Brazilian Porcupine (Coendou prehensilis)
This spiny beast has been seen three times recently foraging around the lodge. The first during a night-walk, the second sighting disrupted dinner as the porcupine was found just outside the dinning room. The third time it woke two guests, Josef and Christel Puaschitz in the middle of the night by noisily chewing on their balcony furniture. This nocturnal rodent has a prehensile tail adapted for climbing small trees and is normally very shy so such a bold individual is unusual indeed.

Brazilian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
The Resident Naturalists have recently been equipped with two new state of the art camera traps which have been put to good use around the Exlorer’s Inn trail system. The most notable success from the use of these so far is the capture of several images of a Brazilian tapir feeding on huito fruit near the Heliconia-Tangle trail junction.

Rainbow Boa (Epicrates cenchria)
This stunning snake has recently been spotted basking in sunspots along several trails during sunny days and once searching for prey during a night-walk. This otherwise cryptically patterned snake develops a blue iridescent shimmer in full sunlight from which it gets its name.

Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
This semi-aquatic mammal is the largest rodent in the world and has been regularly sighted along the banks of the Tambopata river particularly on the journey up to macaw clay-lick for the camping trip.

Life can be tough in the tropical rainforest, particularly if you belong to the lower end of the food chain. Predation is high, particularly visual predation and the complexity of life here means that few species escape being subject to it. Thus survival for many requires a carefully evolved appearance which sends the right message to potential predators.

For the most part this message is simply “I’m not here”, and this takes the form of the almost unimaginable and indeed often near invisible multitude of cryptic patterns and shapes that have evolved in the rainforest flora. Moths near indistinguishable from the bark of the tree they rest upon, katydids with leaf shaped bodies complete with false venation and even fungal damage and birds that appear to all but the most observant as nothing but dead tree stumps to mention but a few. The advantage of such cryptic patternation in avoiding predation is obvious and indeed must be effective as the plethora of species which employ it are testament to, but as any visitor to the forest will soon become aware of crypticism is not the only patternation strategy employed by its fauna.

Many cryptically disguised animals when disturbed, will suddenly reveal patches of bright colour as they flee. It might seem surprising that an animal that has worked so hard up until that point to disguise itself, would give itself away so dramatically at the last moment, but this is entirely the point. The flash of colour, often in the form of eyespots, is designed to startle a potential predator long enough to allow a quick getaway.

There are many other animals which make no attempt to hide away at all, displaying themselves with bright, distinctive patternation and bold behaviour. Such creatures have a very different message for potential predators; “BEWARE”, and with good reason. Many insects of tropical forests, particularly butterflies and moths feed on plants with noxious defense compounds when they are larvae. They are so well adapted to feeding on these, that they have managed to turn these defenses to their own advantage by sequestering the toxins into their bodies during metamorphosis and emerging as distasteful or toxic adults. Other examples of conspicuous warning patternation include the notoriously toxic poison-dart frogs and coral snakes.

This approach works particularly effectively in animals such as the coral-snakes, whose fatal venom has produced in potential predators, an innate aversion to the coral snake patternation. In the majority of cases, the warning colouration serves to remind predators of the unpleasant experience they encountered the first time they tried to eat a member of that species. The success of this approach therefore relies on the predator´s ability to recognize and remember the species on sight.  This can also mean that a palatable species may gain some protection due to a visual similarity with a noxious species which its predators have learnt to avoid. A greater similarity would mean greater protection and due to this, many non-noxious animal species evolved to copy the patternation of unrelated noxious species, an evolutionary phenomenon termed Batesian mimicry.  Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the hyper diverse rainforest and in fact it is here in the Amazon in 1862 that the great naturalist Henry W. Bates first noticed the effect in Heliconid butterflies. 

Batesian mimicry aids the mimicking species but actually disadvantages the model species, as predators may fail to always associate the warning pattern with unpalatability. Batesian mimicry can therefore be thought of as a type of visual parasitism and can thus cause the evolution of more complicated warning patternation, as the model species strives to differentiate itself from the mimic, whilst the mimic species does the opposite in an evolutionary cat and mouse game.

Mimicry of warning patternation, however, is not always parasitic and can also develop as a mutualism where both species benefit. This occurs when two similarly noxious species, evolve to look like each other, in order to share the costly task of educating predators. This phenomenon is termed Mullarian mimicry and produces the most striking cases of similarity between unrelated species. For instance, two species of Heliconid butterfly engaged in Mullarian mimicry were found to faithfully copy each other even where the patternation of the species´ varied in different Amazon regions.

