Brazil's Amazing Pantanal; an introduction. Part 1.

The Pantanal is one of those places I'd always wanted to see (courtesy primarily, as with so many other things, of David Attenborough), but never expected to do so. That changed when, late last year, we were sent to do a reconnaissance with my Peruvian friend Juan, preparatory to accompanying a tour there later this year. And it is every bit as extraordinary as I'd been led to believe, truly one of the world's great wildlife spectacles! I can't wait to get back there for further exploration.

Yacaré Caiman Caiman yacare and Capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Pousada Piuval, Pantanal.
The Pantanal is said to have the largest concentration of crocodilians in the world, and Capybaras,
the planet's largest rodent, are also abundant and ubiquitous.

Today I want to give you a flavour of the place, or at least to start to - even that is too big a task for one day - but first some background. Firstly, it's huge - it has no clearly defined boundaries, but estimates vary from 140,000 to 210,000 square kilometres - but just where is it?

The end of the arrow indicates approximately the heart of the Pantanal, which is located just inside the
tropical zone, pretty much in the centre of South America, mostly in south-western Brazil.

 The Pantanal lies mostly in the Brazilian states of Mattto Grosso and Matto Grosso do Sul,
though it spills over to minor a degree into both Bolivia and Paraguay. The Rio Piquirí forms the boundaries between the two Brazilian states. As is obvious, road access is very limited - more on that anon. Today's post will deal only with the northern section, in Mato Grosso. (Map courtesy hot-map.com).

The Panatanal is essentially a vast ephemeral wetland - some 80% of the flood plains disappear under about a metre and a half of water each year, though it can be up to five metres deep in places. Its area is 15 times that of the (justly) famed wildlife haven of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. However an area that large is not homogenous, and various habitats are recognised, including several major rivers with associated gallery forests, permanent lakes, swamps which expand and contract with the rains, open grasslands and the woodlands of the cerrado, which both flood annually, and drier deciduous and semi-deciduous forests on higher ground.

Grassland and forest patches on higher ground, from observation tower, Pousada Piuval.
(Pousada simply means a guesthouse, or lodge; like the others, this one is a working cattle station,
but supports remarkable wildlife.)

One astonishing aspect of the area (to me at least) is that almost none of it is formally protected; there is one small park in Brazil, covering less than 3% of the Brazilian Pantanal (see on the map just south-west of Porto Joffre) and some protected areas in Paraguay and Bolivia. Beyond that it is all private grazing land, where fortunately landowners are increasingly seeing the value of ecotourism and providing some excellent lodges and wildlife viewing opportunities, which of course means they are managing for wildlife too. Some of these are also apparently committed to protecting the habitat for its own sake.

In 1976 an ambitious plan was launched to build a highway right through the Pantanal, from Cuiabá in the north to Corumbá in the south-west. Unfortunately the planners seem to have overlooked the existence of the impressive Cuiabá River, or perhaps they simply ran out of money at that stage; either way the Transpantaneira Highway ends, after 148km and 120 bridges, at tiny Porto Joffre (also known as Porto Jofre). The southern section - 60% of the Brazilian Pantanal - has no access road to join lodges, so travel is much more difficult; as mentioned, I'll be able to report further on that later in the year!

It's probably more than time now to deliver the promised brief overview of the habitats and some of their particularly striking inhabitants. There is, as I've mentioned, too much for one posting, so I'll start with the drier habitats. That may well be leaving the best to last, but there was plenty to enthrall us in the grasslands, woodlands and drier forests!

Cerrado, Pousada Alegre. As elsewhere the grasslands and open woodlands tend to merge into one another.
They have some very exciting inhabitants.

Greater Rhea Rhea americana, Pousada Piuval.
Common and tolerant of people, this is a much bigger bird than the little Darwin's Rhea R. pennataof the far south that I'm more familiar with.

Red-legged Seriema Cariama cristata, Pousada Piuval.
One of the first birds we saw, and was I excited?! (Yes.)
Big mostly ground-living hunters of small animals, this one and the closely-related
Black-legged Seriema are the only members not only of their Family, but an entire Order.

Campo Flicker Colaptes campestris.The flickers are group of seven species of mostly ground-dwelling American woodpeckers in this genus, and I think this one is especially handsome!

While we're on woodpeckers - a group I'm especially fond of and which don't live in Australia - here are a few more.

Pale-crested Woodpecker Celeus lugubris.This beauty is not found much outside the Pantanal.

Cream-coloured Woodpecker Celeus flavus, Pixaim River.
She (he has a red moustache, or malar stripe if you'd prefer) was in gallery forest along the river bank.

White Woodpecker Melanerpes candidus, Pousada Piuval.
This one, a specialty of grassy woodlands, instantly became one of my favourite woodpeckers!

Green-barred Woodpecker Colaptes melanochloros, Pousada Arara, a flicker relative from the dry forests.

And maybe that's enough woodpeckers? Oh all right, just one more then...

