Fauna Forever meets Lifeworks to Improve Ecotourism for Local Amazon Community, by James Mailer and Dave Johnston
Asociación Fauna Forever, together with Lifeworks, an organisation which creates opportunities for teenagers from around the world to volunteer abroad, teamed up at the end of July (2010) with two main aims: to help young students experience the beauty and at times harsh reality of life in the Amazon and also, to help one particular local community on the Tambopata river, Baltimore, rebuild the ceiling of their school/community centre, as well as a rundown bird-hide managed by one of the community families, the Ramirez’s, located at one of the most vibrant parrot and macaw clay-licks in Tambopata – an attractive activity for visiting ecotourists. Ecotourism can provide a good income for anyone living in accessible parts of the Amazon rainforest, and if built with the right set of guidelines and ethical approach can become a sustainable practice for a community. This is also great news for the local environment because a job (or an entire family’s living in this case) in ecotourism will have far less of an impact on the environment than a job in gold mining, logging or hunting. Using land for ecotourism also means that the surrounding forest is expected to have a healthy abundance of wildlife and thus good ecotourism depends on a good level of forest protection.
With these goals in mind Lifeworks met Fauna Forever (FF) in Puerto Maldonaldo (PEM); home to the FF team, capital of the Madre de Dios region of Peru, and just a short 30 minute flight from Cusco. More about the location: http://www.faunaforever.org/location.html
Dave and James, the FF representatives, welcomed Lifeworks coordinators Dan, Hilary and Willem, with their group of 18 students from the US, to the tiny jungle town. The students were between 13 and 17 years old.
The journey began with a whistle-stop tour of PEM including a supermarket stop, forest fruit ice-creams and a few interesting sights, the most poignant being the bridge that is currently being constructed over the Madre de Dios river. The bridge is the final piece of the new Trans-amazonica highway (http://www.bicusa.org/en/index.aspx) connecting the east coast of Brazil with the west coast of Peru and more so providing overland trade between Brazil and China. The traffic expected when this bridge is completed will create a wave of activity along the entire stretch of the highway with projections indicating that over a 30 year period 30 miles (50 kilometers) of rainforest will be destroyed each side of the highway as it cuts through pristine rainforest during the large majority of its stretch.
The group then set off from the Tambopata River port on a boat to Baltimore (http://www.baltimoreperu.org.pe/ingles/principal.htm) and after a breathtaking 4 hour journey upriver arrived at the El Gato guest house, pleasantly situated up the top of a tall river bank on the confluence of the El Gato and Tambopata rivers. The entire community is comprised of 22 inhabitants although the group was located at the home of the Ramirez family of 5. This was a long way from home for the students, without any luxuries such as hot water, windows, electricity or modern toilets. It was impressive to see how well most of them adopted their new environment with intrigue, while slowly submersing their mindset into ‘the wild’.
The most amazing part of the trip for many of the students was ‘the night walk’. Each evening the group filed slowly through the darkness behind Dave, with their flashlights swooping in all directions, encountering an array of creatures including an amazon tree boa, a tree runner, a southern tamandua, whiptail-scorpion spiders, caiman, dung beetles, owls, stick insects, bullet ants, leaf cutter ants, scorpions, tarantulas and much more. Holding a blunt-headed tree snake was a highlight, especially for those who had not wanted see a snake at all during their time in the jungle.
During the two full days at the community the students worked hard to ensure that the bird-hide was well constructed and that the ceiling of the school was completed. The group split into two which encouraged some friendly rivalry, mainly among the coordinators. Everyone did extremely well on both projects as they alternated day to day, especially considering the hot, humid, and mosquito ridden conditions! The difficulties all washed away very quickly with a swim in the El Gato waterfall at the end of each day, a perfect reward for everyone after much hard work. While washing and relaxation were the priorities of our daily swims, mud fights made staying clean difficult. When you can’t beat them though, you simply have to join in!
