Land of the Lost

While descending to the forest floor of the limestone gorges of Gorongosa, the opening scene from the film Arachnophobia in the jungle of Venezuela, or the arrival to the lush rainforest of Jurassic Park came to mind. Our South African pilot, Mike Pingo steered us in like a dragonfly coming to land on a favorite blade of grass.  The scene was even more cinematic as the doors had been removed to lessen the load on the helicopter for later ascending out of the narrow gorge.  This allowed me to lean out over the landing struts and take in more of the scene as we lowered in next to the towering trees of this lush forest. 

This region is one of the more unique and remote habitats of Gorongosa National Park. In planning out the expedition to this site we expected to find species that had been isolated from the surrounding region and yielding some new finds for Gorongosa and Mozambique. The focus was on ants and collecting with Gary Alpert and bringing in samples to Ed for a rapid field ID.  Additionally we planned to collect many bags of leaf litter to locate the small cryptic species of ants living on the forest floor and below the surface.  It has been shown this is the habitat to locate undescribed species.  The vast majority of large species scurrying across the surface have all been collected and well documented.  However, there are still large animals such as mammals that are being found.  Last summer a team from the Field Museum in Chicago located a previously undescribed species of shrew up on Mt. Gorongosa.

Another aspect of this remote site in the limestone gorges is that it is prime leopard habitat.  To find out if this is really the case, a remote camera was placed deep in the gorge on a game trail to survey large animals moving about in the region. As I explored low on the ground for insects, I wondered if I was moving bait for a leopard.  Fortunately, the tropical flora and great diversity of insects made these thoughts disappear.

I observed my first weaver ant (genus Oecophylla) nest in the gorge.  These industrious ants weave leaves together with larval silk to make an enclosed nest.  The workers initially form chains together to draw in leaves to initiate the nest building.  Then workers hold larval ants in their mandibles in such a way to make them release their silk.  Sounds like exploitation of youth, no?

Weaver nest perched above the forest floor.

The diversity of butterflies, spiders, damselflies, and dragonflies was amazing.  After collecting leaf litter and isolated ants with Gary, I began roaming the basin of the gorge to locate unique insects in the dense undergrowth and along the streambed. The only disappoint came when it was time to pack up our gear and head back to the helicopter.  Hope we can return to this wild site.

The lowland rainforest of the gorge made a wonderful outdoor lab (photo by James Byrne). 

The first bush baby has cried out into the night.  This means it is getting late.  The other evening a loud bush baby cry sounded off very close to where I write this blog.  The primal sound was followed by an owl swooping low across the grass and then landing 40 feet from me.  It appeared to be ripping apart something on the ground, but it was hard to see in the dark of the night.  I guess one doesn’t need to take a helicopter ride across the Park to observe wildlife in action.

Nature's school

Nature’s school

The restoration of Gorongosa National Park is a community-based effort.  Besides wildlife management the scope of the project includes improving local financial opportunities, health and welfare, and education.  Some of the local students and teachers have the good fortune to attend the Gorongosa Community Education Center (CEC).   We returned to this scenic environmental education camp in the bush to learn more about their activities and how we can connect students and teachers around the world with those in Mozambique.

The coordinators of the CEC include Herculano Ernesto and former Peace Corps worker Adrienne McGill.  It was great to reconnect with both of them.  Adrienne had visited my class in San Diego this last Fall.  We have been working on developing lessons around restoration biology that can connect our different populations of students.  The divide between these groups of students is quite large.  In Southern California we have urban youth with nearly unlimited technology available for their school work.  In Mozambique, the 5^th poorest nation in the world, the resources available for students are quite limited.  In the Gorongosa region the students are mostly living on small subsistence farms and they spend 1 hour on average walking to school everyday.  Additionally, the average class has around 60 students. 

Adrienne McGill (center) and Herculano Ernesto (right) describe some of the education practices on an open classroom at the CEC.  We were also joined by Lee Gerwton and Molly Voss Fannon of the Smithsonian (left), and James Byrne, producer of Africa's Lost Eden.

The CEC is a model of green design. At the same time it has the appearance of an exclusive summer camp set in the Malibu Hills.  It blends with the local habitat in a very natural way. The students or groups of teachers getting training in environmental education typically stay for 2 to 3 days.  They work on a variety of projects with local flora and fauna.  There are also focused projects on fire control as fires have been frequent and quite destructive during the dry season (June – October).

