The spotted ones are coming to dinner

Soon the fastest running mammal will be roaming Gorongosa National Park.  This will be a significant step in returning the region to a balanced system.   The grazers and browsers continue to build the lower part of the Gorongosa food pyramid for the soon to be released carnivores.

How did this animal become so fast?  It is good question to ask a beginning biology class.  The question prompts a variety of misconceptions around evolution by natural selection.  "The cheetahs learned to run faster over time" one student might respond.  Or "They ran faster because they needed to catch the small fast antelope."  Genetic variation is usually the concept that is overlooked.  The fact that some ancestral cheetahs might have had the ability to run slightly faster than others.  Then there is the adaptation and the fact that not all survive to reproduce.  Yes, the speed enhances the ability to get food and survive.  Finally, the genetic link to future cheetahs.  Those enhanced survivors pass on their genes for speed.   Of course it helps to conceptualize the timescale of millions of years and the fact that this increase in speed is not happening over several generations but hundreds of thousands of generations.   Hence, the cheetah is a fine model for introducing natural selection.  It is also a fine specimen for reintroducing top predators into this recovering ecosystem in order to bring it back to its previous balance. 

The cheetahs we observed in the enclosures near Explore Gorongosa had been transported from South Africa weeks prior.  There were two holding pens dividing the animals.  Two brothers were in the larger enclosure and were clearly very compatible.  We observed them sleeping together,  laying on top of each other, and frolicking together.   This is common between male cheetahs.  Males which are brought together from distant areas will often develop tight bonds together.  Brothers will typically remain together for their entire life.  

The female cheetahs are a different story.  The one we observed was clearly more aggressive and showed us her well developed teeth on our first encounter.  She then slowly strolled across her enclosure with a beautiful smooth gait with raised shoulders going for cover after giving us her warning.   Good to see the wild side - it is comforting for the pending release.  Best of luck to the local African hares, rodents and young impala.

A day in the Park

The morning light on the way to Mt. Gorongosa added a new dimension to the trees.  Every trip in the helicopter gives new perspective on the landscape.  The shadows in morning  made each tree appear more prominent in the forest.  

Our helicopter rose with the sun as Mr. Berthus was taking us to the location where we had previously conducted the rainforest survey with Ed.  My plan was to search within the rainforest floor for additional ant species and discover what other invertebrates were in and around the understory. 

On the approach to the mountain we passed over a layer of low clouds that skirted the base mountain.  Such varied topography leads to very interesting microclimates here which shapes a variety of ecosystems, resulting in the great biodiversity of the region.

The smoke from grass fires had been frequent down low in the Park, but here at 4700 feet the air was fresh and crisp.  Initially, I assisted Joel from National Geographic with the mist nets for bird collection.  We were joined by Ninda from Angola and Daniel, a biology intern from Portugal. On arrival we walked down to a stream bed where I had photographed a variable sunbird on the last expedition.  This ended up being a good collecting spot, netting 4 different birds. 

Once the nets were in place I decided to explore a new region of the rainforest.  I brought the machete and collecting gear on the upward slope of the meadow.   To access to the forest within I would have to clear with the machete. Most of the entry had thorn covered vines and some dense low trees.  I made a path just large enough so I exit easily with the bags of soil and leaf litter, shovel, and camera gear.

Before I really start collecting I found my eyes needed time to adjust to the dim light.  As I began searching through leaf litter I notice that there was an abundance of springtails (Collombola).  Ed was surprised that the previous sampling of leaf litter showed none.  He had discussed how the springtails are prey for a variety of predatory ants. Maybe this ground material will yield new ants.

I spent much of the time exploring the bark on fallen trees and logs.  The older material mostly had millipedes and earwigs. The newer wood had a variety of spiders, crickets, an unknown type of land snail, slugs, and the small white millipedes that Ed and I were finding in the leaf litter sample.  No ants were found.  The majority of the animals excluding the birds are incredibly cryptic.  In Ed’s report from the previous survey he commented that most of the invertebrates were quite small, which could be due to this rainforest being montane with extended cold weather.

The expedition seemed to go so fast.  Wish I could spend more time in this location.  I caught a very large Carpenter Bee on the return to the helicopter.  On the way back to Chitengo I handed off the collection to Joel for photography and then to Ed for identification at Harvard.

We were delayed a little coming back to Chitengo due to taking the nets down along the forest edge.  Upon landing back at camp, Bob was there with his Land Rover to pick me up at the helo landing area.  He was with Candida Pinto a well-known Portuguese television news journalist.  She is here by way of Libya, Egypt and some other places to do a story on Gorongosa for Portuguese and Mozambique television.  

