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| GGG |
Mid-morning I finally spotted GGG. He puttered around the lab plaza and then, weirdly, started a diagonal walk toward the office. He crossed the sidewalk, a threshold previously respected, proceeded across the parking lot! down the station entrance!! and crossed the road into the woods!!! Several iguanas that sleep in the Big Tree come down, cross the road, and then come back to Big Tree at the end of their day. Why GGG made the excursion is unknown, and he made it from a starting point much further away than Big Tree residents. He enlarged his known home range by at least 50%. (Known to me. GGG already knows his world.)
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| Pale Blue-Black-Red (PbKR) |
This trip brings new hypotheses to test along with a bit of trapping. Today I captured 2 smaller animals including the newly dubbed PbKR.
I also collected some data regarding an individual iguana's boldness, and am thinking through testing an iguana's reaction to a novel object. I cannot contain my iguanas. They are free to ignore anything in their world and it is not always obvious what that behavior might mean. When climbing a tree or screened window, the iguanas seem cautious approaching their ascent. If I can figure out that certain trees and other station elements are attractive to iguanas, I would guess their predators also use such public information. A new object placed near a refuge might always be ignored because other important issues take precedence.
There is a lot to see at Palo Verde, and I have the advantage of being here long enough to view a great deal. This morning howler monkeys, including females with babies, crossed the canopy behind the dining hall. The black-headed trogans I observe near the library visited Big Tree and gave me some lovely photos.
In the afternoon rain finally arrived. It went on for hours, running off the roofs. WOG and others stayed out for ~15 minutes before taking refuge. In Colorado we would say deluge. In PV, just normal.
I thank my herpetology class and teacher for causing me to memorize Rhinophrynidae. This burrowing toad is the only member of its family and comes out after rains to engage in explosive breeding. The patio around the dining hall was (sorry) hopping with toads. Common name, sapo borracho, Drunken Toad.
I also collected some data regarding an individual iguana's boldness, and am thinking through testing an iguana's reaction to a novel object. I cannot contain my iguanas. They are free to ignore anything in their world and it is not always obvious what that behavior might mean. When climbing a tree or screened window, the iguanas seem cautious approaching their ascent. If I can figure out that certain trees and other station elements are attractive to iguanas, I would guess their predators also use such public information. A new object placed near a refuge might always be ignored because other important issues take precedence.
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| Black-headed Trogan |
In the afternoon rain finally arrived. It went on for hours, running off the roofs. WOG and others stayed out for ~15 minutes before taking refuge. In Colorado we would say deluge. In PV, just normal.
I thank my herpetology class and teacher for causing me to memorize Rhinophrynidae. This burrowing toad is the only member of its family and comes out after rains to engage in explosive breeding. The patio around the dining hall was (sorry) hopping with toads. Common name, sapo borracho, Drunken Toad.
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