Nature features

Snake snack: then there were no green jungle frogs

Arrival in Belize

After two very long days of travelling I finally arrived in Belize.  Flying low over the country I was astounded by how green it was, with very little habitation; a far cry from the high rises of Manchester. I was greeted at the airport by Sharon, another PhD student from my research group at Manchester University who informed me that her hire car had just been reversed into leaving a big dent in the bumper and the culprit nowhere to be seen. Looking at the other vehicles I had the feeling that this was not an uncommon occurrence. We headed up the road towards San Ignacio after stopping at the local supermarket for some supplies (plenty of chocolate and rum!) and after driving along it for a couple of miles we came across a river with a rather dubious looking ‘ferry’.  This ferry was powered by a very lean old man, who single-handedly winched the platform across the river – very impressive!

Looking for tree frogs

Stuck in the mud

We arrived in San Ignacio in the early evening and met up with a group of researchers from Oxford University so that we could drive up the road to the field station in convoy.  Unfortunately we got a message to say that the road was blocked by the bus carrying the Manchester field course students, which was stuck in the mud. That stretch of road eventually became impassable so a new path had to be cut through the jungle while a bridge was built over the mud pit. You'd pay a lot of money back in the UK for that kind of off-road driving, but I’m not sure that I would fancy trying to drive through it myself!  We spent that night and the following day in San Ignacio waiting for Chapal, who is the manager of Las Cuevas field station, to drive up the road with us in case we got stuck. After a very bumpy four hour drive we eventually arrived.

Four students, tree frogs

Las Cuevas is a fairly large research station built by the British Royal Engineers in 1994, and is used by researchers from all over the world.  The site is extremely remote but has the benefit of fresh running water that comes from a nearby cave (hence the name ‘Las Cuevas’).  Electricity is provided from a generator for six hours every day.  The Manchester students stayed at the research station for just over a week and carried out short projects. I had four students working with myself and Douglas Sherriff, the specialist amphibian and reptile keeper from Chester Zoo. The two species that we are looking at are the red-eye tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) and Morelet’s tree frog (A. moreletii). Morelet’s tree frog is classed as being critically endangered due to its limited range, however there appears to be a very large population at Las Cuevas thanks to a number of ponds close to the research station, which provide perfect breeding sites for tree frogs. 

It's a jungle out there

Tropical storm

The field course ran very smoothly and the students really benefited from being able to design their own experiments and learn about the pitfalls of field research, (of which there are many!)  There was a moment of uncertainty the night before they were due to leave as we had been told that there was a tropical storm on its way that night, which would have made to road out extremely difficult to get though.  Fortunately the storm held off until the next night and the students made it to San Ignacio, where they all went their separate ways.

Tarantula and chips

Since the students have left I've been working with Emma Shaw, a lecturer and researcher from Manchester Metropolitan University, who is studying red-rumped tarantulas. Our work fits in nicely together since both frogs and tarantulas come out at night.  Frogs like the rain and tarantulas hate it so we work on frogs on wet nights and tarantulas on dry nights. Unfortunately for Emma we seem to have had a particularly wet rainy season this year and the tarantulas are proving to be somewhat elusive.  Both of our projects require us to be able to identify individual animals, so we have been using a relatively new technique to microchip them.  This was a very daunting task at first because a very small incision has to be made in the skin for the chip to be inserted into.  Frogs and tarantulas pose very different problems when it comes to microchipping. Tarantulas have massive fangs, which can give a nasty bite, and they also flick hairs that can cause skin irritation.  Fortunately it is possible to anaesthetise them with carbon dioxide, which we make by mixing baking soda with vinegar. Frogs are not so dangerous to work with, however anaesthetising them in the field would be very risky so the incision has to be made when they are awake.  With help from Douglas, and a few modifications of our own, we managed to get the technique perfected and are now accomplished tarantula and frog microchippers! 

Fangs: Emma tackles a tarantula

Tracking frogs

Many of the things that I set out to do here have not worked as I had planned – the pitfalls of field work that I mentioned earlier.  The stomach flushing has proved to be very difficult because the frogs don’t appear to have very much in their stomachs.  I suspect that they do not feed before the come to the pond to breed, which is when we are able to catch them.  Unfortunately we have very little information on their feeding behaviour, and frogs are extremely difficult to track without disturbing them since they are active at night and live in the tree canopy when they are not breeding.  We are looking into getting radio trackers for next year so we can get more information on their movements and feeding.  This year I’m concentrating on measuring colour variation in the frogs and in their eggs, and gathering information on their natural environment so that their environment in captivity can be improved. 

Eaten alive!

I’m now almost half way through my stay here, which sounds terrible because I feel like I’ve been here for no time at all.  I’m having a fantastic time but I have to say that I’m looking forward to eating something that isn’t rice and beans.  We went into town for the first time a couple of days ago to renew our visas and ate lunch twice – very satisfying!  The mosquitoes haven’t been too bad here but the black flies are a nightmare!  It’s amazing that something so small can be so annoying. We’ve seen some amazing things here already, most of which disappear before I manage to get my camera out.  We’ve also seen some pretty nasty things - like frogs being eaten whole by the cat-eye snakes that live around the pond. I have to admit that I couldn’t resist rescuing one of them. We’re planning to go tree climbing this week, and we’re going to spend a night in the bird watching tower that overlooks the field station, so lots to look forward to!