On the fourth day the group woke before light and said a sad farewell to delicious home-cooked meals by Mama Teresa, the sound of the waterfall, the star drenched nights, the fruit trees, our friend the Trumpeter bird, and all the sandflies! Off we travelled to Explorer’s Inn (www.explorersinn.com) which is situated downriver at the confluence of the La Torre and Tambapota. The trip was a fresh three hour ride through the new day’s tranquil sunrays breaking through the trees. Explorers Inn was built in 1975 and was the first ecolodge built within the Tambapota region. The students enjoyed the improved comfort and were able to relax after working at Baltimore. After an interesting butterfly talk by FF’s insect team coordinator, Ashley Anne Wick, there was a long walk to Lake Cocacocha, paddling around on two catamaran-style boats and getting up close and personal with some hefty black caiman which provided a fun-filled afternoon for all. The day was finished with a final night walk lead by FF’s herpetofauna team coordinator, Brian Crnobrna, and his ‘mad herper’ FF volunteer, Madison Wise, who both pointed out a couple of very pretty tree frogs.
The next day, after another early rise and a visit to the Explorer’s Inn parrot clay-lick, the group headed back to Puerto Maldonado to catch their flight to Cusco. There was just one final surprise waiting on the river bank. Some people (Dave) live years in the rainforest without seeing a big cat, but the group was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a Puma on their final boat ride to town. Dave, unfortunately, was fast asleep and sat up too late to see it!
It had been a jam-packed few days of adventure, excitement and learning. Perhaps it will help to inspire some of the students to continue on, to learn more about the areas that interested them on the trip such as photography, anthropology, science or ecology. The curiosity and desire to learn about the rainforest shown by the students was the real beauty of this trip, and was a pleasure to witness. Time will tell how much the journey influenced the students and if they will perhaps choose to follow a path inline with our very own here in the Amazon, but we think one thing is for sure, that the hard work they put in to helping the local community, coupled with long walks and boat rides in the depths of the mighty Amazon rainforest, will stay with them forever.
Diary Excerpts, by Melissa Chang (22yo volunteer from Lima)
Day 1 – 07/06/10
So travelling started by being late to the airport. My dad said he’ll take me but as usual we ended up having a super long breakfast and left late, went through Lima’s gross streets which are all blocked by either cars or constructions that make you want to walk the distance but finally made it on time due to several infractions… which nobody saw luckily.
I feel like there is no better way than learning by experience, I’m thrilled to go back to Tambopata, especially for more time as last time was really short. Also, I really want to go out of the city and do something related to what i see all the time in class because let’s just say there isn’t much ecofriendliness in Lima. Anyways the trip started, I got to the airport and both my Cuzco and Puerto Maldonado flights were delayed. I really didn’t mind because a) I got all three seats for myself the entire way and b) I love Cuzco, and seeing it from the window was so worth it. I hope I can manage to change my ticket on the way back, maybe if I meet someone to come with I will. Also they gave us some yummy snacks as an apology for the delay, so I got an alfajor Tinkay for sitting quietly 😛
While in the plane I started wondering about something really odd, so just bear with me. Have you noticed those odd plane videos for when the plane is Taxiing? The ones that have pictures of one thing accompanied by relaxing music, I always feel I’m watching flowers with elevator music. I wonder if there is a job that is based entirely on that, as in what did you do? Well I design the minivideos for when the plane isn’t moving.
So I finally got to Puerto Maldonado airport and my bags came out surprisingly fast, so I went out and this super smiley boy with a sign that said ‘Melissa Chang FFT’ was standing there, and that’s how I first met Dave. Then we rode to the FFT house in mototaxi and I met Chris who’s awesomely funny, Sofia from Puerto who directs the Mammals team, and Brian, the Herps team guy (a.k.a. the Terminator). So as soon as I got there they gave me food J and then they told me the other kids wouldn’t come until the following day… small confusion but i wrote and read my book and got a really good bed 😛
After lunch we walked around Puerto and I went shopping with Brian for buckets and fabric for pitfall traps. I got to haggle for buckets, felt very Peruvian.
Later that day I got to know more all of the guys and Naun from the Bird team came over, he’s also from Puerto so he doesn’t exactly live in the house but he’s pretty funny. All the guys and Sofia are really funny, loads of British accents everywhere and so far all is well. The project seems like it’ll be fun so cool. Tomorrow the first bunch comes at 8:30, I think its Sofia who I was emailing for a little to get to know each other and Ashley, the insect team coordinator.
