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FLAAR Mesoamerica team finds and photographs rare Mantled Howler Monkey

Posted June 22, 2021

Solid black howler monkeys can be found by the thousands in Peten. We hear and see them all the time in Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo (PNYNN) and elsewhere in the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM). But along El Golfete and especially along the Amatique Bay coast, during the last year we have seen and heard howlers only about twice (have seen and photographed more rare crocodiles than howler monkeys in these areas of the Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala).

But yesterday, Edgar Alexander Cuz Choc. noticed monkeys and quickly we realized they were howler monkeys not spider monkeys. I asked if they had rust-colored patches on their backs; the photographers were able to confirm this: so I told them that they had photographed the rarest monkey of Guatemala, the Mantled Howler Monkey, Alouatta palliata.

So if you want to see and photograph these monkeys, we recommend lanchero José Jacobo Ardón Madero, (phone number +502 3030-4801). Can take you up each river (keeping in mind it's pure luck to find this rare monkey). We stayed at Tortugal Hotel and Marina, surrounded by a picturesque rain forest with lots of exotic wetlands plants.

Photos taken with a Sony A1 camera, Lens Sony FE 200-600mm, f/5.6-6.3 G OSS by David Arrivillaga, FLAAR Mesoamerica

Scientific illustrations of birds, mammals, and reptiles of Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala

Posted June 17, 2021

We have found scientific illustrations by three capable artists:

a bird and peccary by Henke
a dozen illustrations of animals by Joan Branca
Nice set of illustrations by Wendy Addison

Addison and Branca helped as volunteers on FLAAR projects half a century ago. Both are alive and well and still doing eye-catching art designs. We estimate Henke was also a student assisting us in Guatemala; since we don’t have a first name we have not yet located this individual.

Mario Vasquez, CONAP co-administrator of PNYNN has asked us (FLAAR and FLAAR Mesoamerica) to add additional research on fauna to our long-term dedicated field work and library research on plants and animals of PNYNN. So we will produce two FLAAR reports on fauna of Yaxha: one with drawings by Joan Branca; and a second report with drawings by Wendy Addison. We hope to find more by Henke as well; we show here the only two we have found so far:

Ara macao, an endangered species no longer found in Central Peten (so not at Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo, or Tikal). This macaw is a patron logo of Copan Ruinas, Honduras.

Victor estimates this is a rendering of a Tayassu pecari, white lipped peccary. I will do more research since there is also the collared peccary (and on the drawing I see the base of its white diagonal band).

To publish all these illustrations will take a while since we need to identify the genus species, common name in English, in Spanish, and in either Q’eqchi’ or Peten Itza Maya language. But we wanted to show samples first.

After we publish a first edition of each of their scientific illustrations, we will see which important species of mammals and reptiles we should add. Wendy Addison kindly told us she could accomplish additional illustrations for a more comprehensive coverage of the mammals and reptiles of Yaxha (for these creatures we will focus on the ones that appear in Classic Maya murals, on carved stone monuments, or painted or incised on ceramic vases, bowls, lids, plates, or are seen as 3-dimensional figurines of birds, reptiles, or mammals.

We will have two additional pages on this website later this summer: one with samples of the drawings of Joan Branca, and the other with illustrations by Wendy Addison.

Bright Green Lizard, Municipio de Livingston

Posted May 17, 2021

Photographed May 10, 2021 by Lucas Cuz, Q'eqchi' Mayan photographer of flora and fauna and park ranger in nearby nature reserves.

This nice crisp high-resolution photo of this gorgeous green lizard was photographed by plant scout Lucas Cuz, who lives in aldea El Rosario and works in Tapon and Taponcito nature reserves of FUNDAECO.

We provide cell phones with high-quality digital camera (usually a high-end Google Pixel phone since they have better macro than most other brands), plus we provide productive plant scouts with a computer.

Plant scouts also photograph butterflies, larvae of butterflies and moths, and fauna in addition to remarkable Neotropical plants where they live or where they work in remote rain forest nature preserves.

Stingless bees of Guatemala produce healthy honey (and pollen)

Updated June 11, 2021
First Posted May 18, 2021

When you drive towards the Yaxha entrance to Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo, a few kilometers before the park entrance, on the left side of the road (west side) there is a local family that depends on income from bee honey and bee pollen to survive.

About 7 km towards Yaxha park entrance from the highway turnoff of La Maquina, you can find local honey at Don Goyo's bee area. Here is Roxana Leal, social media manager of FLAAR Mesoamerica, walking up towards the family-run business of Don Goyo.

Members of the FLAAR team also bought several bottles of honey to assist the hospitable family. Don Goyo raises doncella bees (Melipona species, probably Melipona beechii) and tamagás (the slightly larger black stingless bee, potentially Cephalotrigona zexmeniae). We are preparing a full report (ready by June) and will double-check the species identification with bee-ologist Scott Forsythe.

It helps local Mayan families if you can purchase their handicrafts at the PNYNN visitors center or obtain the honey directly from Don Goyo along the side of the road (his honey is not sold in any store; only directly from their family home).

To learn about stingless bees of the Mayan people you can ask Don Goyo to take you on a brief tour around his apiary so you can see the cute golden stingless honey bees. The tamagás bee tend to swarm into your hair (if you get too close to their hive), but they have no stingers. I am used to them.

Stingless bee honey is much more liquid than honey from European bees and nowhere near as thick as Manuka honey. So stingless bee honey is not “watered down,” it is liquid as is.

Howler Monkey, Alouatta pigra, list of suggested reading

Posted April 23, 2021

Photograph by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth, with a Nikon D5 Camera, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4e FL ED VR lens. 1/30 sec, f/11, ISO 5000

Today we are making available our extensive bibliography on Alouatta pigra, the more common black howler monkey of Peten and surrounding areas of Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and Central America).

The entire bibliography will be available as a FLAAR report as a .pdf in coming months, but in the meantime, for students, zoology professors, and people around the world who are curious about the howler monkey, on this page you can find lots to read.