Bob’s next project is to shoot the elephants of Gorongosa for an elephant recovery story. Some of the animals may have still not recovered from the civil war and the slaughter that occurred here.  We went on a drive with a guide last week whose vehicle was thrown on its side by an elephant last year.  Everyone survived but the experience sounded pretty intense.  Bob will be here to document the work of this expert to calm them down so there behavior stays on the up and up.  He has survived a few himself. The instances I know of include a rhino attack that missed him by inches and a plane crash at Ndutu that killed the pilot. 

The day ended at the Hippo House, on the edge of Lake Urema.    This is an old restaurant and bar structure from the glory days of Gorongosa.  It sits on the edge of Lake Urema and is an incredible spot for birding.  On arriving to the area I watched a Black-headed Heron swallow a 14” snake. 

We used the site to shoot Ed for a couple of pieces for Life on Earth.   Beautiful scene on the marsh.  Interviews were also conducted with Mark Stahlmans and Greg Carr.

Just another day in the Park.

Follow the Hogs

You can never have enough cheetahs. The park will be introducing three imported cheetahs soon, after an acclimation period in the sanctuary area. Bailey and I worked up a scheme for improving the cheetah situation. One thing we have a ton of here are warthogs. The population of jungle pork is hugely out of balance. So we proposed to Greg that we could pile warthogs in a fleet of buses and head off to where the cheetahs are in southern Africa. Then we spread out warthogs behind us on the way home to create a population density gradient of warthogs that the cheetahs will follow to Gorongosa. The warthogs seem to be a cheerful and unfocussed bunch and I don't think we would need to make up an elaborate story for them. Then they would do what they are supposed to do, which is give it up for the cheetahs.

Grimly, it turns out that cheetahs would rather tangle with just about any smaller four-footer before they try a warthog. When the warthogs came plowing and schmuffling the cheetahs would go scampering back to Zimbabwe. So Bailey and I are back at the drawing board in the endowed chair we share at the Institute for Impractical Ecologists, which is what we shall call our second-row seat on the safari truck.

Reboot

There's an old story that if a biochemist wanted to figure out a locomotive, step one would be to blow it to smitherinos. The reductionist approach works pretty well for cells. Pulverize, separate, and do experiments to figure out which pieces fit together and how they help the metabolism of the cell hang together.

Gorongosa got pulverized during the civil war. Rebel and government armies surged back and forth over the park for years. Armies on the move are tough on herds, and soon enough there were no more herds, and finally almost nothing left standing. Crocs got through by hiding under water. There is nowhere for a water buffalo to hide from a hungry battalion of soldiers.

That grim time wasn't reductionism, it was just reduction. It was also a long time ago. And it turns out there is a lot to learn from studying the disassembly and revival of the hypervital living economy of Gorongosa. Life is surging here now and the metabolism of the park is putting itself back together again fast. But there is still a huge experiment to be done in Gorongosa as the reboot of the place progresses. That's going to be a big theme in Life on Earth. We're writing it up now and we're going to be following it for years in our future editions as we report on the progress of Greg Carr and his team as they reassemble Gorongosa National Park.

This week ecologist Marc Stalmans gave the textbook project aerial lectures on transition zones in the park--floodplain to copse to forest and so on. It's all about water. But it's also about succession. If grazers don't mow the grasses, browsers don't flourish. If browsers get befuddled, alien things like mimosa move in and grow too tall. The grazing grounds flinch and withdraw. Environmental change is as normal as the day, especially here, and that leaves park managers with countless decisions about how Gorongosa emerges from its recent history.

Human influence can be measured in units of mass and volume of waterborne material pouring into the park from the mountain and from a huge catchment in the northeast. The volumes are rising due to land-use changes outside the park. The sediment is filling in Lake Urema, the heart of Gorongosa's circulatory system. As the lake becomes too shallow, the hippos move elsewhere, taking with them massive activity that stirs up the lake. With their exodus, sediment settles and the lake bed rises.

There are interveners and leave-aloners here, and often after a couple of years working in the park they switch sides. The science is complicated. It was once thought that the lake was fed almost entirely by runoff from higher terrain. It now seems plain, based on isotope comparisons and other techniques, that the lake is sustained by water transfer across a porous stratum between the lake and the aquifer. The surprising discovery was made that more water arrives from the upper catchment than from the mountain. The lake could easily be remodeled by dredging parts of it, which might bring back the hippos, and one learns to trust the power of hippos to model their environment. Water pileups could be created at the outlet. Sediment could be captured on the higher ground by porous barriers. Or the entire scene could be left alone to shape itself according to the laws of nature, with "nature" here meaning a beautiful scene mangled not so long ago by war and now recovering while inhaling the smoke and tailings (goldmines in the buffer, fer criminy's sake) of escalating human impact on the surrounding region.