That’s all for tonight, plan to read a little and sleep 🙂
Day 2/Day 3 – 08/06/10
So I forgot to write yesterday (oops) but we have 3 hours in the boat so I can write what happened in the meantime. I woke up to welcome Sofia and Ashley but apparently their flight was changed so they lost it. So at 11:30 Sofia from Mexico and Will and Tom from England arrived. Sofia is really funny, she’s 18 and LOVES animals, especially dogs. I learnt she has a shelter, which is pretty cool for someone of any age. The two new guys I didn’t get to know that well because they seemed super tired, granted the route from England to Puerto Maldonado is not a short one. At 12:45 Max from the US got here and that now makes all 5 of us volunteers.
So Dave gave a small welcome speech and then we had lunch (tequenos). Then we got ice cream (brazil nut ice cream!), went to the bank and to the market for supplies (food and boxes) and finally home to chill before dinner and collapsing in bed. We all woke up at 6 a.m. for the 7 a.m. bus which didn’t get there until way after. But after calling home and saying bye to friends we left for Infierno (not hell, a town). I bought more brazil nuts, this time covered in chocolate and sugar 🙂 and set off into a two hour and a half journey where we saw turtles, a tayra on the banks (sort of a small nutriaish looking thing) and a white cayman. Then I got my passport stamped with a Jaguar to indicate I was in Tambopata and got to Explorer’s Inn.
We carried all of our stuff up (HOT) and got fed (woop). I got to know Will and Max better as well as Naun and Sofia (coordinators). After that we got a little tour of the lodge and then we saw 2 Tamarins grooming and 7 Howler monkets (including a baby!), too cute. Then at 4 we had a meeting in La Catolica (which is a classroom) and after that went out Herping and found frogs! One of them Travittata (poisonus frog!)
Day 7 – 13/06/10
SO i missed a whole bunch of days, oops again. Well basically after getting to know each other better, training (classes, etc), loads of games (whichever we could think of), being introduced to settlers of Catan (so cool) and seeing tons of animals (Ocelot and bunny on camera trap – not together – and various birds) we got to work in what we’ll be doing for the rest of the phase. We learned a whole bunch of techniques such as how to spot certain animals (where to look), speeds to walk in mammal transects, how to make footprint traps, how to make pitfall traps, how to catch butterflies and identify them, etc.
And today was an awesome day. We ate and applied everything we’d learnt in a scavengers hunt. First we were given a GPS mark that led us to catch some butterflies and identify them, then we were given another and went to Naun to identify a cassick, then we ran around like crazy following tons of GPS marks to find the ribbons for the next place, jumped on boats, swam in the river (me vs Sofia :P) and finally got to the end where we got treats 🙂 Then of course it was shower and washing time.
Then i sat with the boys to play Settlers and drink beer. It feels very old tabern-like with the rustic wooden tables and chairs, dice games, beers and candlelight… and Will and I won with 11 points! 🙂 Now Herp walk and sleep!
Also I thought about doing a project with beetles, I talked to Ashley but now I have to talk to Chris and Dave.
Day 8 – 14/06/10
Actually writing on the 15th, but yesterday was both brutal and fun. We woke up for breakfast and made 4 transects, then we had lunch and made pitfall traps. After that we had a small walk where we saw a Travittata which was HUGE and according to our leader it could kill someone, if you lick it, though i´m not sure why we would lick a frog but anyways, we´ve been warned on which frogs not to lick. Then we had dinner and everyone crashed.
Day 9 – 15/06/10
Today I woke up to Howler monkeys, packed, had breakfast, packed some more, and napped a little in the boat on our way to Baltimore. Then we got there, swam near the waterfall, had a mud fight and chilled 🙂
Day 10 – 16/06/10
Dreams while in the jungle seem to be different than anywhere else. They really go to extremes, I had a dream about monsters (yes, monsters) and this weird magical land and then yesterday night I had a dream about settlers of Catan. Well we had breakfast and then proceeded to marking the 1500m control transect which involved getting lost twice (hehe) but we found a cool colpa.
We then went to the mirador to see guacamayos, there were so many! And then we crossed the river on a bridge made by a fallen tree. This was a huge tree to cross a huge river and Max made the funniest old man dwidle to cross. Then we came back, had lunch and napped. This place is so pretty, there are tons of mosquitoes but tons of hammocks too which kinda make up for it 😛
Then Victor (from El Gato), Tom, Naun and Me left to go fishing. I caught two at this little puddle 🙂 we used them as bait though, it is so sad to see them die. I had a thought though. While I was fishing it was SO similar to fishing in Wii play that it was kind of scary. Must tell Tali because she always beats me at that game.
