What we can infer from this finding is that during this months (from March till June) births occur, so one must be alert, specially if a nest is found, since the mother is always near of it, so is advisable to get away of as the mother is especially overprotective on this season.

Another important time to emphasize, is the mating, since males are much more territorial and aggressive. This occurs during December and January. 15 days after mating the eggs are laid, and then nested for 90 days, resulting in births from March to June.

The methodology is to walk 3 times per week to find the tents where the bats sleep and hang out. Those tents are found off the tracks of the reserve. Even though is not very easy, these can be recognized because of the holes the bats make by biting and chewing the veins and midribs of leaves.

Once the tents are found, Michelle sets the GPS location; count the number of bats; identify the plant species, the shape of the tent, and also with the help of RPT staff, catch the bats to identify the sex.

She normally finds groups of maximum 10 bats, where there are around 5 babies.

There are 17 tent-making species, and so far Michelle has identified 2 of them.  She still has a few months left so hopefully some more species can be found.

The bats are flying mammals, and play an important role in many environments around the world. Some plants depend partly or wholly on bats to pollinate their flowers or spread their seeds, while other bats also help control pests by eating insects. In this area, they don’t have predators, and mainly they eat fruits and insects.

Photo credits © Michelle Bakker

Tessa will use 6 cameras that are installed around the trails of the reserve, which will be 24 hours on. After checking the footage, she will be able to detect the location, when the ocelots are active and other important information that may be used in the future, among other things, in reforestation plans for the coastal area to establish Biological Corridors.

She’s checking the cameras 2 times per week, 1 at morning and 1 at night. Tessa also will study any footprints of this mammals and set the location with a GPS.

On the past  the cameras from RPT have captured some footage of ocelots — a nocturnal animal that is not usually seen. Ocelots have unfortunately faced many challenges, from fur trade to habitat destruction.

According to Jack Ewig, owner of Hacienda Baru, “the size of an ocelot’s territory is extremely variable”. He quotes the book “Mammals of Costa Rica” of Mark Wainwright, that mention that the range of the territory of an ocelot can vary from 100 hectares to 3,100 hectares. Ewig thinks that the difference has to do with the abundance of prey. Ocelots eat mainly small rodents like spiny rats, although they also eat larger rodents such as tepescuintles and agoutis, as well as iguanas, small alligators, coatis, raccoons, young sainos, foxes and many more. In other words, they will eat everything they can catch and kill. It seems logical that there is a much higher density of ocelots in a tropical forest with a high level of biodiversity and an abundance of prey.

Since I have been here I have been able to assist on multiple projects. One of my main responsibilities has been assisting with the crocodilian monitoring study. I have been going out once a week to assist on mark recapture of American crocodiles and spectacled caimans. I assist with capturing, biometric measurements, and habitat conditions.

I also help to take GPS points of all observed crocodilians while out on the river. I also have assisted with tracking of crocodiles and caimans with GPS loggers and downloading points to look at individual movements on the river. Another project I have assisted with was the sea turtle patrolling to help tag new sea turtles as well as collecting eggs for the hatchery. I assisted with hatchling release and excavations during the hatching season.

In September of 2016 an erosion project was started on Playa Tortuga. This year I helped to continue the study to look at sand loss on the beach. Finally, I go out three times a week walking throughout the reserve doing monkey surveys. The main objective being to see how many troops are on the reserve and observe their behavior.

I have very much enjoyed my time here at RPT. I have been able to partake in many projects and work with amazing people, while getting to educate volunteers throughout the world. It was a great six months, and I am very lucky to have been a part of these projects and the reserve!”.

The main objetive of this project is to collect real-time information about the Crocodilians at the Reserve area: their distribution, relationship with the environment, and the human impact on the ecosystem. The research consists of nocturnal monitoring two times per week (depending of the tide) where the eyes of the animals will be detected with flashlights.

The night of the 14th of February 2018, it was set up the second GPS logger on a adult male caiman. That night, beside of setting up the logger, they counted 13 captures, which 3 or 4 were recaptured individuals.