We're heading out in the truck this afternoon to finish Marc's aerial transition-zone lessons with shoots at the same sites on the ground. We'll cross-cut the shoots with maps and animations to make a lesson that will shock the children awake. One of these days, one of those kids is going to be making decisions about hydrology and hippos at Lake Urema.

Costliest potatoes on Earth

With the rise of the Green Movement and a sustainability-minded society, it is common to equate consumer products with the true cost of resources required to produce them. Consider the 625 gallons of water required to produce a cheeseburger or the tons of carbon emitted to make an automobile (never mind the cost to run it). When faced with the reality of slash and burn agriculture it is hard to put a cost on the rainforest lost to produce a crop. Sadly we have learned that in six years Mt. Gorongosa has lost nearly half of its rainforest, going from 67 to 39 square miles.

After the rainforest survey that was conducted on Mt. Gorongosa the other day, a few of us stayed on the mountain to do additional work. One objective was to document the recent deforestation high up the mountain. Mr. Berthus dropped us off not far across the mountain from where we had conducted the survey. The group included South African science consultant Marc Stalmans and National Geographic photographers Bob Poole and Joel Sartore.

As we circled the area to investigate we could see small huts in the middle of the recent clearings. These were the beginnings of farm houses. We could also see very well-worn paths connecting this area to other parts of the mountain. It was incredibly sad to see the devastation from the air and the network of well-worn paths. Easy to imagine that new surrounding forest would be destroyed in a short amount of time.

We landed in the late afternoon and were instructed by the pilot that we only had a certain amount of time to reach the clearings and make it back to fly out. We discussed our assignments. With Bob’s heavy video camera he wouldn’t be going as high but would cover the lower reaches. Joel and I with our smaller camera kits would try to make it to the top with Marc.

The tranquilty of the pristine stream we crossed at the bottom of the valley was quickly broken by massive fallen trees. Each had been felled by hand axes. My first thought was of a battlefield strewn with bodies. Some of the freshly cut stumps had pools of liquid on their surfaces. These trees were bleeding.

The going was tough climbing the large logs, wading through the slash, ducking under and over branches, walking the length of the trees stretched out across small ravines. Carnage and more carnage.

We paused occasionally to catch our breath and balance, and to document with our cameras. Then we pressed on at a crazy pace. I wondered how the locals managed to navigate this terrain.

All of the land we were walking across was within the national park. How could this destruction be occurring in a protected area?

I looked into one hut and saw some water jugs and old food supplies. Joel and Marc went into another that had a pot over a smoking fire and a partially skinned cane rat. Our approach had possibly flushed the inhabitants into the woods.

I placed a potato in my pocket to show Greg Carr back at Chitengo Camp. When presented with the potato he slowly shook his head side to side. I have come to realize that Greg is part sage, part magician and a true leader. He will find a way to work this out so both the people and the mountain will win.

Bad news tends to come in threes. Hopefully, the streak will end with the goldmines, poacher’s camps, and now the deforestation . The bushbaby is crying again in the night. Maybe he is sad too.

On the return to the helicopter I was thinking about the cost of a bag of potatoes in a local supermarket back home. How much is it? Maybe 6 or 7 dollars (US$) a bag. The cost on Mt. Gorongosa? Priceless.

Census Gorongosa

During this expedition we have practiced a variety of animal capture and release techniques  in order to monitor life in Gorongosa.  We have used mist nets for birds, butterfly nets for any flying,  ziplock bags for ants, and our cameras for anything else.  These are all providing good content for the Life on Earth project to show how biologists conduct animal surveys. 

Some collecting trips are planned and others are spontaneous.  A good example of the unplanned discovery occurred the other night when Liz came into the dining area and said “There is an enormous spider in my room and it is in my suitcase!”  Immediately, Ed stood up and commented “This is an entomologist’s dream!  Coming  to the aid of a lady in distress.”  After a brief search in her room, there it was.  A large baboon spider showed up in her clothes.   Ed deftly captured the beast near a pair of socks. The Lord of the Ants had saved the lady as I am sure he has many times before.

I just caught myself about to write “The highlight of the trip so far….”, but realized I may have written that too many times already.  Is that such a bad thing?  If it isn’t already apparent,  Gorongosa is filled with “highlights.”  For those who love to explore and discover the beauty, complexity, and processes of the natural world, it is a dream. 