So then we moved to this area that had that ‘very few people have been here’ feel to it. Basically it was opening trail to go through these tree arches and get to this little beach where we caught 5 fish and saw 2 tayras cross the river over a fallen log! One was whitish, Dave says that means it’s a juvenile. We then came back, chilled at the hammocks and had a few beers, dinner and then to bed.
Wow apparently Will almost stepped on a Fer de Lance… bad day to skip herping!
Day 11 – 17/06/10
So we spent the morning marking transects and setting up beetle traps for our new volunteer Marshorie. Then we had lunch and took pics of the frogs trapped. Then it started raining so we were chilling for a really long time until at 5 we left for herping. In the attacks list: Brian was stung on the lip by a wasp L it’s cruel to say so but he looks kind of funny. In the saw list: We also saw an anole (!) and a whipping scorpion. In the felts list: A frog jumped on my leg and a bat flew over my head, following a moth hehe talk about learning in action. Then we had dinner and off to bed! It’s really funny how our new setup for going to sleep/waking up is in a 9pm-6am format… I wonder how this will work when we’re back in town??
Day 12 – 18/06/10
SO apparently Brian’s wasp sting kind of opened a door for accidents. We were going along as usual with our breakfast and then off to herps transects. BUT then Ashley got stung on the eye by a wasp when she was cutting a transect and then I feel into a hole and twisted my ankle, so I spent the rest of the day resting, sleeping, playing, finishing my book (Cronicas de San Gabriel = awesome though sad), talking to Sofi and getting a faux tattoo with natural colours. Then while we were having dinner Will and Brian came back from herping and apparently Will was sting by a bullet ant L So now pain killers and off to bed, I hope everyone is better tomorrow.
Day 13 – 19/06/10
So still hurting so I stayed in doing some butterfly identifying and a little bit of cooking (condensed milk and vanilla cracker balls with coconut!) Then the rest of the day was pretty chill overall, I was stretching my foot to see if it gets better for tomorrow because we can play volleyball! And I want to play 😦
Day 14 – 20/06/10: Funday Sunday
It’s 4:57 am and today the plan is go to the Collpa, Baltimore community and Wasai lodge.
So in the collpa we saw tons and tons of parrots and a Macaw. My ankle hurt so that kind of ruined it for me, but it was still intense to see how many birds congregated at such a small area turning all the brown into a mesh of green, yellow, red and blue. Then we came back, had breakfast and chilled until 11:30am when we went to Baltimore community to have juane for lunch 🙂 and watch a football (soccer) match, Baltimore vs La Torre. Again fun though mosquitoes actually harass you there. It was really funny though because they needed a referee and Will volunteered, in Spanish. Then we were off to Wasai lodge which is BEAUTIFUL and had some drinks and chat. Then we headed back to El Gato for showers, dinner and a couple rounds of cards and settlers of Catan 🙂 Then off to bed, tomorrow back to research!
Day 15 – 21/06/10
So yesterday Dave said I can only do half a day because of my foot, which means I only got to go herping in the morning and then basically spent the rest of the day being lazy, but i missed the cool herping at night where they found a land crab and a coral snake!!!
But well it was still good to rest because due to massive dream scratching I made big wounds on my feet and walking burned them (I know ew?!) Plus I keep on seeing the dynamic of this little group, its fun 🙂 Also in El Gato, ironically we found a little kitty pet which people call Margay, though his real name is Michifuso, he’s super cute though has an odd meow.
Today at dinner we discussed what animal we would be and I got spider monkey haha not sure how to feel about that?? Then we player settlers of Catan for 2nd and 3rd time today and i won the 1st and 3rd time! Anyways tomorrow we are odd to Puerto, i’m excited to call my mum and friends, and get some new pants because for some reason I keep on ripping mine!
Alright long trip tomorrow, and maybe some dancing woop! And from now on I am referring to Sofi as Pochi, because apparently people who talk in spanglish are called that way in Mexico!
Day 16 – 22/06/10
Today we woke up, packed, have breakfast (found out France is out of the World Cup so I lost the bet!), play settlers and chilled waiting for the boat. Some of the boys went swimming in the river one last time but one of them got some sort of allergic reaction and two hit rocks so slightly bad day for swimming but still that water is super refreshing.