White-wedged Piculet Picumnus albosquamatus, along the Transpantaneira Highway.
Tiny, like all piculets, this one is only 10cm long and weighs around 10 grams.

Parrots are also a glorious feature of the Pantanal, with one above all others starring; the huge Hyacinth Macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus at a metre long is the longest living parrot, and only the flightless New Zealand Kakapo is heavier. Habitat loss and the insidious pet trade have shattered its numbers, but the Pantanal is its stronghold and it is in many ways the poster bird of the region.

Hyacinth Macaws, Pousada Arara; arara is Portuguese for macaw, and most lodges
have at least one pair breeding in the vicinity.

Golden-collared Macaw Primolius auricollis. This much smaller macaw's range extends from the Pantanal west into Bolivia.

White-eyed Parakeet Psittacara leucophthalmus, Pousada Piuval.
Unlike the previous two parrots, this one is found across much of the northern part of the continent,
and flocks of them hang around the lodges.

Monk Parakeets Myiopsitta monachus, at the entrance (or one of them) to their big colonial stick nest
along the Transpantaneira. They are unique among parrots in this.
Escapes from cages in Europe and North America have formed big urban populations.

Cracids are a Family of large South and Central American birds - guans, curassows and chachalacas - which are in the same Order as fowls. Many have suffered heavily from hunting, but they are present and conspicuous in the Pantanal.

Bare-faced Curassows Crax fasciolata, Pousada Arara;
female above, and male below.
These birds have become habituated to people.

 

Chestnut-bellied Guan Penelope ochrogaster.A Brazilian endemic, it is a listed Threatened Species, and even in the Pantanal it is scarce.

Red-throated Piping Guan Pipile cujubi, a big handsome guan.
Some sources suggest that only the Blue-throated Piping Guan P. cumanensis is present; others that
White-throated Piping Guan P. grayi is also present, plus hybrids!
I understand why some taxonomists just hide their heads in their hands and lump them all as one species, Common Piping Guan P. pipile! However both Avibase and Handbook of the Birds of the World
make it clear that this is within the range of Red-throated, so I have no reason to call this anything else;
despite a blue trim to the throat in this bird, neither of the other species has red there,
so I'm going with the evidence.
(My thanks to my friend Martin for helping me through this taxonmic tangle.)

Chaco Chachalaca Ortalis canicollis. There are gangs of these everywhere, and like all chachalacas they comment loudly,
rudely and incessantly on everything.

Pousada Arara runs a little roadside cafe-bar - the only one on the highway - and a bird bath there attracts a most impressive array of birds, especially in the dry season. Here are some.

Chestnut-eared Aracaris Pteroglossus castanotis; aracaris, all in this genus, form
a group of smaller colourful toucans. Toucans will get their own post here one day.

Crested Oropendola Psarocolius decumanus. Oropendolas are a group of large, colonial-nesting
icterids (or North American blackbirds, whose ancestors arrived in South America a few million years
ago when the Isthmus of Panama arose).
This is an impressive bird, but the crest? Well not quite so much....

Purplish Jay Cyanocorax cyanomelas; not at all shy!

Yellow-billed Cardinal Paroaria capitata. One of the most prominent birds in the Pantanal, and a delightful one.

The Streaked Flycatcher Myiodynastes maculatus, is widespread in the Pantanal and beyond.

Grey-necked Wood Rail Aramides cajaneus.While this big rail is far from the hardest rail to see, it's not usually this easy!

And with that we'd better look at some other animals while someone is (I hope) still reading...

Crab-eating Fox Cerdocyon thous, hunting frogs in the grounds of the lodge at Pousada Piuval.
These South American foxes are not very closely related to northern hemisphere foxes.

 South American Coatis Nasua nasua. Highly sociable members of the raccoon family,
they hunt a range of prey. I couldn't get very near to this group.

Black-striped Tufted Capuchin Sapajus libidinosus (formerly lumped with the more widespread
Brown Capuchin). This chap was eating green mangoes, which might explain his grumpy demeanour.

Black-tailed Marmoset Mico melanurus, a diurnal tree sap specialist whose range is centred
on the Pantanal.

Brown (or Grey) Brocket Deer Mazama gouazoubira Pousada Alegre; a small deer
and one of four species found in the Pantanal.

Black (or Black and White) Tegu Salvator merianae, Family Teiidae, along the Transpantaneira Highway.
These are big lizards, up to a metre long and massive, filling the niche of goannas (or monitors) in
some other parts of the world. They are often seen around the lodges.

Another member of the same Family, which I've not yet been able to identify.

Red-footed Tortoise Chelonoidis carbonarius, sprinting across the Highway.
This lovely tortoise - and we only saw one - is another Threatened Species, and again the illegal pet trade
is complicit in its decliine.

Wasp nests: Pousada Piuval above,
armadillo wasps, along the Transpantaneira, below.
I was advised that both are well worth not disturbing!

Butterflies enjoying the benefits of cow pats, above and below.

 

OK, I'm sorry that wasn't perhaps the most tasteful way to conclude, so perhaps something a little more romantic to end on.