Yesterday, we had the incredible opportunity to collect specimens within virgin rainforest in upper reaches of Mt. Gorongosa.  This was prime habitat for collecting undescribed species.  It was a biological explorer’s dream.  Coming out of the high plateau grassland into the dense canopy of the rainforest was overwhelming.  Everything seemed to be covered by mosses and other bryophytes.   The air was still and wet.   I arrived on the second helicopter run with Morgan, Liz, Greg and Bailey.  As we entered the forest we heard findings had been slim.    A reward of “2 Fantas” was announced by Ed.   Samples of soil were gently  turned and fallen branches moved and replaced.  I kneeled down and started removing some bark from a fallen moss-covered limb.  After a short while I started finding a variety of insects including two pseudoscorpions.  I had previously only found these in the far away habitat of the San Diego Bay intertidal.   Peeling away more bark I encountered some spiders  I had never seen before.  As I reached for a spider, it raced for the edge of the bark and I saw something lunge for it.  I peeled back the bark and found a small, dark tree frog.  This could a species that has never been seen before.

Within the same region I found a dead ant under the log.  Could I truly earn the Fantas?  Few things have been more stimulating for me as biologist than collecting ants with Ed.  As I approached him with the dead ant I held my arm out and noticed a different species crawling to my hand.  Was it being drawn in to the Lord of the Ants?   It had possibly fallen from the canopy as Ed said it compared closely to other arboreal ants.   The real thrill came when I pried some wood off the surface of the same log and located a small colony of ants.  They immediately disappeared under some liverworts and into the wood.  Ed had commented on the very cryptic nature of many of the ant species found in a rainforest habitat.  These small reddish cryptic ants could be another new species.

Morgan and Ed arranged a great piece on island biogeography within the forest.  The setting was ideal.  Each of us filming the piece for Life on Earth or assisting in the shoot had to pinch ourselves as we listened to Ed articulate the fundamental concepts of the concept the basic concepts of island biogeography, much of which he is responsible for.  The soft green light coming through the canopy and the subtle sounds of sunbirds and surrounding insects in the undergrowth created incredible ambience.

Today in camp Ed spent several hours searching for ants in the leaf litter he returned from  Mt. Gorongosa.  I assisted him for a while and found it very interesting.  This is something I look forward to incorporating in future classes.  Overall, he concluded it was relatively barren for a rainforest.  However, this may be due to its altitude and cold weather.

A bush baby just called in the night.  It sounds like a dying infant who is crying out in the bush.  Why would such a small, relatively defenseless primate have such a loud obnoxious call?

Another recent collecting outing I had with Ed was look over some rock rubble on the edge of Camp Chitengo.  I told him I had seen some incredibly fast ants while I was filming some ant hills nearby.   After several attempts at grabbing these speedy ants I located a plant there were interested in and was able to collect several.   Ed speculated these were Cataglyphis ants.  They are typically found in desert biomes.  Known as the worlds’s fastest ant.  This reveals again something of the great biodiversity in this geographically diverse place.

Each morning, there has also been a bird survey team deigned to begin sampling birds with a mist net.  This is a black, finely-woven net designed to be invisible for passing birds.  There has been success but the birds seem to learn quickly.   Such is the nature of life.

Another capture technique I took part in was the darting of a warthog with the veterinarian  Carlos for a relocation project.   This warthog was not responding to the proper tranquilizers and eventually

Additionally, some specimens are collected by other scientists who have heard of our work in Gorongosa.  This reed frog was collected by the Vegetation Team.  With the help of some additional experts soon we will be able to identify all of these species.  

We will soon demonstrate a variety of means for sampling biodiversity within the Life on Earth Project.    One of the fundamental aspects of maintaining a healthy ecosystem is to maintain species richness.  If it is measured in soon in Gorongosa then it will be possibly to measure the impact of restoration efforts into the future with regular biodiversity measurements.

Now different  bushbaby is crying in the night on the opposite side of camp from the first.  Another informal survey.  Another species on the primate list for Chitengo Camp.   Maybe he/she is telling me it is time for bed.

Fool's gold

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa National Park

Yesterday, one of our activities involved investigating the local Chinese gold mining operation outside of the town Vila Gorongosa.  The local operation holds great significance to Gorongosa National Park because it is being conducted in the buffer zone between the Park and Mt. Gorongosa.  The protected land on the mountain is defined as everything above 700 meters.  An extremely important connection between Mt. Gorongosa and Gorongosa National Park below is the water.  The rivers and Lake Urema are fed from water starting on Mt. Gorongosa.  Whatever gets in the water in the buffer zone between these regions can end up in the Park below.