Then we got to Infierno, attacked the store for soda and went to Puerto with AC in the bus (woop)! Then we got to the house and started doing a thousand things. Call mum, send things to laundry (finally, socks), go buy stuff that was missing (a.k.a. hair stuff and cards), get some pizza and prepare for dancing. We went to the plaza for internet and Sofia and I decided to go souvenir shopping and I got a bag and she got some cute pants 🙂 My clothes weren’t done with the rest of the batch so initially I thought I would be dancing in my gym shorts but Ashley lent me some clothes so yay! Also we got new necklaces FFT gave us 🙂 though I lost mine while dancing (pout).
Anyways, so we all got changed and when the pizza arrived we ate, chilled with a crate of beer and played some cards. Then we went to Plaza Bar for some drinks and then to Vikingo to dance. The entire night was awesome, teaching some to dance, others to drink, learning awesome semi disco steps and basically just chilling with everyone 🙂 After some World Cup talking (as always) home and bed!
Day 17 – 23/06/10
SO even though we went to sleep at like 2 (which is a record for everyone for the past 2 weeks given our 9pm to 6am schedule) Sofia and I woke up at 7:30am and decided to go shopping with Ashley for some more stuff that was missing. Then we had brunch at Gustitos where we met up with everyone, chilled and then had early lunch at Asadazo because we weren’t going to have food until dinner in Sachavacayoc.
We then went back into the jungle and up to Sachavacayoc (a.k.a. Sacha) which is SO pretty. We divided into girl/boy dorms and our room is for 17 people even when we are 5, so each of us has like 2 beds (bedding and lounging areas) and a shower each. We then had dinner and went to sleep 🙂
Day 18 – 24/06/10
So this is going to be short because i’m pretty tired. Today most of the morning afternoon was all about herp, walking, cutting down wood for pitfall traps and looking for a place so we can build it tomorrow. Then Ashley taught us this really cool card game we never actually finished haha. Then after dinner herps went out, saw a gecko and a HUGE frog and many many ants 😛 then back home and pass out.
Day 19 – 25/06/10
So today we had breakfast and then watched the first half of the Brazil – Portugal game which ended up being 0-0 and filled with yellow cards Then I helped cook a little (actually peeled potatoes so really little) and watched the rest of the game.
Then I met a guy from Lima who works in tourism who I actually thought was the new volunteer so it was awkward for the first few minutes. Ian, the actual volunteer came over during lunch and he came with us to set up pitfall traps 🙂
Then we had some dinner, some settlers and night transects and went off to bed.
Day 20 – 26/06/10
So today we were doing quadrats with Max as they require 4 people and one of the tangaranas came down from its tree and nibbled my finger. We did however find a snake and then things got even better by the fact that I got awesome mashed potatoes for lunch 🙂 (mashed potatoes = <3) then we played settlers and Ian won which means he’s picking up his game… must destroy hehe
Then at night we took Sofia for quadrats and found two frogs and two anoles 🙂 we then walked around for a little longer and went to sleep.
Day 21 – 27/06/10
Today is my friend’s birthday, so given that I have no way of sending this: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Now to the actual day 😛 today we processed all the animals caught yesterday and the snake bit Brian several times but its non venomous so it was just obnoxious. Then we watched the England-Germany game (4-1 ouch) and at 1:30 saw the Argentina – Mexico games to see that the next match is Argentina – Germany, that should be interesting. I hope we had the list of the dates and stuff to keep up.
Workwise today was transects day and butterfly mounting day. I am practicing and finally got the butterflies straight! At night we went out for a walk and to check the pitfall traps and I saw a wipping snake! It was sleeping right on top of us now we are off to bed because tomorrow is camping day!
Day 22 – 28/06/10
So in the morning we went transecting and found a couple of lizards and then we checked the pitfall traps. There was nothing in but right next to the trap there was a HUGE whip snake that Brian chased and caught. Again it bit him but still it was awesome. Then John (a guy staying at Sacha who is doing fly taxonomy) brought a bushmasters skin so we were taking loads of pictures of both the snake (which was vicious) and the skin (which was super soft!)
Then we hiked to this BEAUTIFUL lake, set up our beds and went rowing at sunset, so we got to see the from the middle of the lake. While at the city you kind of forget there are so many of them.
