Scientists study plants and animals in the forest

I am spending 2 weeks living on a beautiful island (BCI) in the Panama Canal.  The plants and animals are protected and scientists come from all over the world to study them.  The scientists all meet in the dining hall for a delicious dinner after collecting data out in the forest all day.  They discuss what they saw during their field work and sometimes they help each other by discussing questions that arise.  Some scientists stay a few weeks, some stay a few months.

Many return every year to continue their research.  As you walk along the forest trails, you can see how some of the botanists mark their plants and trees so they can be sure that they study the same tree all the time.  See photos that show some of the scientists’ tags that I saw while hiking in the tropical forest.

One scientist has been studying mammals (and doing a mammal census) every year for over 30 years.  She has remote cameras lashed to trees along the trail and when an animal passes by the camera, the camera takes a photo or video.  She has photos of tapirs, ocelots, and pumas that are almost impossible for scientists to see because they are so shy and so well-camouflaged.

- Fran Zakutansky

Ocelots and Camera-traps

Ocelot family on the hunt

The camera-traps of the BCI Mammal Census have been revealing details of the life histories of wild ocelots.  In the past 16 years we have been able to trace the lives of the 20 to 33 resident ocelots.  The number has been slowly increasing since the study began.  For example, Morse Code is a female who had two kittens instead of the usual one, and both were raised to be healthy young adults.  Her kittens are Dot and Dash, and they are now about 2 years old and becoming independent.  The photos show them as they have grown.

--Jackie and Greg Willis