Greg, Liz, and I headed up in the smaller helicopter with pilot Claude.  It was a windy day and the flight was a little rougher than past trips out of camp.   We had word that much of the mining activity was not far up a dirt road that headed out of the small airport in Vila Gorongosa.  Having reached the small landing strip we headed up the road and could see the first series of ponds within the river.  African workers could be seen working in the water and on the banks as we passed over headed. 

The Chinese Regime is Africa’s largest trade partner.   Supposedly the group from China running the main mining operation has the concession to mine in the region.  However, there are some important questions that need to be defined regarding their ability to use heavy machinery, chemicals in the extraction process, and excavation within the river.  What is clear is that this activity is having drastic effects on the local hydrology.

I was sitting on the pilot’s side of the helicopter in order to get some photographs.  I shot with both a wide angle lens and a 100 – 400 mm lens to get different perspectives of the mines.  We were all amazed at how extensive the operation was.  The water below us was heavily disturbed and sections looked as if they had been chemically treated. 

It is well known that water sustains life.  The wildlife living within this watershed are reliant on the water exiting the mining region.  This water began pure on the upper reaches on Mt. Gorongosa.  The evidence shows from these photos that the water from the Mountain is clear no more.

It is possible the miners are also using cyanide extraction which is typically employed where fine-gold bearing rocks are found. Zinc is added to the mix to improve the extraction process.  The zinc is later removed with sulfuric acid.   Such a toxic brew should never be spewed into the watershed of Gorongosa.

I discovered that China recently became the lead producer of gold in the world.  South Africa had held this position for over 100 years.  Additionally, China is now purchasing major mines in South Africa.  China’s hunger grows and something must be done to prevent it from destroying Mozambique.

I took a late afternoon walk with Ed I began telling him some of the day’s story of the gold mines.  After a short description of what I observed he held up his hand and said “I have heard enough.”  From his experience he knows the utter devastation this operation could cause. 

Returning to the Chitengo dining area I gave Greg Carr digital copies of the photos I took.  He was ready and eager to send them off to government officials.  It was satisfying to hear Greg say “Thanks – these photos could save the Park.”  Let’s hope so.

Community-based conservation

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa National Park

One of the highlights of the expedition to date was our trip to the local village Vinho.  Morgan, Liz, Greg, and I were led by Castro down the road from Chitengo to the Pungue River for our crossing.  On the way we joked about the about the two local village names Vinho (wine) and Bebeda (drunk).  After some talk with locals we discovered that Bebeda is actually Sena for “bite.”   This origin of the name was connected to past Hippo wanderings into the community from the river.  Few realize that the hippos take more human lives in Africa than any of the other megafauna.  After hearing of the “bite” story we then speculated a clever Portuguese adventure may have given Vinho its name following Bebeda. Morgan suggested we should investigate further and I agreed.

Arriving at the river we found the boatman with his craft and a long bamboo pole to be used to “punt” across the river.  Even though we were in the dry season there was still good flow in the Pungue and the boatman navigated cleanly across the current.  Local women just wearing skirts were washing their clothes on some rocks along the shore in a timeless scene.

Walking to the village behind a few women bearing large loads of laundry balanced on their heads took us through large crops of maize and some beans.  Many of the residents of the community work in the Park and would greet Greg with an enthusiastic “Boa tarde Senhor Gregy!” (good afternoon) and warm laughter as we passed.  It is continually made clear how Greg’s vision of developing community support, financial enterprise and good spirits has made wildlife recovery and habitat restoration in Gorongosa possible.  This reminded me of young Jane Goodall and her early work in Gombe, Tanzania.   Since she was not allowed to travel alone as a young woman, her mother escorted on her first expedition.  Eventually, her mother established a small infirmary nearby the chimp study site which allowed Jane to gain great acceptance and support with the local community.  A healthy ecosystem requires all components to be working in a fine balance.

One of the first community development projects we came to was the health clinic established by the Carr Foundation.  We spoke to the nurse and discovered 51 patients had been treated so far during the day. Of those patients 5 were for malaria.  Visiting travelers from outside of Sub-Saharan Africa have the advantage of being able to take prophylactics like Malarone or Doxycycline in order to prevent infection by the mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium.  Everyone else needs a vaccine.  The world needs to know a vaccine is necessary.  Unfortunately, 25% of the Mozambique population has malaria.  Pregrant women and children under 5 are hit the hardest. Whoever is reading this please do what you can to support vaccine development or other medical research for malaria eradication. 

Education is another enormous problem that needs to be addressed throughout Mozambique.  Locally, education stops terminates in the 5^th grade.  This is tragic.  The new school we saw in Vinho is one huge step forward.  We met a range of kids near the school and fell in love with their resourcefulness with the bamboo push cars they had made.   Thanks to community-based efforts in supporting education these kids have a chance to do something good for their community, for Gorongosa, and for Mozambique.

