 2 de biodiversidad

Adaptaciones de las plantas en el bosque tropical seco.

Flora:

El bosque tropical seco es recocido por su naturaleza decidua ¹, la cual es la adaptación evolutiva más notable en este tipo de ambiente, porque de esta manera, las plantas evitan la perdida de agua, la cual se conserva durante los meses que no hay lluvia. Otra adaptación bastante notable en la flora de este lugar, es realizar fotosíntesis por medio de la corteza, y no por sus hojas, como normalmente se realiza, como respuesta a la perdida de agua. En algunas plantas, las hojas se modifican, cambiando de forma o tamaño, por ejemplo, los zarcillos, que son hojas o tallos modificados, que les sirven de sostén a muchas plantas (Guisantes).

Fauna:

Como un gran ejemplo de adaptaciones presentes en animales, cabe mencionar al sapo excavador o sapo borracho, ya que este, durante la época seca, se entierra y de esta manera, se protege de la deshidratación, hasta que llegan las primeras lluvias, para su reproducción.

Árboles en bosque tropical seco

• Roble de Sabana (Tabebuia rosea)

Se encuentra en los bosques secos y lluviosos en elevaciones de 0 a 600 m siendo característicos en la zona de Guanacaste, mide aproximadamente 20m de altura y 85mm de diámetro. Su nombre común es roble de sabana, es de la familia Bignoniaceae, sus hojas son compuestas  opuestas, con el haz verde y el envés verde claro y en la época seca de abril a junio es muy llamativo por sus flores rosadas.

Esta peligro de extinción por la tala de estos para el uso de su madera en industrias de corrocerías de camiones y muebles pero hoy en día el hábitat de estos árboles está siendo protegido.

• Indio Desnudo (Bursera simaruba)

Este árbol puede llegar a medir entre 25 a 30 m de altura. Sus hojas son alternas, imparipinnadas, ovado -oblongos.

Inflorescencias unisexuadas. Flores verde-amarillentas.

Frutos en cápsulas drupáceas

Tronco con la corteza exfoliando, irregulares, savia resinosa y aromática.

Distribución: Puede encontrase desde climas secos hasta muy húmedos. Nativo desde México y Florida hasta Colombia, Venezuela y Las Antillas.

Usos: En medicina popular, la infusión de la corteza se utiliza para adelgazar o en el tratamiento de úlceras estomacales.  Adicionalmente se ha empleado en casos de dolores de espalda y estómago, mordeduras de serpiente, debilidad, fiebre, cangrina, hernias, impotencia, obesidad, erupciones, reumatismo, inflamaciones, enfermedades venéreas, llagas, fiebre amarilla, cálculos renales, diarrea y cáncer gástrico.

Se usa mucho para cercar terreno.

Años atrás los aborígenes usaban la goma o resina para proteger las canoas contra el ataque de insectos.

• Árbol de Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum ): este árbol es característico del bosque tropical seco, es un árbol nativo de América, de regiones tropicales y templadas cálidas. Tiene un fruto muy llamativo, ya que este se asemeja a la oreja de un animal o una persona. Es un árbol muy alto y ancho, puede llegar a medir 20 a 30 metros de altura, la copa es hemisférica, con un follaje abundante.

Usos:

• Adhesivo (Látex): Gomas
• Artesanal (Madera): se elaboran juguetes y otros tipos de artículos.
• Comestible (Semilla): Especie susceptible de aprovecharse como futuro recurso alimenticio. La composición de aminoácidos de la semilla es comparable a la de algunas harinas como la de trigo y pescado. La almendra posee 17 aminoácidos. Las semillas se comen tostadas y son tan alimenticias como los frijoles. Ricas en proteínas (32 a 41 %). Contienen hierro, calcio, fósforo y 234 mg de ácido ascórbico. En algunos sitios se consumen las semillas en salsas y sopas y como sustituto de café.En Colombia sobre todo en la costa Atlántica se hacen dulces con la semilla sobre todo en época de semana santa.
• Combustible (Madera, fruto): Carbón. Los frutos maduros contienen un jugo gomo-resinoso que mezclado con la pulpa del mismo previamente macerada sirve para fabricar aglomerados de carbón. Produce buena leña muy usada en los hogares e industrias rurales. Uno de los beneficios más importantes es la leña. Tiene un poder calórico de 18 556 kj/kg, lo que la ubica como especie recomendada como fuente energética.

