Pacas beside the river

This stretch of river is about 100 metres from our Lodge...


Two curious creatures, called lowland pacas (Cuniculus paca) live in a hole in the riverbank on this stretch. They sleep during the day, and only emerge once the river is shrouded in darkness. Pacas are elusive animals. They are vegetarian, eating mainly fallen fruits, but they also eat roots, seeds, leaves and flowers.
Here is a video taken at night (using a camera trap) of a mother and juvenile paca on this stretch of riverbank...

Our photos of the puma and the capybara go live on BBC Wildlife Magazine's website

We are very excited to inform you that our Puma and Capybara story (with the full sequence of photos of the kill) is now live on BBC Wildlife Magazine's website:

http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/gallery/puma-v-capybara-photo-gallery-stefan-grol

The puma and the capybara

Last Saturday was a rainy day. At around 4.45pm, the rain subsided, and I decided to go over to the forest beside the river (where we have our hide) to check on a camera trap I had placed there the day before. A puma (Puma concolor) had been spotted in this forest a few days earlier by our field guide Adauto, and I was hoping that perhaps my video would pick up some movements of this curious and elusive creature. To get to the forest, I had to walk around a narrow lake no more than 10 metres wide. As I was walking around this lake, I heard about 50 metres behind me a panicked capybara shouting nervously. I turned around and watched the capybara run into the water. My immediate thought was, 'There must be a predator going after it.' And no sooner had I had this thought when I saw a large female puma leaping into the water after the capybara!!!! The puma grabbed the capybara by the neck (to suffocate it) and stayed with it in the water.
The puma could not see me thanks to a high bank beside the lake, and as I was so close to the house, I decided to quickly go back and get my camera to try to document some of what I was witnessing. But instead of going back to where I was before, I decided to find a place on the high bank which was closer and which perfectly overlooked the puma and the capybara...


By this time the capybara was dead, and so the puma began the difficult process of dragging the body out of the water. This was an adult male capybara - a very heavy creature - so it was all the more impressive to watch her pull it out by just its nose...


The puma was in a hurry to get the capybara back to a sheltered place away from any other hungry eyes. She pulled the body all the way up to the forest's edge, and just before disappearing into the shadows of the forest with her kill, she stopped and glanced up in my direction...


A few months earlier, we got a photo with our camera trap in the same forest of a mother puma with cubs. If this puma is this same mother, and she has youngsters to feed, this could explain her being visibly thin. She then melted into the darkness of the forest, and no sooner had she disappeared, when all of a sudden there were raucous alarm calls from purplish jays, alerting other animals of her presence.
I headed back to the house, not believing what I had just experienced. It goes to show that you just never know what nature has in store.

Protective parent

A number of bare-faced currasows (Crax fasciolata) reside in the forests around our lodge. During the day, these birds spend most of their time walking along the ground in search of food. Currasows have a varied diet, which includes seeds, fruit, small vertebrates and invertebrates.
The female currasow has an ingenious way of protecting her young. As there are many creatures in the Pantanal who would delight at eating a young, defenseless currasow, the female currasow has resorted to fanning open her tail feathers whilst she walks. The chick walks beneath the tail, and thus remains both well hidden and close to its mum, who would endeavour to protect the chick should a predator approach...

Hudini the boa constrictor

One September morning, Stefan and our field guide Adauto took our guest Amanda for a brief safari walk, as she was flying out later that morning . Leaving the lodge building compound area, Adauto who has an amazing eye to spot wildlife, spotted a Boa Constrictor that was partially hidden under some leaves and enjoying the early morning sun rays. Stefan kindly came over to the main building to let me know so I could view this beautiful animal and take some pictures. As I walked over Stefan pointed where the boa was laying and I could not see it even thinking Stefan was taking me on. However, once I perceived its amazing camouflage the creature materialized in its full glory. Stefan had his macro lens and wanted a more intimate "eye to eye" image so totally disregarding the local tick inhabitants he mad him self comfortable on the floor as Amanda looked on
Eventually our friend made its way to a standing tree where it disappeared in what seemed like a cavity under the roots. Or was it still there well camouflaged and I could not see it?

Hungry agouti

When a tree comes into fruit here, it is always interesting to see which animals come to feed on its fruits. Right beside our lodge, there is a tree which is currently full of fruit. And, as the photo above illustrates, a small, forest-dwelling rodent, called an Azara's agouti (Dasyprocta azarae) has been quick to take advantage of the the tree's fallen fruits. As well as eating fruit, Azara's agoutis also eat leaves and roots. Agoutis are quite shy and elusive creatures, so it is always nice to see them going about their daily routine.