Local knowledge

Explore Gorongosa Camp, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Woke to heavy cloud cover and some wind.  Most other days made me compare the Mozambican winter with late Spring in San Diego.  Pleasant days with cool nights.  Sitting by the campfire as the morning bird sounds rose around us I asked the guide Jeff about rain.   The question was passed to Jinga, the scout, and he took a quick glance around and said “Tempo moron”, or warm weather.  Not cool enough for rain at the moment.  Once more this pointed out the importance of local knowledge, something I have heard again and again from Greg Carr.  It has been mentioned here that many outside experts are in the Park at this time, but they are not rooted in this place.  Most of the local Bantu DNA goes back nearly 2,000 years.

After a coffee preto by the campfire it was time to head out along the Msicadzi River with Jeff and Jinga.   Jeff had his field glasses for birds and Jinga his bolt-action rifle for larger animals.  The grass was high and the weather was possibly warm of enough for snakes so most our time was spent on trails or the sterile soda pan along the upper river bank.  Since many of the animals we hope to see will startle easy, quiet feet were important.  It was a hunt, but the telescoping lens strapped to my side was a Canon 100-400 mm for the documentation of life not the destruction.

We surprised some solitary bushbuck and impala in the high grass.  It is the dry season, but there is plenty of vegetation for them here.  Also good places for predators to hide.

Along the Msicsdzi are deep channels running down the river bank to the water’s edge.  These are the entry and exit points of crocodiles and hippos.  There is not enough water for hippos here but we come upon tracks of crocs up above the channels.  While searching the river vegetation for birdlife we also scan the brush above to make sure we won’t surprise a croc.    The tracks of the largest reptile in the world stand out from all other in the region.  The scale-like pattern looks more like a portion of Japanese fishprint than animal footprint.  The tracks so high above the water make us more vigilant as we move through the dense forest growth.  Several large crocs are spotted along the water’s edge but they quickly slide in and disappear into the brown opaque water.  Incredible how such a large animal can be lost from sight in seconds.  We skirt the water’s edge but maintain some distance from this reptiles that are known to run 35 miles per hour.

Some of the more spectacular birds along the thickets and forest undergrowth are the small Peter’s Twinspot.  The belly has white spots on black that remind one of the back of a barbet.  They are elusive but manage to see a few deep inside some brush.

Sitting along the bank I spotted a flash or large brown wings.  The white head cleared some brush and I can see it is a fish eagle, with a fish in its talons.  The river teems with catfish which also sustain the crocodiles.  Wonder if these predators have ever met while going for the same fish.

Returning to camp Jeff gave an exclamation pointed to his side as a dark slender shiny dark-green body shot through the grass.  A startled cuckoo bird shot from the grass.  “Maybe a Green Mamba” Jeff said.  We followed it as it raced through the dry straw.  We poked with a stick and searched a stand of grass below some trees it disappeared into.  “Must have found its hole” he said.  The speed of the snake was impressive.  The venom is even more impressive.

In the afternoon we were back at Camp Chitengo.  We found Ed writing his piece for National Geographic.  The article with his words and Joel Sartore’s photos will be magical.  Ed seemed in good spirits, but his voice was hoarse from delivering so much on camera.  

A gratifying and quite interesting moment came when I sat down with Ed to have a ceverzha and to show him a high definition video clip I shot that day.  It was an ant video of course.  The termite raiding hissing ants have grabbed my attention more than any other animal so far.  They form tight columns as they travel together like a very organized army marching across the forest floor.  They are also quite large – nearly a centimeter in length.  I have noticed the ants can detect one’s breath if sitting too close.  They sense the carbon dioxide.  Once they sense the breath they will scatter out of formation.  I showed Ed the footage on a wide screen laptop which was shot with a macro lens bringing the ants in to fill the frame as they marched into their hole in the foreground.  At one point they scattered out of formation and Ed scooted back thinking he breathed on them.  We looked at each other and laughed.   I’ll take this as a sign.   If we can continue to produce this kind of content for the Life on Earth project and create a visual that can trick the world’s authority, then we will have accomplished something.

Unnaturalist

Jay and Ed are naturalists. When they walk down a lighted path, they reach into the lamps and pull out beasts without interrupting their conversation. Jay puts a lot of things into baggies he always has with him. Ed puts things into the right front pocket of his jacket. Me, not so much. There is a scrollwork sign over the library at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that says "Study nature, not books." As a magazine editor and textbook cobbler, my fieldwork is in the library and online. My specimens are scientific reports and conversations with scientists who tell me whose work is sound and who is walking off the dock. I'm sheepish about the sign at CSHL but luckily I don't get there that often.