With the CEC set in the miombo forest there is a wide variety of life available for students to study.  This relatively harmless whip scorpion was bare-handed by the intrepid Piotr Naskrecki.

Soon we will visit with students attending the CEC and coordinating some current and future activities.  Anyone have ideas for partnering with students in Mozambique?  Please submit a comment! Obrigado. One current project is supporting students in their regional science fair with lessons focused various aspects of the Gorongosa Restoration Project. Science fair goes global!

Happy Mother’s Day – from hippos to humans

Quite a day for celebrating life and biodiversity.  It started out with sampling of ants then photographing caterpillars doing the conga, observing lounging lions, and then watching the nightlife of the Park.  Just another day in Gorongosa.

In the morning Gary Alpert and I finished hanging up the leaf litter samples from yesterday in the Winkler funnels.  This method basically dries out the leaf litter and the ants move to the bottom in a small pouch of alcohol where they are trapped.  As we were finishing Greg Carr and Bob Poole arrived out of breath telling of us something amazing that was going with insects outside the fences.   We quickly gathered our camera gear and rushed out to the dirt road to Vinho. 

The caterpillars halted their procession to feed on the grass.

Upon reaching the forest road to Vinho we saw what the excitement was about.  They had observed a procession of caterpillars moving in a chain. We stayed with them for a while photographing with with different cameras and accessories.  It was beautiful sight.  It was nearly destroyed by a passing truck.  However, Greg helped direct the massive truck over it so the ants could move undistrurbed.  The caterpillars would possibly keep moving and eventually stop in an ideal location and then metamorphosis in mass.

As darkness descended some fireflies buzzed near our truck.  Upon looking further out to the flood plain we could pick up more and more of them.  As our eyes adjusted from the spotlight we had been using to see nightlife, we viewed an incredible spectacle out across the marsh.  The bioluminescence of the flies appeared to be pulsing across the plain in waves. 

Ranger Lucas stands watch as James Byrne, producer of Lost Eden lights up the night.

The mesmerizing dancing lights kept us entertained as Piotr went out to collect more katydids.  His technique is to use a high frequency amplifier to detect specific calls from the katydids. The instrument is similar to what bat biologists use to detect bat echolocation.  Piotr was able to pick up the unique song of each species and also determine the relative distance of each animal.

Late in day we spotted a mother hippo and its baby heading out into the flood plain. The young hippo was nudged along into the deeper grass until we could just see its ears popping up over the tips of the grass.  It was now safe in the refuge of the marsh. We thought of our mothers and gave thanks to their love and the freedom they gave us to do things like letting us go out in the night and collect insects in the bush.

Extreme Gorongosa

There is something about extremes in nature: the largest, the fastest, the most poisonous, and the most ferocious.  Gorongosa has them in spades.

The giant kudu of Gorongosa are massive and there horns are extremely elegant. This was Hemingway's species of choice in the Green Hills of Africa.  They are safe here in the miombo and yellow fever tree forest of the Park.  Some of the bull kudu of the region have enormous spiraling horns.  Fortunately these horns will not be decorating someone’s den or parlor.

Giant kudu of Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa has an extremely large number of insects.  With such an abundance come large voracious predators such as praying mantids and spiders.  Yesterday we came upon one of the more extreme webs I have ever seen.  The spider was a species of Nephila and its web was over 8 feet tall.  Supposedly they are not so venomous and people actually eat them.  That is an extreme meal. We also had the good fortune to observe some courtship between these two.  We watched the small male approach his extreme partner and do a ritualistic tap, tap, tap near her on the web to signal his presence so he wouldn’t be eaten. This was equivalent to knock, knock, knock, “Honey I am home.”  He gave the right knock, she accepted, and they mated briefly. 

Extreme sexual dimorphism is shown in this our weaver.  The small male Nephila spider on the left has tapped a signal now he waits a sign to mate with this extreme female Nephila 

This Park also has extremely large elephants.  Many of the adults are survivors of the civil war that was fought here.  They didn’t choose sides and somehow survived.  To find out the work being done to control some of these elephants see Bob Poole’s film Elephant Wars.  These extreme survivors are incredible animals.  We happened to have spotted two of them yesterday during our insect survey in the Park.

These two extremely large bull elephants could be brothers.

