1)Leafcutter Ants are everywhere! It's so funny because there are these little trails of walking leaves prettymuch anywhere you go. Apparently the leaves they harvest grow some sort of fungus that they then eat. In any case, don't ever be impressed by any footage of leafcutter ants in action ever again--easiest thing in the world to come accross.
2) Army Ants. Now THESE are a different story. When they say "army ant invasion" they are not joking! We had one today at the site and it was mind boggling. The entire colony just sweeps across an area, eating everything in sight! This particular invasion blanketed about a 10 meter-square area (huge!) and were just swarming all over everything! They went up trees, over and under everything--it was insane! All the other insects were running away ahed of them, like animals in front of a forest fire. I saw them catch a cricket, and it was brutal! One of them bit its leg as it was trying to jump away, and when it stumbled, five or six of them jumped on and devoured it! They literally can eat through anything. They're like the piranhas of the jungle! DEFINITELY YouTube them and be amazed.
3)Scorpions. A couple of these have been found around the site, but they're really not that bad. One of the Belizian staff members, Josue, can milk the poison out of them and make them harmless. He tried to get me to hold one when he was done with it today but I was having none of it.
4)Spiders here are surprisingly a nonevent. Sure, they're prettymuch everywhere, and yes, they're huge (think the size of a tennis ball) but they're generally scared of humans and don't cause problems. The only issue is if you walk into one of the webs they string between trees. We've actually marked off a couple of webs with hot pink tape so that people don't have to go through that. We also have full-blown tarantulas, but again, seeing those is pretty rare because they're generally running away.
5) Snakes. The snakes here are intense! There's one, called the yellowjaw, whose venom is so poisonous that if you're bitten you have two hours to get to a hospital before you die. In fact, it might be the most poisonous snake in the world. But again, never fear, Josue is here! While he was out on survey they ran across a HUGE yellowjaw but he (and his jungle awesomeness) took care of that. Here's a picture of him with the snake once he was through.
Yep, he's pretty awesome with that Machete.4) Howler Monkeys. These guys are super cool! They definitely don't like us (they started throwing their poop at another unit yesterday) but with good reason. We've noticed that they generally roar most when we first walk into the jungle and whenever the workmen have to cut down trees for some reason (like, for example, if they're in the middle of a unit). Since they live in the canopy, it makes perfet sense that they would be pissed that we're taking their habitat. Still, I feel pretty cool when I hear them roaring and don't even flinch...
5) Mosquitos CAN DIE. There will be a whole other post dedicated to them, and denfensive tactics against them, later.
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