Which brings us to the baboon spider.

Jay posted this picture of the baboon spider yesterday. He has more pictures on his drive that I would post now but Jay and Greg are out in the helicopter this morning investigating gold-poaching miners who are burrowing in the buffer zone where they don't belong. We made the acquaintance of the baboon spider when Jeff, our guide, teased it out of its hole with a bit of stalk. When the critter grabbed the stalk, Jeff tried to ease it out of the hole and the spider tried to ease Jeff into the hole and they ended up at a standoff with the eerie schrecklichkeiter half in half out.

My plan for this trip has been to do what Ed does when he sees a crawling thing. He picks it up and caresses it, admires its attire, maybe puts it in his pocket. So I had my chance with the baboon spider. It was offering a paw and I could have just pinched it by the paw and plucked it out. I'm told that if it completely forgets itself and chomps on me that it feels like two bee stings. Reading a first-draft manuscript feels like two bee stings so I can handle that. But I didn't pull it out. Because it was Thursday, and Thursday is the wrong day to pull monsters out of their caves.

So I'm overdue by about one career for getting into the field. Last night Ed taught us the two ways an Alabama boy catches poisonous snakes. There is a vervet monkey a few feet behind Bailey's head. We're going into the teeming rain forest on the mountain tomorrow.

Exploring Gorongosa and Life on Earth

July 28

Explore Gorongosa Camp, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

The camp at Explore Gorongosa sits along a serpentine river bed that draws in an incredible array of birds. antelope, primates, and enormous crocodiles. This experience showed us another side to Gorongosa National Park.  We had spent most of our time in the dry savanna and now we had the chance to experience some very different bird life.  Our day began with Scottish­­-South African-Zimbabwean guide Jeff  who took us on a foot safari around the camp along with a Jinga an armed scout (askari) with the Park.  

Ed Wilson returned to Chitengo last night.  I made the trip with him which turned into a nice night game drive.  We didn’t see a whole lot but did come across some oribi, bush pig, and several African hare.   The cool night air in the open land cruiser topped off our fireside meal at the Explore Gorongosa Camp.

The morning walk with our Life on Earth team sans Ed, began with a baboon spider rising from its pit trap.  We realized one could spend a lifetime studying the variety of strategies predators use in such a biodiverse place.  The baboon spider is known as a trap-door spider that creates a silk-lined burrow dug with its pedipalps, chelicerae, and fangs.  Most of the world knows them as tarantulas but in the bush of Africa they are called the baboon spider.  Hairy like the local primates? This must be the connection.  This nocturnal sit-and-wait predator was coaxed out of his burrow with a stick of dried grass.   They normally ambush their prey and drag them below.  Fortunately, our guide Jeff was not taken below.

During lunch we discovered an African Scops Owl watching over.  They are usually found out in South African forests and here we were with our nocturnal friend snoozing on a branch above our table.  He/she would occasionally open an eye to see what was happening and then nod off again.  The feather color and pattern blended perfectly with the surrounding bark.  The stories of evolutionary adaptation in plants and animals are endless here.  Lots to share for Life on Earth.

Bird activity around camp is incredibly diverse.  It is quite obvious why this location is such a top draw for birders. The lapwings and forest guinea fowl forage along the streambed.  Yellow-billed storks sit high in the trees.  Twin spots flit on low branches and drop to the leaf litter.     Several kingfishers (brown-headed, grey-headed, and pygmy) perch on extended branches looking for prey below in the water or grass.   The fish eagle soars down from a high perch and returns with a catfish.  This is Gorongosa.

The afternoon took us out to the floodplain searching for more animals for story ideas, biology content, and the  Encyclopedia of Life Gorongosa Field Guide.  We once again saw lots of Waterbuck.    They have definitely been the most prolific antelope in the region.  It will be interesting to discover why this particular species is so successful in the region.

We took a walk in a clear swath surrounded by tall grass just as the sun was setting.  The armed Jinga walked ahead of us as we were walking to locate Cape Buffalo.  We found some buffalo dung in the area but no buffalo.   The Reedbuck below was spotted nearby in the last light of the fading day.

Late dusk brought nightjar birds soaring and diving for insects flying near us.  Some crowned-cranes sounded their waelful call and flew into the fading sunlight to find a roost for the night.  Driving back to camp didn’t show much except Impala, Oribi, Waterbuck, and a few Swamp Mongeese we watched foraging along the shore.

