Monkeys in the trees

A group of black howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) live in the forest behind the lodge. There is one black adult male in the group, who can often be heard making a deep roaring (or howling) call at dawn, as a way of telling other potentially rival males that this is his territory. The call can be heard up to 5km away...

The females and youngsters in the group have more of a yellowish-buff colour. These monkeys spend about 70% of their day resting and sleeping in the trees. Their diet consists primarily of leaves, although they might occasionally eat fruits too. Generally howler monkeys like to stay in the trees, only descending to the ground to drink water during dry periods.

Camera trap visitors

On a forest trail near to our lodge, there is a mandovi tree with a hole in its center. Rain water collects in this hole to form a pool. A few weeks ago, we set up a movement-sensitive camera trap on the pool to see which creatures might come to it. What we discovered was very interesting.
The pool was visited by a toco toucan (Ramphastos toco)...

These birds are often found in forests, feeding on a range of food sources, including fruits, lizards, nestlings and birds' eggs. This toucan was using the pool for both drinking and bathing.
The pool was then visited by a ring-tailed coati (nasua nasua)...

Coatis are typically forest dwelling animals, and are both terrestrial and arboreal (they are excellent climbers). They have a similar diet to the toco toucan, eating fruit, small vertebrates, invertebrates and birds' eggs. This coati was drinking from the pool.

And then the pool was visited by a tayra (Eira barbara)...

Tayras, like coatis, live on the ground as well as in trees. They too will eat fruit, small vertebrates , invertebrates and birds' eggs, and they are known to have a taste for honey. This tayra was also drinking from the pool.

Our armour-plated friends

In recent weeks, the fields around our lodge have been visited by some hungry yellow armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus). These are also known as six-banded armadillos. We have enjoyed watching them purposefully scurry around in search of food. These animals are omnivores and so eat a wide range of food items from insects and small vertebrates to plant material. On one occasion, we watched one of these armadillos feeding on the ripe nuts of an acuri palm tree. On another occasion, we watched one digging in the ground for grubs. Yellow armadillos are diurnal and solitary. They den underground. As you can see in the photos above, these armadillos have bright, stiff hairs across their body and are covered with armour plating.

Blue crowned mot mot

We discovered this blue crowned mot mot (momotus momota) nesting in a tunnel in the riverbank. These are large birds, measuring between 38 - 48cm, but their brown and green colouring makes them difficult to spot when perched on a branch in the trees. Blue crowned mot mots eat a range of different foods, including small creatures such as insects and lizards, as well as fruits.

Rheally hungry

The Pantanal is home to the greater rhea (rhea americana). This is a large flightless bird, reaching a height of about 1.7 metres. Rheas are omnivorous, eating a variety of different things, from lizards and grasshoppers to fruits and broad-leafed plants. With the recent floods, we have enjoyed watching these curious birds as they wade through fields of water, plucking leaves from plants and tossing them in their mouths.

Tiger heron family

During the last few months, our lodge has been home to a family of rufescent tiger herons (tigrisoma lineatum). The herons made a nest on the branch of a tree, 3 or 4 metres above the river inlet beside our lodge.
This species of heron gets its name from the white and black lines on its front, which resemble the lined pattern of a tiger. These birds are often found wading attentively beside a body of water. They are carnivorous and have a varied diet, taking fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans and molluscs. The photo below shows an adult tiger heron gulping down a water snake which it plucked from the shallow waters of a lake.


We were interested to see how the 2 juvenile tiger herons from the nest stayed very close to it, even when they were old enough to fly away. The photos below show one of the juveniles sitting on the nest and the other juvenile standing on a branch just metres from the nest. Notice the difference in their markings from the adult.

Hyacinth macaws

The hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) is the largest species of macaw. It is an endangered species, but is locally common here in the Pantanal in Brazil. At our lodge, we have frequent sightings of all three of the large macaws which inhabit this area (the other 2 species include the red and green macaw and the blue and yellow macaw). The call of the hyacinth macaw is the sharpest and most coarse of these three large macaws, so they can often be recognized before they are seen. Hyacinth macaws love the seeds of the acuri palm tree. Here we see 4 of them ambling beside a salt lake, picking up the nuts of the acuri palm tree from the faeces of animals such as the South American tapir.

Although these birds look a little ungainly walking around, they seem to be quite happy walking around if this means that they will find a tasty morsel of food such as this!