Amorous millipedes, Posada Piuval.

I hope you're still there - or if you've left, you've done so to rush off to the fabulous Pantanal. And before you say something like "hey, what about the ....?!", remember I'll be back next week with some delights associated with the Pantanal's wonderful swamps and rivers. Hope you can be here for that.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY.

(And remember that you can get a reminder when the next post appears by putting your email address in the Follow by Email box in the top right of this screen.
And I'd love to receive your comments - it's easy and you don't need to sign in!)

Colours in Nature; gingery shades 3 - reptiles and invertebrates

Here is the third - and for now at least the last, though there is another in the offing - in this instalment of the occasional series on colours in nature. Starting here I've been looking at shades usually referred to as reddish-brown, rufous, copper, chestnut, rusty and other evocative appellations, looking first at some birds and more recently at mammals. 

I have more rusty birds to share with you at some stage, but I want to give the too-often ignored players, invertebrates and reptiles, a starring role before you get bored with this topic.

Given the common origins of feathers and fur in scales, it seems reasonable to assume that the same phaeomelanins that produce these earthy colours in birds and mammals are found in reptile scales, but I doubt that much work has been done on the subject. Looking at some of my pictures of Australian desert lizards, it struck me how logical it was to employ rusty tones, as they match those of the iron-infused sands and stones they often inhabit.

Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps, near Coober Pedy, South Australia.

Spotted Military Dragon Ctenophorus maculatus, near Cue, central Western Australia.

Ctenotus brooksi Kata Tjuta NP, central Australia.
This is one of dozens of members of this genus, many of them desert-dwellers.

Gidgee Skink Egernia stokesii, Whyalla Conservation Park, South Australia.
A large skink which lives in ironstone-rich rock crevices; if threatened it puffs itself up to wedge itself
into a crevice, and presents its spiny tail.

On the other hand it seems there can be a point in being a rich bronze colour even if you live in tropical rainforest.

Hitherto unidentified (ie by me!) skink, Lacy Creek Reserve near Mission Beach, north Queensland.
Any suggestions welcomed.

One Australian reptile group (of three species) actually bears the name copperhead, but ironically I've rarely seen these snakes with such an adornment. On the other hand, this very handsome Lowland Copperhead Austrelaps superbus, crossing the road in Tasmania had a lovely glossy coppery body.

Lowland Copperhead, Bruny Island, southern Tasmania.

Other snakes, of other groups, also share such tones.

Anaconda Eunectes murinus, Yasuní NP, Ecuadorian Amazonia.
This magnificent animal (whose head is just visible in the centre of the coils) was resting on floating
vegetation at the edge of a lake.

Striped Bronzeback Tree Snake Dendrelaphis caudolineatus Labuk Bay, Sabah.
This elegant colubrid (back-fanged venomous snake) is common in the region.

And so to some coppery/gingery/etc invertebrates. There are of course many, and this is just a small selection across a range of groups. It is likely that the ubiquitous phaeomelanins play a role here too, but it is also likely that different groups have come up with different pigments, as is the case with other invertebrate colours. I have chosen examples from grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, butterflies, ants, snails and millipedes. As ever, I am unable to identify most of them I'm afraid.

As with the lizards above, camouflage seems to be an important driver in the rusty tones of many Australian desert grasshoppers.

Grasshopper, Kings Canyon, central Australia.

Long-nosed Lycid Beetles, Porrostoma rhipidium Family Lycidae, Namadgi National Park,
Australian Capital Territory. This colour combination is a warning that the beetle is both toxic and unpalatable
(or so I'm told!). Other chemically-protected insects adopt the same colours to reinforce the message, and still other,
quite edible, ones do so also to gain protection by deceit.

Double Drummer Cicada Thopha saccata, Nowra, New South Wales.
It is quite possible that these colours are such an attempt at protection by mimicry; most cicadas
are avidly sought by predatory birds.

Bullant Myrmecia sp., Currarong, New South Wales.
No bluff required here - bullant stings rate very highly on scales of 'sting pain'.

Yellow Admiral Vanessa itea Mount Granya NP, Victoria; please bear in mind that I didn't name it!
I love the gradation of rich rufous tones.

Antanartia sp. (I think) Family Nymphalidae, Bwindi Impenetrable NP Uganda.
Again, subtle and rich.

This huge snail came out in the rain at Rio Silanche Reserve, north-east of Quito, Ecuador.
I don't always think of snails as colourful, but this one certainly qualified.

And to finish off, another from the Ecuador rainforests, a millipede, a group of animals I always enjoy.

Millipede, Yasuní NP, Amazonia/

I hope you've enjoyed this coppery ride as much as I have; I've come to realise that these tones are high among my favourite colours, and of course any animal is among my favourites!

As previously mentioned I have another list of gingery birds to share with you one day, but perhaps it's time to take a break from the topic and talk about something else - next time I'll be back from warm Borneo in frosty Canberra, talking to you 'live'.

BACK ON WEDNESDAY 1 JUNE