Then we had Juane for dinner which the Sacha people made for us 🙂 and a little herp hike in which Max found a really cool frog, saw a bridge made out of ants for more ants and we saw a baby black caiman! Then back to the camp, played boggle and went to sleep 🙂
Day 23 – 29/06/10
I can’t believe it’s been so long since I left Lima, it’s been more than 3 weeks but I am totally used to the place. So we went camping yesterday so today we had a hike back. But before, we woke up and I went to the lake and Tom and Ian were preparing to go out on a boat so I decided to join them, but then Tom didn’t feel so well so Ian and I rowed to were the girls were on another boat and turns out they were chasing some monkeys! There were so many of them! And we chased them for quite a while and then Ian saw a baby monkey on its mum’s back and 6 ft away a rusty whip snake! Then we rowed a bit more to the other shore and came back to pack and hike back.
On our way Max, Ian and I played around the trees and saw some very colourful butterflies and then when we got back there was food 🙂 Then all of the girls kind of passed out, loads of moving today!
After waking up we watched Alice in Wonderland and then danced some salsa 🙂 and then we ate and played settlers. Later the girls talked for a bit 😛 and then everyone to bed!
Day 24 – 30/06/10
Today was a quadrats day. We woke up, had breakfast and went to Control area to do three quadrats with this guy from the Chicago Herp Society called Jason. Then we came back to devour everything on the table and chill for the afternoon to prepare for the night quadrat. I talked to Sofi for basically the entire afternoon, even when the plan was napping 😛
Then before dinner we played with this awesome little snake and later on the night did two quadrats and walked for a really long time because Jason kept on finding snakes! We ended up with 6 snakes and 2 lizards. Tomorrow there is going to be loads of processing 😛 but one of them was so small and cute!
Day 25 – 01/07/10
Today was a rather chill day. I had a good night rest but for some reason was in some odd mood, kind of remembering my uni friends and being weirdly nostalgic, so i was basically chilling because we didn’t have to go out until 4:30. In the morning after breakfast though we did process all of the snakes and lizards caught yesterday and when I was taking pictures my camera died! I guess it couldn’t take the excitement 😛 I did grasp a whole new concept on how cute snakes can be 😛 specially the little baby snake we couldn’t figure out and one whose eyes looked extremely pug-like.
Then after lunch I started feeling horrible to my stomach and told Brian who said I didn’t have to go, so I stayed chilling with Ashley and Sofi, processing butterflies (mounting and identifying), plan 🙂
Bat Netting at Explorer’s Inn June 3rd, 2010 (George Bareham)
After a week of mist netting birds and ringing them with the Birdringingforever crew, one of the ringers, François Villeneuve (M. Sc) decided we should try for some bats. François is a scientist and lecturer in Quebec so he knows his stuff. Most of the detail in this blog post is based on information provided by François so Fauna Forever sends its appreciation!
He set up two mist nets (3 X 6 m) a few hundred metres down Sunset Point Trail, close to the lodge and opened them at 17h45. After only twenty minutes, eight bats were already caught. After carefully extracting them from the nets with gloves (look at the teeth), it turned out that they were all of the same species: The Jamaican Fruit-eating bat (Artibeus jamaicensis).
Interestingly, seven of them were lactating females which was easily seen because of the enlarged nipples and hair loss around them. The only male was an adult.
It was amazing to see these creatures at such close quarters. These were pretty big bats as bats go. The most interesting thing for me was being able to examine their wings which felt like a cross between rubber and elastic and very, very soft. They can be handled without gloves after extraction but only with great care!
A. jamaicensis are common bats in the tropics. They are considered large fruit-eating bats (50-60 g). They fly low in the understory, use human made trails and are commonly caught in mist nets. They occur from Mexico to Central and South America in the Amazonian Brazil, Peru to northwestern Argentina mainly in humid tropical habitats but can be found in mature and secondary rainforest, deciduous forest, gardens and plantations.
They use caves, hollow trees, dense foliage, buildings and leaf tents as roost sites. They are fruit generalists but will eat figs if present in their habitat. The male will defend a harem of 4 to 14 females in their roost. Each female has two oestrus annually and produces a single young, rarely twins, each time.
Known predators are Barn Owl (Tyto alba), Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata), Mottled Owl (Ciccaba virgata), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), boas and false vampire bats (Vampyrum spectrum).
References:
Emmons, L. H. 1990. Neotropical rainforest mammals: a field guide. Un. Chicago Press. 281 pages.
Ortega J. and Castro-Arellano, I. 2001. Artibeus jamaicensis. Mammalian Species, no. 662, 1–12.
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