Gorongosa also has extreme ants. One of the more fascinating is the matabele (Pachycondyla sp.) ant.  They are supposedly named after a tribe that swept through southern Africa in the early 1800s wiping out everything in their path. They are very large, fast and the raid termite mounds. They also produce an extremely loud hissing sound when traveling together. 

A Matable ant (Pachycondyla)

Looking forward to more extreme discoveries in Gorongosa National Park.  What kind of extreme nature is around you?

The hunt for small game

Camp Chitengo, Gorongosa National Park

          

Today we saw some big game in the Park, but our focus was on the smaller game.  Gary Alpert, Piotr Naskrecki, Fernandino (a young Gorongosi biologist), and I joined Bob Poole and his wife Gina who took us out in their heavily modified Land Rover – set up for filming elephants.   Bob used this vehicle to film “War Elephants” which is out on National Geographic.  His vehicle has survived intense attacks by charging elephants.   It is believed the elephants remember the intense shooting and hunting that occurred during the Civil War and see vehicles in the park as threats.  The film is actually about recent efforts to calm these elephants – this work is led by Bob’s sister who studies the behavior of elephants.

Bob Poole's elephant-ready rig. 

Today we began our survey work to determine the species richness of ants and orthoptera in the Park.   Piotr sampled with his sweep net through the tall grass.  The technique uses a net resembling a butterfly net but the handle and frame are stronger than a tennis racket. The netting material is similar to strong cloth canvas. The net is quickly passed back and forth through the grass to collect small insects living in this habitat.  He was able to collect many specimens at each locale we surveyed.  The most dramatic aspect of the survey were the incredible number of praying mantids in the yellow fever tree forest.  He commented that with this top predator (of insects) in such numbers means the insect prey items for these abundant mantids must be very high in abundance. This is what we came for -- wetter spring that would have a greater diversity and overall number of insects.

Piotr sorting through sweep net sample. 

I assisted Gary in his collection of ants.  He sampled directly off mounds and trees with Fernandino. I also filmed ants and their behavior and habitat.  While trying to take out some carpenter ants (Camponotus sp.) out of nest on a fallen branch I came upon an ant I hadn’t seen here before.  I informed Gary and discovered this is likely a species of subterranean driver ant (Dorylus sp.) that has not been described in Mozambique.  They are blind and are known to create an ant mill when disturbed or their path gets redirected.  Interestingly they began this behavior when placed in a collecting and sorting tray.  Supposedly if caught in such an ant mill, blind ants will follow each around and around until they die. 

Subterranean drivers which may represent a new find for Mozambique.

Ed Wilson arrived this afternoon and we reviewed our plans for the next 3 weeks working on E.O. Wilson‘s Life on Earth and the Digital Gorongosa Project.  He was very happy to be back and we are all excited to have him join our group.

What a day.  Jet lag is slowly leaving us and we are slipping into the routine of Chitengo.   Lots to see, discover, photograph and write about.  A bush baby is calling out into the night.  This signals the day’s end.

Return to Gorongosa

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa

There is no place like home.  Coming back to Gorongosa with good friends waiting on the runway felt like coming home.  Good people, rich biodiversity, and beautiful scenery.  This is a biologist's dream.

In the morning we met up with Greg Carr in Johannesburg and headed to the airport to take his private plane north to Beira, Mozambique.  It was great to reconnect with Senhor Greg.  He is the vision and driving force behind the Gorongosa Restoration Project.  Along the way north over Kruger National Park and southern Mozambique we discussed the latest trials of massive ecosystem rebooting.  One ongoing issue is what to do with the zebras.  It is believed that the zebras of Gorongosa are genetically unique compared to other plains zebras.  They are thought to be a subspecies.  The numbers of the Gorongosa zebra may be 25 to 30 -- in the entire park.  They are just one of the many large mammals that was cut down to 1 to 5% of its pre-war population. 

The zebra dilemma is quite challenging.  It is possible that if they are left alone they will inbreed to their local extinction.  The alternative is to bring in some new genes from the outside.  This could be done with an arranged sexual pairing with individuals from outside the region (possibly Niassa).  However, such an arrangement could lead to the unique genetic make up of the Gorongosa zebras being lost.  We wait Ed Wilson’s word on this challenging conservation issue.  This is just one of the many challenging biology scenarios in this Park.   Every one is a teachable moment and something other biologists and biology students can learn from. 

Piotr Naskrecki inspects a newly collected grasshopper at the Beira Airport.

It was a tie:  7 orthoptera species to 7 ant species.