In the hyper diversity of the rainforest individual differentiation is often futher complicated by combinations of Batesian and Mullarian mimicry working together to produce large mimicry complexes of stunningly similar species. This can make species identification a very tricky skill indeed as much in the rainforest is not what it seems. JAB

February saw Explorer’s Inn once again in a whirlwind of excitement, with the second visit from the German film company Light and Shadow productions.  The film crew, led by director and producer Christian Baumeister, and behavioural biologist Petra Löttker, visited the lodge for the first time in 2008 to begin filming ‘Amazon Alive’, a three part series showcasing Amazonian biodiversity.  Specialising in high quality wildlife documentary filmmaking, Light and Shadow’s main focus this trip was on the rainy season aspect of the Amazon, a period which is often overlooked by tourists because of heavy rains and abundances of mosquitoes.  Their trip started in the Andean cloud forest, from where the crew worked their way downriver to lowland rainforest such as that found around Explorer’s Inn.  Explorer’s Inn was one of many lodges, along the Tambopata River, which were visited by the film crew, however their stay at the lodge was so good that they decided to re arrange their schedule, so that they could return a week later for more filming.

The crew’s main interest at Explorer’s Inn was filming the leafcutter ants, which have the most sophisticated societies of any of the social insects (ants, wasps, bees and termites).  Leafcutter ants do not actually eat the leaves which they cut, but use them as a medium upon which to cultivate a fungus, which they eventually harvest and eat.    Although the crew already had a large amount of footage of the ants outside the nest, they desperately needed footage of the fungus gardens inside to complete their film sequence.  Aided by the expertise of staff members Elisban Armas and Mario Sagara, the crew was able to open a small section of a suitable leafcutter nest and film.  However inside the nest they were surprised to find something which proved to be much more interesting than the ants themselves.

The painted ant nest frog (Leptodactylus lineatus) is often heard calling at the entrances of leafcutter ant nests, however little is know about the species, or why it exists inside the ant nest.  It was this frog that the film crew discovered when they opened up the leafcutter nest, complete with a pool of water which the frog had been using as a nest to house its eggs and tadpoles.  The crew was able to film the frog with its young inside its nest, a very interesting addition to their documentary indeed.

The benefits to the both parties in the ant frog symbiosis are somewhat unclear, however the painted ant nest frog is known to emit a powerful odour and this may provide a clue, to help unlock the puzzle.  It has been speculated that the odour may aid the ants in locating their nest entrance or may act as a repellant to predators such as anteaters and armadillos.  The ants may also benefit from the frog’s habit of eating insect larvae which parasitise their nests. In return, the ants dig underground pathways, which lead to pools of groundwater which the frogs use as mating grounds and as a nest for their young.  The tadpoles have also been found to consume stray spores from the ants’ fungus, which land in the pool.

Filming the ant-frog interaction proved a very tricky task indeed, and the crew were very fortunate to be visiting at the same time as Swiss herpetologist (amphibian and reptile expert) Konrad Mebert.  Konrad proved to be an invaluable addition to the team, and was on hand to help with frog handling and behavioural advice during the filming, which continued throughout several nights.  Alongside helping the film crew, Konrad had a very busy schedule, which involved catching as many snakes and frogs as possible and photographing them.  Konrad’s Visit to EI allowed him to add several new species of snake and frog to his photographic repertoire of Peruvian herptiles.  He also delighted guests at Explorer’s Inn with his herpetology demonstrations, which enabled a number of guests to get up close and personal with Explorer’s Inn’s snakes and frogs.

Just days after the Light and Shadow film crew left Explorer’s Inn, they reappeared on the riverbank, complete with their usual enormous cargo of cameras, generators, boxes and props.  This time the purpose of their visit was to reconstruct the travels of the great biologist and co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection, Alfred Russell Wallace.  Wallace visited the Amazon between 1848 and 1852 and made many important discoveries during that time. 

Cocococha Lake, nestled well within the Tambopata National Reserve, is a shining example of a successful interaction between tourism and conservation.  The restriction of visitor access to a small portion of the lake means that much of the lake remains disturbance-free and therefore providing perfect habitat for species such as the Giant River Otter (Pteronura brasilensis).

Cocococha Lake also provides a perfect breeding ground for a rare and secretive species of heron – the Agami heron (Agami agamia).  The Agami is a very attractive species of heron, but is rarely seen due to its secretive nature and preference for shaded forest streams, small rivers and swamps.  As such, its population status is poorly understood.  Agamis are known to breed in colonies however, and Cocococha Lake is home to one of the biggest breeding colonies of this species.

The Agamis breed during the rainy season and their arrival usually falls around Christmas-time.  This year around 200 Agami herons were breeding along with several Boat-billed herons (Cochlearius cochlearius).  Only a handful of other large breeding colonies have been reported, with the largest being a colony in French Guiana consisting of approximately 900 nests (Reynauld & Kushlan, 2004).  With the exception of this French Guianan colony, the colony at Cocococha is larger than all other reported colonies, possibly making it the second-largest and certainly very important in species terms.
Agamis are easily disturbed and isolation and protection is a key factor in the suitability of breeding sites for this species (Reynauld & Kushlan, 2004). The continued tourism-conservation management of Cocococha should therefore ensure that Agamis will keep returning to the site year after year.

Explorers Inn supports monitoring of the Agami colony throughout the breeding season, which runs from approximately December to April.  This has been done by myself, Victoria Thompson de Salas, along with assistance from the Resident Naturalists at the lodge.  Monitoring has been undertaken since 2005 and the colony has been present at the lake since 2002. VTS

References:
Reynauld & Kushlan (2004)

Max Milligan first came to Peru at the age of 20, where his career as a professional photographer took root in a wide range of employment: filming documentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation and National Geographic Video, diving for Inca relics in high altitude lakes, and pouring beer as the first barman and manager of the Cross Keys Pub in Cuzco.  Not an unimpressive resume for a guy in his twenties.  Still, it was his trip to the rainforests of Madre de Dios that affected him the most. “The Amazon was where I fell in love with Peru”, says Milligan.  He became a guide at Explorer’s Inn, and returned with international groups of tourists over the course of ten years.

Milligan gave up guiding after he held his first photographic exhibition in 1993 and decided to devote his time to writing and photography.  Since then, he has published three books; ‘Circles of Stone’ (Harvill Press, 1999), ‘Realm of the Incas’ (Harper Collins/Rizzoli, 2001), and ‘Ghana: A Portrait’ (Nubuke/Idlewild, 2006).  In ‘Realm of the Incas’, Milligan returned to Peru photograph the vastly varied landscapes and cities in the southeast of the country.  Milligan came back to Explorer’s Inn to collect shots for the final chapter in his book, “Madre de Dios, The Tropical Rainforest”.  After finding a signed copy of the book in the Discovery Center (where it is currently available for guests to borrow – please ask a resident naturalist!) I caught up with Max Milligan on his memories at Explorer’s Inn and what he’s up to now.

What inspired you to make "Realm of the Incas"?
MM: I wanted to put across what it was about Peru that captivated me. I was sent there on Operation Raleigh in 1985 against my will - having wanted to go to Kenya. Twenty-four years later I still haven't been there. The challenge of putting all the variety and diversity in one book.

What inspired you to include a chapter on the Amazon and why did you choose Tambopata and Manu to photograph?
MM: The Amazon was where I fell in love with Peru - it was like my university years. Also geographically and biologically it is SO important, not just for Peru, but on a world scale.

How long did you stay at Explorer´s Inn and at Manu National Park to take all the photos you used in Realm of the Incas?
MM: The pictures span from 1985 (the brown dawn shot on first double page), but 95% I took in five days at Explorer's Inn in 2000 and two weeks in Manu.  I stayed at Explorer's Inn for about 14 months over the period from 1985 to 1995, then five days in 2000 when I shot pictures for the book.  I only took up photography in 1993 aged 28.

In your opinion, what is the most photogenic animal in the Tambopata National Reserve?
MM: So many to choose from: Marcelino, the head cook, definitely. Also many of the bright coloured birds. A Bushmaster is incredibly beautiful close-up, like a persian rug, sadly I didn't have a camera for my close encounter. Ocelot would be my favourite though.

What are your favorite memories of your time at Explorer´s Inn?
MM: Meeting and working with people like Ted Parker (ornithology), Terry Irwin (entomology), and Al Gentry (botany) - all experts in their field - was a privilege. Sightings of wildlife always stay with you - an ocelot on the beach behind my tent, lightning shows for hours before a storm on sunset point, many hours talking with naturalists and tourists from around the world... so many memories.

In the Amazon rainforest, it is hard enough to spot animals let alone find opportunities to capture them on camera in an artistic way.  What is your approach to photographing flora and fauna in the Amazon?
MM: Always have your cameras at the ready - aperture set on two camera bodies for light and shade. I was lucky as I had two years in the forest, spread over ten years, so I knew where to find certain territorial animals at certain times. Ninety percent is luck, though; patience does help too. I shot a lot of patterns and atmosphere in the plant life too - at least they sit still.

What are you working on now?
MM: My last book was on Ghana, with Kofi Annan - and now I am finishing three more to be published at Christmas 2010 – ‘The Soul of Scotland’, ‘Lebanon’, and one on ‘Fine Art Nudes’.