• Construcción [madera]. Construcción rural.

• Curtiente [corteza, semilla, fruto]. El tanino se utiliza para curtir pieles.

• Forrajero [tallo joven, fruto, semilla, hoja]. Excelente árbol forrajero. Las semillas contienen 36 % de proteína. Se emplean como forraje y complemento alimenticio para ganado bovino, porcino, caprino y equino. Se aprovecha mediante ramoneo y corte de ramas. Debido a la altura del árbol no es muy apetecido por el ganado vacuno.

• Implementos de trabajo [madera]. Implementos agrícolas.

• Maderable [madera]. Madera aserrada, lambrín, chapa y triplay, paneles, carretas, ruedas, carpintería y ebanistería, fabricación de canoas y embarcaciones ligeras por ser muy resistente al agua, muebles, acabados de interiores, duelas. Algunas personas son alérgicas al polvo de la madera, el cual tiene un olor desagradable y algo picante.

• Medicinal [corteza, tronco (exudado), corteza, raíz, fruto]. La corteza se usa en infusiones o en vainas para curar el al forra o salpullido; es depurativa. La goma que exuda el tronco es empleada como remedio para la bronquitis y el resfriado en varias partes del país. Los frutos verdes son astringentes y se utilizan en casos de diarrea.

• Raíz: gálico sanguíneo.

• Melífera [flor]. Apicultura.

• Saponífera [fruto (vaina)]. La pulpa de las vainas verdes se usa como sustituto del jabón para lavar ropa (produce saponinas).

• Uso doméstico [madera]. Utensilios de cocina. Su madera presenta gran durabilidad y es fácil de trabajar.

• Pochote (Bombacopsis quinata)

Porte: Árbol caduco de hoja ancha, de 25-35 m de altura y 1-3 m DAP. Tronco recto, con aletones. Corteza: cubierta a menudo por gruesos aguijones. Sistema radical: moderadamente profundo (2.5 m). Hojas: en forma de mano, normalmente 5 hojuelas. Flores: 8-14 cm de largo con 5 pétalos blanco-rosados dentro y verde pardo fuera. Aparecen tras caer la hoja al inicio de la estación seca y son polinizadas por un murciélago. Fruto: cápsula de 2-15 x 2.5-5.0 cm, a menudo elipsoidal y kaki-pardo. Madura a los 35-50 días. Semillas: 30-50 por fruto, envueltas en una lana blanca

Usos

En Costa Rica y Nicaragua son comunes las cercas vivas a partir de estacas con espaciamientos entre 2 y 5 m. En Nicaragua a veces se respetan los árboles para dar sombra al café o, más frecuentemente, al ganado como árboles aislados en.

Su madera es muy apreciada por los agricultores en su distribución natural para construcción no estructural en interiores de viviendas (molduras, marcos de puertas y ventanas) y muebles de calidad. También se usa para desenrollo y chapa, aglomerados y otros usos en carpintería y ebanistería.

 

Ariek: My favorite monkey is Tail.  He is a 4-year-old in the Tenori group and the capuchin world’s best babysitter.  He can’t go anywhere without a trail of babies following, especially the rambunctious Tenori.  And he has never-ending patience, playing with them for hours on end.  He may be missing a tail, but that doesn’t stop him from racing around, wrestling on perilously-thin branches, and enjoying life!

 

 

Celia: My favorite monkey would have to be (hemmed and hawed for 10 minutes) Tico.  Because, number 1, he has a very symmetrical face.  Reason number 2, he likes to play around.  He is a kindred spirit of mine because he likes to play around like me, Celia “Games” McLean.  If I was a capuchin monkey, I would play games with Tico all day.  He likes to chase monkeys around, give them friendly bites and smacks, and have a general good time.

 

 

Alex: Mi mono favorito era del parque Lomas Barbudal y se llamaba Fonz.  El era un macho alfa.  A mi me gustaba Fonz porque el era agresivo y es el único mono que me pego en mi estómago y me se cola aire.