Landing in Beira, Mozambique gave me an idea of the good collecting expeditions ahead.  In our party are Gary Alpert and Piotr Naskrecki of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.   Both are insect specialists.  Gary is a former grad student of EO Wilson and has collected ants around the globe.   This extreme myrmecologist collected ants in Mozambique during the civil war in 1992.  He has literally risked his life to collect new species of ants. 

Piotr is an expert in anything Ornithoptera – which include the katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers.  He is especially looking for new species of katydids in Gorongosa. The best sampling is after sunset until late into the night.  It will be interesting sharing evening forays with the other nocturnal predators in the region.

Gary Alpert scanning the Park for good collecting locations and glad the war is over.

After getting our passports stamped and our Mozambique visas processed we surveyed for ants and ornithoptera around the deserted Beira Airport. There were at least six or more genera of ants we located just in a short time along the tarmac:

Ocymyrmex  - speedsters of the ant world.  Probably the hardest ant to catch on the ground.

Odontomachus – this predatory ant has clasping mouth parts that clamp onto prey like a bear trap.

Pheidole – the genus of Ed Wilson, a favorite of sorts.

Tetramorium – a widely dispersed group, some of which have adapted to living out of pavement.

Campanotus – The genus in which we found a new species last year.  Gary’s photo of this specimen is shown below.

New species of Camponotus ant found at Gorongosa during last year's expedition.

We found these in 10-15 minutes.  If one looked around the entire city of San Diego for days, they would most likely find 1 or 2 species of native ants along with the highly invasive Argentine ant.

The warthogs are off the runway and we are all clear to land at Chitengo.

Now I only hear crickets.  Gone are the sounds of the urban jungle. We will begin our first formal collecting in Gorongosa tomorrow.  Bon nuit. 

Exploring life on Earth

Johannesburg, South Africa

Flying into London on our way to Mozambique brought to mind some of the great British explorers.  They were true explorers of life on Earth. These adventurous geographers, geologists, and biologists covered the globe, charted new territories, and returned with unique specimens both mineral and biological. Sir Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Wilfred Thesiger are two such heroic explorers.

Scott’s incredible journey to discover the South Pole was both heroic and tragic. The British expedition reached the Pole just days after the successful Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen. On the return trip to rejoin the remaining crew and provisions at their base camp, Scott and his men faced blizzards, the most challenging terrain on the planet, and inadequate rations, yet they resolutely hauled the geologic specimens they had collected along the way. The cumbersome collection of rocks was found with their frozen bodies the following year. The pursuit of science didn’t die with them. 

I had the good fortune to visit Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans on Ross Island while working in the Antarctic. These men conducted scientific research in some of the most challenging conditions in he world.  They lived on seal meat, canned goods, and penguin eggs when they could get them. The hut is now a museum of sorts preserved by the frozen surroundings.  Their expedition was comparable to a moon landing. The planning was extensive and the courage to explore the unknown was more than admirable.

The early explorers typically focused on a particular region of the planet.  

The modern explorer has many options with our network of transportation to every continent.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger explored warmer climes and was infatuated with deserts and their inhabitants in North and East Africa. He also conducted cultural studies of the marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq.   Besides achieving feats such as crossing the Empty Quarter (Rub' al Khali) in Arabia, he also took stunning photos and wrote rich stories of his expeditions. I met Sir Wilfred Thesiger 25 years ago in his flat in London far from the deserts he explored. The walls were decorated with his own dramatic photos of Morocco, Ethiopia, and Arabia. There were also daggers and other relics he picked up along the way. He asked me if I could identify the skull on his desk.  “A large reptile,” I safely said. “Yes, a desert tortoise,” he explained with a story of its way of life in the desert—"better adapted than the Bedouin." He too was fascinated with the wildlife that lived in the arid regions he explored. Thesiger was nearly as well adapted to these conditions as the people and wildlife he studied along the way.   National Geographic named him the greatest explorer of the 20th century. 

With this expedition to Mozambique we will also share photos and rich stories of our discoveries in Gorongosa National Park. These endeavors are focused on sustaining life on Earth. Our team represents E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth, the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, High Tech High, and the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. We will be conducting biodiversity surveys, collaborating in efforts to restore Gorongosa National Park, partnering with local environmental education efforts, studying human evolution and our origins, and discovering new stories within this beautiful and dynamic place. Welcome to our journey to Gorongosa.