I was walking on a trail and nearly ran into a furry creature hanging upside down from a vine. Unlike most wild mammals, it didn’t run or even walk lazily away – it was a sloth, so it moved just a little faster than a plant grows. The fur is green, from algae that grow in it (another way for a plant to get up above the shade!). The fur is also home to tiny moths – I am told that these ride the sloth until it climbs down to forest floor to defecate – then the moths lay their eggs in the scat.
There are 3 groups using 3 different light trap sites. The phone site (possible to get a cell signal) is where we caught the male ww on the first night. Each night since we’ve moved to a new location, and caught none, even though those locations produced a ww when the French or Japanese teams were there. But I do have a 2nd specimen (also male) gifted to me by the Japanese folks.
Tomorrow we will run the final light trap. Unless we’re lucky, I may leave here with no ww females. Am I disappointed? Yep. Was the trip worth it? Of course. I understand the sampling techniques better. I’ve learned a ton of entomology from Bill and Maishe. And I’ve spent 10 days in the rain, at night, in the jungle. A pretty good contrast to daily life in February in Connecticut.
The Japanese group is looking at treehoppers and ants. The two insects are friends (as Brady would say): the treehoppers produce honeydew eaten by ants, and ants protect the treehoppers from predators. The Japanese scientists are incredibly focused, out squatting on the ground (in the rain, it should go without saying by now) with fancy cameras shooting ants, day and night. They seem to have less interest in humans. They pass us on the trails without a word or any interest in what we’re doing. They eat dinner together with almost no conversation among themselves, and they never laugh, in contrast to Maishe and Bill, who exchange jokes full time. Is the Japanese team having fun? It isn’t obvious that they are, but who knows?
--DLC
The Japanese group is looking at treehoppers and ants. The two insects are friends (as Brady would say): the treehoppers produce honeydew eaten by ants, and ants protect the treehoppers from predators. The Japanese scientists are incredibly focused, out squatting on the ground (in the rain, it should go without saying by now) with fancy cameras shooting ants, day and night. They seem to have less interest in humans. They pass us on the trails without a word or any interest in what we’re doing. They eat dinner together with almost no conversation among themselves, and they never laugh, in contrast to Maishe and Bill, who exchange jokes full time. Is the Japanese team having fun? It isn’t obvious that they are, but who knows?
--DLC