Considering how much of the Bocas del Polochic and Rio Polochic have been destroyed by runoff from strip mining, sugar cane plantations, and African palm tree plantations, it is notable that in the few areas which people have not yet destroyed, there are lots of howler monkeys, probably Alouatta pigra. This is the Guatemalan black howler monkey species.
We saw and heard lots of these photogenic howling monkeys in two locations on the west side of the Rio Polochic, February 11th, 2018.
When you are in a boat rocking from side to side because of the wind-created waves, and when the monkeys are either not in full view (covered by branches) or not with the sun illuminating them, the photos are not outstanding. But at least we got some snapshots.
Howler monkeys are mentioned in the Popol Vuh mythical stories but are rarely pictured in Classic Mayan art. 95% or more of the monkeys in Classic Lowland Mayan ceramic bowls, vases, and plates are the cute spider monkeys.
Canon 1Dx Mark II, 300mm prime, f/5.0, 1/1600, ISO 1600, 4:08 pm,
Feb. 11 2018, Bocas de Polochic River, Erick Flores, FLAAR.
There are crabs in salt water; there are crabs in fresh water. And there are crabs in the mangrove swamps parallel to the oceans (these swamps alternate between fresh water and salt water depending on the height of the tide and whether it is dry season or wet season).
In Guatemala there are two great areas to see and experience crabs: One is Manchon, a preservation area parallel to the Pacific Ocean managed by CONAP.
This is the Crab Rhizophora in Manchon Guamuchal, Retalhuleu, Guatemala.
Picture by Erick Flores.
The other area of diverse crab species is Canal de Chiquimulilla, from the Monterrico to Hawaii (Guatemalan Hawaii; not the islands of same name). The ones on the beach will really entertain you. These waterways are managed by CECON.
This specie of crab lives in the Canal of Chiquimulilla, Monterico - Santa Rosa, Guatemala.
Then there are giant, literally enormous crabs in other eco-systems. These were used as headdress decorations by the deities and kings of Bilbao, Cotzumalhuapa civilization. This is a non-Maya civilization of Guatemala.
So crabs are important to preserve, both the animals themselves, and their fragile eco-systems. Later this year we will be preparing photo-albums on crabs of Guatemala to help students, professors, environmentalists, and university and government plant and animal protection agencies.
FLAAR Reports has two divisions; you are now on one of the web sites of the tropical Mesoamerica flora and fauna team. If you are interested in wide-format inkjet printers, we have an entire network to explain this technology: www.wide-format-printers.org
There is also a growing team of illustrators and graphic designers who do educational children’s books (to show the world the remarkable plants and animals of 2000 years of Mayan civilization in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador).
All the reliable bird books on birds of Mexico, Guatemala, etc, carefully list four different vultures:
The black vulture, Coragyps atratus, is by far the most common: I see it in many parts of Guatemala and adjacent Honduras. We show photos of this black vulture on this web page of ours. And also in our article in REVUE magazine:
The King Vulture, Sarcoramphus papa, I have never seen in the wild in 54 years in Mesoamerica. I see it only at La Aurora Zoo. If you are a dedicated birder and have time to look specifically for this species eventually you can find it in the wild.
The Turkey Vulture I see frequently when driving through Guatemala (for decades; I first came to Mexico at age 16 in 1961 and to Guatemala at age 17 in 1962).
The Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture I rarely notice, but this week we found two overlooking the Canal de Chiquilumilla, Monterrico area, Pacific Coastal area of Guatemala, Central America.
I photographed these with a Nikon D5 camera:
Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR
ISO speed: ISO-2500
f/stop: f/11
Exposure Time: 1/640 sec.
Tripod: Gitzo (a serious professional model of theirs)
Tripod head: Wimberley WH-200 Gimbal Tripod Head II
Nicholas first leaned about Howler Monkeys at age 16, while a backpacker, by himself, exploring the rain forests near Tenosique, Chiapas, Mexico (1962).
Now, over half a century later, Dr Nicholas has lived in the seasonal rain forests six years plus explored Mesoamerica for decades.
Our goal is to show all the animals which appear in Classic Maya art, in the Maya codices, Popol Vuh, and other Mayan sagas. Plus, to remind the world of the need to preserve the fragile eco-systems.
We are doing research on mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, and arachnids. Both zoological studies and also preparing books for children (and their parents and grandparents).
Here is half the team of illustrators, graphic designers, and animators in the FLAAR Mesoamerica office, with Dr Nicholas.
We are showing a set of our animal figures which wide-format inkjet printer companies kindly print for us so we can donate these posters to schools in remote mountain areas of Guatemala.
You can download 4-page previews of our MayanToons books on www.MayanToons.org
Although the 1st editions are mostly in English, the ABC educational books are trilingual (Mayan-Spanish-English). As soon as funding is available to us, we will put them into all the local languages of Guatemala to help the people in every part of the country.
Our pumpkin and squash family wish you a Happy Halloween.
The friendly bat is a “False Vampire” because it does not suck blood, it slices off the head of its victims and eats the fresh meat (and also laps up the blood).
Two species of this bat inhabit the Mayan areas.
We usually don't dress for halloween but this year we decided to use Tim Burton's movies as inspiration for our costumes.
