This is the fourth diary about my trip to Ecuador last month. I took 11 students on a tropical biology course. Half of that time was spent at Tiputini Biodiversity Station. For more about the environs of Tiputini see this diary.
For tonight we'll leave off the politics and environmental issues and just look at the cool animals you can see if you go into the rainforest at night.
Dwarf Caiman
At night you can't see up into the canopy or even more than a few feet off the trail. A jaguar could cross the trail thirty feet in front of you and you would never know it. Instead you use your headlamp to pick out the little creatures of the forest floor and the lower vegetation.
Ants tending a vine that is probably supplying them with nectar
A daddy longlegs - a bit fancier than the North American models
A katydid mimicing dead leaves and sticks.
Not everything in the rain forest is unusual in appearance
Some things you stumble upon are sleeping animals that are active in the day like this caterpillar.
Or this Forest Dragon lizard
This gecko is active at night and, although it is a native species, I've never seen one away from the building.
In contrast, I've never seen an owl in the forest at night. This Crested Owl was spotted in the morning. Still too dark to get a sharp photo.
Here are some of the more typical night animals in the forest.
A common forest toad Rhinella margarifiter
Two different tailless whipscorpions
A treefrog
A katydid nymph
Some of the more striking night creatures.
Poison Dart Frog
Coral Snake
Note the defensive posture, protecting its head
A harmless mimic of the coral snake found just a few minutes earlier
A really wild spider
This box spider builds a trap (box) of silk which it throws over prey.
This animal (an Onychophoran or Velvet Worm) is a member of an obscure group of tropical invertebrates that are the closest living relative of arthropods.
Night is also a good time for looking wildlife on the river, like the Caiman at the top. Photography is a bit dicey because the animals aren't usually as close.
A few were cooperative like this Pauraque, a tropical night jar that occurs as far north as Texas.
This rather odd picture is (according to Ramiro, our guide) an Emerald Tree Boa. It was about 30 feet overhead and this is as much of it as the flash revealed.
This final picture should explain the alternate title for this diary.