Sunday, May 8, 2011

Animal Planet LIVE

Ok, last Amazon post.  Animal and insect sightings.

There are monkeys, giant spiders and other exotic birds everywhere.  It´s pretty cool to see in the wild.  Tons of pics below.

We bumped into this guy on the boat trip back.  Wow.


Pensive male howler monkey.  When he roars, he sounds like a 747 taking off.  It is unreal.

Wondering what those big awkward apes on the jungle floor are up to.

Caiman - like an Amazonian crocodile or alligator.

Dragon blood tree.  It bleeds red when cut... and the liquid is used by locals as a healing lotion.

Capybara  - a big, awkward aquatic rodent.

Macaws - they are huge and are awesome to see flying around.  Much cooler than in pet stores.


Paper wasp - one of these bit me and it felt like someone had fired a staple into my neck.  Usually not aggressive though.

Woodpecker at long distance.

A flock of ... parrots.



A toucan!  



A tree-strangling vine.  It will eventually strangle the tree and grow over it, becoming a tree itself.

Crazy looking fruit.  Bitter and not really edible.


Giant ant.  You can´t really see it here.  

Thorn spider. What a weird shape.

Mushrooms at the base of a tree... also surreal looking.

Fairly large orb weaver.  For some reason, all these oversize spiders fascinate me.

Potted plant in the US... this thing grows big here.

Butterfly with transparent wings!


He´s lookin at you.

Butterflies all swarm to these clay licks, which have a lot of sodium.

Another bizarre looking butterfly.


Poison dart frog.  Natives use these on the end of their spears and arrows to hunt, since the body is really poisonous.

Good sized tarantula, spotted at night.

Little blurry here... but a caiman with a huge fish in its mouth.

Parrot fly by.











These macaws were raised by scientists as part of a program to increase their numbers in the wild.  It worked, and they are mostly wild, but sometimes they come back to stalk the breakfast table at the lodge.

This one stole a couple of pancakes.  Now they are going to fight over it.

Another howler.


Each tree is like its own little ecosystem.  

Another terrifying large spider.  This one eating a moth.

A spider monkey wondering whats up.  They are endangered and prefer to live in primary forest, which is disappearing across South America.

Dragon fly.

Spider monkey hanging out directly overhead.

Cappucin monkey dining on some fruit.

Terrifying wasp nest.  Do.  Not.  Disturb.

Another spider monkey high above the trail.


Curious what the gringos are up to.

Orb spider at night - when most of the spiders come out.

Our aggressive friend again.

This moth succumbed to a fungal parasite... just bizarre.

Tree frog!  Just like on TV.


Woodpecker

Maybe the most bizarre and evil looking bird ever... their meat is slightly toxic so they have no natural predators.  They are also very awkward in the air.

Bats sleeping during the day.


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