Peruvian Amazon Part II

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

pbertner
Posts: 1000
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:07 am
Location: Canada
Contact:

Peruvian Amazon Part II

Post by pbertner »

A Jaguar surveys the river bank in Tambopata reserve:

Image

Heavy rains during the wet season means that rivers and ponds will often flood the trails, bringing in creatures like anacondas, or this spectacled caiman which are more often confined to their riparian habitats.

Image

Male frog calling his bachelorhood:

Image

Stinging flanel moth caterpiller (Bayucca sp.) are notorious for their long lasting and intense pain caused by sharp, delicate spines located just under the 'innocuous' hairs:

Image

Lantern bug (Enchophora sp.) laying an egg mass:

Image

An ant reaps a bounty at the end the night which saw the nuptial flight of winged termites (which subsequently discard their wings as they leave the skies and begin anew their subterranean lives):

Image

A termite specialist, this Neoponera sp. lives in colonies of only 50-200 individuals, but these are well coordinated, and mount raiding parties on termite nests. Coordinating their efforts through a mixture of pheromones and stridulation (sounds produced by the rubbing of a specialized sound producing file on its foreleg), workers will sting termite after termite, killing and stacking the termites into mounds which will then be carried in huge mouthfuls back to the nest:

Image

A successful raiding trip done, a worker returns with a mouthful of termites:

Image

A tiny gaudy snail feeds on algae on the bottom of an upturned log:

Image

Mushrooms catch the light in the otherwise gloomy rainforest understory:

Image

Thanks for looking and commenting,
Paul

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Great images, as always!

I'm curious about the EE H5 rating for the Lantern bug. What is different from the situation with the ants that are H2 and H3?

--Rik

mawyatt
Posts: 2497
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:54 pm
Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Paul,

Absolutely beautiful images!! How close were you to the Jaguar?

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

Yawns
Posts: 400
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:18 am
Location: Benavente, Portugal

Post by Yawns »

The reptile photograph is impressive .. it's a beautiful photograph, full of tension. That eye is looking at us. I have the feeling the animal is right in front me. Very good work.
YAWNS _ (Y)et (A)nother (W)onderful (N)ewbie (S)hooting

Lou Jost
Posts: 5942
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Wow, great work as usual. The jaguar looks like he is ready to attack something. I spent a week there and never got to see a jaguar, though I did see tracks of one that was following a herd of White-lipped Peccaries that we had encountered.

The snail is also wonderful.

santiago
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:56 am
Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Post by santiago »

beautiful images, and that caiman portrait is very intense!
Santiago
Flickr

pbertner
Posts: 1000
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:07 am
Location: Canada
Contact:

Post by pbertner »

Thanks everyone much appreciated.

Rik - The scale denotes stress, but also impact. In this case the impact was that after several shots the lantern bug stopped its egg laying behaviour. It remained on the same tree trunk and probably resumed later on. But I work under an assumption of presumed damage, and so without further evidence I assume that I impacted the natural behaviour in a negative way which affected the population (albeit on a small scale). Whereas the ant shots didn't noticeably, or measurably affect behaviour, so far as I could tell.

Lou - You really need to visit a) during the dry season, and b) travelling up and down the river by boat. Forest encounters are very seldom indeed.

mawyatt - About 15-20 metres away

Lou Jost
Posts: 5942
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Paul, yes, that's when I went, and that's what I did, but luck was not with me.

It was still an amazing place and I was very happy to have gone. I had great luck witnessing a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle attacking the macaws at the major salt lick:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.co ... a-video-3/
That was more special for me than the jaguar would have been-- I had already seen a jaguar along a river in Ecuador. Still, I would dearly have liked to see that jaguar you saw.

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

pbertner wrote:after several shots the lantern bug stopped its egg laying behaviour.
Got it -- thanks for the explanation!

--Rik

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic