Curu Wildlife Preserve, Costa Rica
Our journey began today bright and early at 7:30 a.m. after a hearty breakfast. We disembarked on the dark-sanded beach of Curu Wildlife Preserve. As we unloaded off the Zodiacs, we were waiting for the adventure to begin and it did. Just a few yards from the landing area a small group of howler monkeys was eating mangoes. We split into four groups heading different ways: a couple of forest walks, a bird-watching road walk or just relaxing on the beach. It turned out to be a fantastic mammal-watching morning: two species of monkeys, an agouti, a coati, variegated squirrels, and a very rarely spotted arboreal porcupine. But nothing made our naturalists more excited than a tiny, almost insignificant insect. We were lucky enough to spot a line of army ants!! Army ants of the genus Eciton are the most famous of the army ants. The number of species is highest in lowland forests and in these there are typically four or five genera and about 20 species at any given locality. Army ants are remarkably similar in their behavior and ecology and can be distinguished from other ants by the following features: 1) Colonies are large ranging from thirty thousand to more than a million. 2) All species are almost exclusively carnivorous. 3) Entire colonies migrate looking for fresh feeding grounds. 4) Only one queen is found in each colony. 5) Males and queens are the only winged castes. There are many other characteristics, but these five put together define an army ant colony.
During the afternoon we visited a small beach where the breaking waves gave way to many water activities such as swimming, boogie boarding, or simply beach bumming. Back on board we attended a lecture given by the Princeton University representative, Peter Johnson, and later were introduced to the officers, the crew members and the staff. We were all tired and ready to go to bed looking forward to our new day.
Our journey began today bright and early at 7:30 a.m. after a hearty breakfast. We disembarked on the dark-sanded beach of Curu Wildlife Preserve. As we unloaded off the Zodiacs, we were waiting for the adventure to begin and it did. Just a few yards from the landing area a small group of howler monkeys was eating mangoes. We split into four groups heading different ways: a couple of forest walks, a bird-watching road walk or just relaxing on the beach. It turned out to be a fantastic mammal-watching morning: two species of monkeys, an agouti, a coati, variegated squirrels, and a very rarely spotted arboreal porcupine. But nothing made our naturalists more excited than a tiny, almost insignificant insect. We were lucky enough to spot a line of army ants!! Army ants of the genus Eciton are the most famous of the army ants. The number of species is highest in lowland forests and in these there are typically four or five genera and about 20 species at any given locality. Army ants are remarkably similar in their behavior and ecology and can be distinguished from other ants by the following features: 1) Colonies are large ranging from thirty thousand to more than a million. 2) All species are almost exclusively carnivorous. 3) Entire colonies migrate looking for fresh feeding grounds. 4) Only one queen is found in each colony. 5) Males and queens are the only winged castes. There are many other characteristics, but these five put together define an army ant colony.
During the afternoon we visited a small beach where the breaking waves gave way to many water activities such as swimming, boogie boarding, or simply beach bumming. Back on board we attended a lecture given by the Princeton University representative, Peter Johnson, and later were introduced to the officers, the crew members and the staff. We were all tired and ready to go to bed looking forward to our new day.