The evening held another wonderful feast by our camp hosts at Explore Gorongosa.  Rob, Claire, Neil, Jeff, and Kathy made sure we were all taken care of.  Toasts were made for the future of Africa and Life on Earth.  Cheers.  

Sex, symbiosis, and serenity

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa, Mozambique

Today was a big production day.  I knew Ed Wilson was an amazing naturalist and science teacher, seeing him deliver educational content on camera, in the field, is truly remarkable.  His 42 years of teaching biology at Harvard show through every day here.  Each 2 to 5 minute sequence has been a single take.  It is remarkable.  I am sure a director’s dream.  Award-winning director Jessica Wu has been very happy and it has been quite amazing to watch them work together along with Nat Geo film master Bob Poole.  Bob will be with us next week as well and it should allow us to continue to build rich, informative and beautiful content for Life on Earth.  As good as it gets really.  The team here is amazing.

The other powerful dynamic is the people of Chitengo.  The collection of scientists from various parts of the world pursuing many different scientific endeavors is incredible.   Ecologists, hydrologists, veterinary scientists, zoologists, vegetation specialists… the list goes on.  It is a thriving field station with wonderful conditions for eco-tourists as well. Additionally we have a mix of media professionals documenting Ed’s visit and components of this place.  Very stimulating. 

Took a short walk to the river just 2 km from camp.  Nice forest growth along the way but not much wildlife.  The soccer match on the return was quite eventful.  One camp vs another.  Greg Carr told us of an annual game between the local village and the Chitengo Camp crew.  The spoils of victory?  Two chickens to the victor.  Greg said one year the village team had a one-legged soccer player.  Evidently he lost one to a crocodile.

Rob Pringle has also been inspiring.  He is a young professor from Princeton who was one of Paul Ehrlich’s last graduate students.  Rob has been doing a variety of successful ecology projects in  Kenya and Greg has asked him to bring his expertise to Chitengo.  He now serves on the board of the Gorongosa restoration project.

After making the butterfly nets from collected poacher’s materials, I discovered a new story that we are just developing.  Talking to Carlos, the resident vet and Matteus, the district official in charge of the Park I found out that these donated mosquito nets have some serious ecological issues surrounding them.  Carlos mentioned that recently 200,000 nets were donate to Mozambique via USaid.  These bed nets are treated with an insecticide which is safe for humans but toxic for insects and aquatic wildlife.   The fact that local residents are using the nets for poaching fish is bad enough, but Carlos believes the release of the chemical into the water is incredibly devastating.  He has found local ponds that appear to be sterile.   This relief program needs to be complete rethought. Additionally, the fishing with mosquito nets appears to be widespread issue as it also is happening in far away Uganda.   Unforeseen consequences of massive humanitarian aid.  

Ed’s stories today for the Life on Earth project were on the structure and function of the flower with an emphasis on the evolution of the design and the co-evolution of the animal pollinators.  The scene was symbolic as Ed presented in front of an impala lily in front of a portion of a wall that stood as a memorial to the war of independence in 1973.  He charismatically discussed the different aspects of sexual reproduction and nature of life from the perspective of the flower.

The following shots were out on the edge of Lake Urema in an iconic savannah setting.  The continuation of the termite mound ecological succession was told and a termite colony was excavated.  Much of this was for the description of symbiosis, known as “living together.”  The Macrotermes termites that construct the massive mounds also garden a particular species of fungus which they feed off of.  The design is elaborate and the benefits of this community show a clear mutualistic form of symbiosis.  

Ed also discussed some of the social structure of the local yellow baboons and the parallel complex social organization with the termite colony.  It was simple, beautiful and will be a great contribution to the upcoming online textbook.   The place was also ideal for the discussion of the savannah and its role in the evolution of hominids.   Another perfect day.

Just to top it all off our Life on Earth team headed to Explorer Gorongosa Camp within the Park.  We arrived to a scene from safari life from Out of Africa.  Large manyara tents were set up along trails lit by iconic hurricane lamps. The soft glow of the flame in the lamps took us back to another time.  What a beautiful place.  We will be here for two nights. 

Our hosts here are warm, friendly, and very knowledgeable of local flora and fauna.  More coming on the wonders of this place.

Jay's Revenge

In Jay's post below, he describes turning poacher haul into ploughshares. Jay conjured collection nets from confiscated snare wire and netting. He poached the scissors and stapler from the camp kitchen. Co-conspirators Bailey and Liz helped whip up the nets.

How did the equipment work? During the blitz the young biologists turned up 59 animal species in less than two hours. The guy below was the star of the day, earning the appreciative remark from Ed, "What the heck are you?"