5 days later, the job was finally done, after they setup the third and last GPS logger on a male American croc, of 1.8 mt. From now on this tagged animals will start sending data, which will be collected and analyzed, in order to help the conservation and management of this species by adding new information about its current status in the South Pacific of Costa Rica.

Thanks to all the people involved in this project: volunteers, interns, friends, local assistants, etc.

Photos by © Lainneker Sanchez

]]> https://reservaplayatortuga.org/3-gps-loggers-were-set-up-in-2-crocs-and-1-caiman/feed/ 0 https://reservaplayatortuga.org/students-from-atlanta-visited-rpt-and-learned-about-biodiversity/ https://reservaplayatortuga.org/students-from-atlanta-visited-rpt-and-learned-about-biodiversity/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:09:23 +0000 http://reservaplayatortuga.org/?p=1075 About 40 students between 17 and 18 years old from the Galloway School in Atlanta, US, visited the Reserva Playa Tortuga during January of this year.

© Christian Seville

© Lauren Collins

Accompanied by their teachers Lynda Jenkins and Stephen Fleming-Cooper, the students had the opportunity to stay for several days in the facilities of the Reserve and participate in different activities such as talks, bird inventory, monitoring of mammals, installation of trails cameras on the forest, analysis of waste found on the beach and of all the data collected during monitoring, and even participed in turtle releasing.

One of the talks that took place in the RPT was that of Jack Ewig, proprietor of Hacienda Baru for more than 40 years, who explained the evolution of both the Hacienda Baru and the South Pacific area in general, and how the advances of current society, such as roads, have impacted on flora, fauna and ecotourism.

In a relaxed conversation, Jack Ewig shared with the students his personal experiences with several species such ocelots, sloths and tapirs; how they have been increasing and decreasing their population, and the personal significance they have for him.

I am an Applied Biology student at HAS University in the Netherlands. As part of my education I got the privilege to do an internship abroad. I chose for Costa Rica and RPT because of the biodiversity, beautiful location and good reviews of other students.

During my time at RPT I am working on my own research and helping with other researches. The variety of this work and working in a passionated team is really stimulating and helps to gain knowledge and grow as a person.

Setting up the camera traps.

My own research is about mammals, in special the family Procyonidae. The aim of this study is to find out which type of environment (different areas within the property) each mammal species of Procyonidae prefers the most. This study includes working with camera traps and mammal walks. These mammal walks take place during the day and during the night. On these walks you look for (signs of) mammals. The camera traps are placed in different areas within the property of RPT. These areas are dense forest, open forest, open area, water area, and an old banana plantation.

First crocodile/caiman night.

Some of the other researches I am helping with is a study on snakes, a crocodile monitoring program, turtle program, etc. RPT provides a good work environment, the team consists of experienced staff, interns, and volunteers. Every time you go out for your study at least one person of the staff joins you and some of the volunteers join. When you are doing your own research they really give you the opportunity to lead the research which is a good experience. Of course will they always provide help or feedback regularly.

When you are off there are lots of interesting places to visit, this is no problem with a bus stop almost in front of the station. Sunday is your day off, this day everybody goes to the beach to play some beach volleyball. Great fun and a good way to bond with each other.

As a part of our partnership with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC), our former Americorp research intern, Ashley Lavere, presented the results of our erosion study during the nesting season 2016 at The SEPARC Southeast Partners In Amphibian And Reptile Conservation. We will post our research findings shortly.

A BIG thanks to all volunteers who worked under the hot sun and braved river crossings to collect data for this study.

Ashley Lavere presents RPT’s sand erosion study at SEPARC.

We have game cameras placed around the reserve in order to help track what mammals are in our area. We recently captured footage of ocelots — a nocturnal animal that is not usually seen. Ocelots have unfortunately faced many challenges, from fur trade to habitat destruction.

It’s so exciting to see them at Reserva Playa Tortuga!