 

 

Juanca: Mi mono favorito es Mani.  El es mi héroe del día (hero of the day), porque cargó uno de los dos bebes de Minnie cuando el bebe y su mamá estaban separados.  Minnie dejó uno de ellos y Mani cargó el bebe que estaba separado de Minnie.  Se veía que le era difícil cargarlo en la espalda, pero Mani tuvo la determinación a llevarlo aunque fue por corta distancia.

This season (US summer, CR wet season) has been a busy one in terms of visitors. Each director is visiting, as well as students and researchers. In the next few weeks we’ll be publishing “director spotlights” in which we get to know our directors a little better.

First up is Dr. Marcela Benítez, who was here in July. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia State University working with both wild and captive capuchins.

CM: What attracted you to this project?

MB: Well, after spending a couple of years in Ethiopia I wanted to work somewhere Spanish speaking…it was mainly luck–I ran into Thore and Jacinta at a conference, and it just happened!

CM: What’s your favorite food?

MB: That’s funny…I was actually just texting this to my sister. Argentinean barbeque.

CM: Who’s your favorite football player?

MB: Lionel Messi.

CM: What are you most excited for in the future of this project?

MB: In the sort of near future…to create a fully sustainable research station.

CM: If you had any other job besides primatologist, what would it be?

MB: My backup to academia…would be an academic advisor to Tinder. I could tell you why if you want! It’s interesting to see how people make decisions on mates based solely on visual cues and no further information. It’s the closest thing we get to using sexually selective signals. I think it’s cool to see what people are attracted to when you take out the accessibility of social information. Or write a young adult fiction fantasy/novel. Like Harry Potter but better. (Proceeds to explain outline).

CM: What got you into primatology?

MB: I wanted to study marine biology. Dolphins. And that became increasingly more difficult. I got involved in comparative cognition at the Yale lab as an undergraduate. I loved it! I worked for a lab manager for a year and I decided I wanted experience with wild primates and to go back to Argentina. I went to work in Formosa (link) with the owl monkey project and loved it. That’s my life story! In those two years I fleshed out my research interests (the relationship between hormones and cognition) and that’s when I stumbled upon Thore and Jacinta’s research. I worked with them….and the rest is history!
That’s the boring answer. I’ve always been interested in people…understanding why people behave the way the way they do. Working with monkeys I noticed many similarities.

CM: Describe your academic career in five words.

MB: Lucky, monkeys, poop, stress, adventure.

CM: What’s the best museum you’ve been to and why?

MB: The Field Museum in Chicago. I thought they did a good job making it interactive and bringing anthropology to life…in a way that’s often difficult to do.

CM: What’s your opposite of a pet peeve (some little thing you see that makes you happy)?

ETJ: Super nerdy data organization things!

MB: When people struggle to organize, struggle writing grants, I love organizing it all.

ETJ: Whiteboards.

 

Hey everyone!

Here, a few months later than promised, is an update on the C@T project. In January we started taking behavior data on our best-habituated group, named Tenori. Alex and Juan Carlos have been hard at work habituating Mesas group so that we can start taking data on them in the next few weeks.

Last week we were invited to give a talk on our research methods at the Universidad Técnica Nacional in Liberia. We got to demonstrate the way we collect data using Epicollect and Animal Observer, and Juan Carlos taught students how capuchins extract the seeds from Luehea candida fruit. It was great getting to meet new people and answer questions about what we do.

Jahmaira and Celia got the opportunity to visit the site of Dr. Susan Perry, Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project, to observe the capuchins there and see how her group collects data. The Lomas moneros were excellent hosts and we hope to see them again soon.

The current field crew out here in Taboga is as follows: Alex Fuentes (joined June 2017), Juan Carlos Ordoñez (joined July 2017), Courtney Anderson (joined August 2017), Jahmaira Archbold (joined October 2017), and Celia McLean (joined January 2018). Although Taboga is a bit isolated, we amuse ourselves by going out to dinner at the end of the month, making aluminum can “crafts”, and watching cooking shows on Netflix.

That’s it for now, I hope to report soon that we’re taking data on Mesas group!

-The C@T moneros

Well, sort of live. There will be a certain amount of delay depending upon when our IT person gets around to posting the WhatsApp updates from Taboga. Think of it as WhatsApp meets the newspaper. Or, perhaps, a monthly magazine.