Golden Oldie: Diamond Jane

The tag line under "Belize Field Notes" says "Camera traps, natural history and news featuring Chan Chich Lodge." It probably hasn't escaped your notice that I haven't posted camera trap photos for a long time. There were 3 on loan when I started this blog but they have since gone south, that is, are defunct. They need repair and honestly, it is not worth it to send them up to the USA, get repairs, have them shipped back and pay duty on the whole shebang. And anyway, technology being what it is these days, we'd be better off buying the latest and greatest instead of trying to fix several-year-old units.

Oh well. I thought you might enjoy my favorite jaguar photo of all time which is also my very first jaguar camera-trapped. This was using a small all-weather film camera and the TrailMaster set up. August 8, 1993 a bit after 11AM, this gorgeous female jaguar was photographed at the intersection of the River Trail and Sylvester Village Road at Chan Chich Lodge. Could she have been more beautifully illuminated?

Remember Norm? Some of Belize Field Notes readers will remember Norm, the well-loved, irreverent heart-of-gold bartender at the Looter's Trench back in the day. As we carefully studied this fabulous photo, it was Norm that dubbed her "Diamond Jane" for the horizontal diamond shape smack in the middle of her side. Can you find it?

The Cats are Back (II)

Dark moon, short days in late December...perfect cat conditions. I promised more cats ... and here they are. December 29 and 30 were big cat nights near the Lodge. The previous post showed an ocelot and jaguar moving through the area ... and here they are again.

Lots of cat activity at this location on the Sylvester Village road near the intersection with the River Trail. Lots of bird activity too. I understand from the Lodge managers that the bench has been relocated back to its previous position. While the bench doesn't necessarily add much to the camera trap images, the real reason was to minimize disturbance to the nesting Ornate Hawk-Eagles. These are magnificent birds and I have a magnificent image of one, coming right up!

The Cats are Back (I)

(

It's a nice way to start the New Year with the cat-loaded camera trap results from late December at Chan Chich Lodge. I haven't posted camera trap photos in a long time. Of the three cameras we had earlier in 2010, only one now is operational -- and it has had its share of problems.

But look at the interesting results for the nights of 28 and 29th December! First a male ocelot strolls by and the next night, a male jaguar. Going to my jaguar database, I can't find a match for this fellow, so perhaps he is fairly new on the scene.

The bench, for those that may be wondering, as been moved to offer optimal viewing of an Ornate Hawk-Eagle nest in progress. You can get an idea of size, comparing the bench to the cats.

Stayed tuned ... more cats coming right up.

More July Jaguars

Apparently, July 2010 was a good month for jaguar activity at Chan Chich Lodge. The above photos are of the same male first on 28 July and then on the 30th of July, photographed at the same location not far from the Lodge. Now ... the question is: is this the same male from 09 July (see 13 September post)? It could well be. Jaguars tend to stay in an area for several days to a week or so before moving on. These images depict the left profile of the jaguar allowing them to be matched to each other, while the 09 July images (previous post) depict the right profile of the jaguar.

In a perfect world, I'd have cameras on either side of the trail so the jaguar photographs both sides of itself at the same time!

We have a match!

You may think that I am reaching ... but I believe we have a database match of jaguar images! The top two black-and-white images are part of a blurry series taken near Chan Chich Lodge on 09 July 2010 just before midnight. The quality is so-so but there are some areas on the animal where the pattern is distinct. So it was without a great deal of hope that I went through the jaguar photo database comparing images to the new photos.

I was stunned to get a match with the color photo above! So how did I do it? In the far left image, the extended right rear leg matches nicely with the color photo, as does the inside left rear leg. In the top right image, both the forelegs match nicely with the forelegs in the color image. In the top images, the body pattern is quite blurred but you can still make out a general spot pattern, which to my eye, looks like a fairly good, though rough, match to the lower photo. It is the distinct leg patterns that made the match possible.

And now for the fun part ... what do we know about this jaguar? Well, it is an adult male, evident by the robust build (in the lower photo, you can just see the scrotum). The color photo was taken during my jaguar density study on 04 April 2005 at 3:49 PM. So this animal is probably more than 5 years old given that it appears to be an adult in the color photo. Even though the top half of the animal was not photographed, the photo has proven its data value since it has allowed a match. The color photo was taken about 12 km east of Chan Chich Lodge, along the southern property boundary by the lower escarpment.

The color photo was the ONLY photo I had of this individual and thanks to the recent images, it is nice to know that this male jaguar is apparently healthy and still roaming the Gallon Jug Estate.

Nice Jaguar Sequence

A very nice jaguar sequence from Ben at Chan Chich Lodge just came in. I've cropped the images to enlarge the jaguar for your viewing pleasure. That removed the data which some of you enjoy, so just to let you know, it was taken on 28 May at 06:47 AM on the Bajo Trail intersection.

Beyond that ... what can I tell you? It appears to be a male but not Curious Jorge or Prowler although admittedly it is a bit difficult to make strong comparisons when the animal is in this position. It's also somewhat dimly lit due to the early hour and infra-red use. So for the time being, we'll have to wait for more images to confirm its identity.

Kitty's in the Neighborhood

What can I say, it is always nice to see the jaguar known as Kitty Carlisle. And here she is, moving fairly rapidly, through the Bajo Trail intersection at Chan Chich Lodge. She's made regular appearances near the Lodge with a portfolio dating back to 2004. I keep hoping sometime she'll bring her offspring by the camera (since she's almost certainly had young every other year or so), but it hasn't happened yet.

Female jaguars, as it turns out, are fairly secretive and not photographed as often as males by the camera traps. This is borne out with my own data, and that of colleagues. Still, on occasion, I've met a researcher who has shown me camera trap photos of young jaguars in their study area -- I'm envious! It hasn't happened here yet although there are plenty of eye witness reports (sadly, I am not among those that have seen a jaguar cub). At any rate, clearly the Kitty feels confident in the Chan Chich neighborhood to venture out during all hours.

Another Male Jaguar

Here's a new sequence of 5 images from Ben's very prolific Bajo Trail camera near Chan Chich Lodge. The first 3 are within seconds of each other beginning at 11:03PM on the 14th of April. The last two frames are somewhat later, at 11:19PM. It's likely this is the same individual, a male, who laid down for a moment, got up and then came back past the camera.

Night time shots like these are tough to match with my database jaguars. I can say for sure that it is definitely not Prowler, who visited this camera a couple months ago (see posts for 12/11/09 and 2/23/10). And it is not Curious Jorge who gave us the nice sequence checking out the camera "up close and personal" (see post for 01/05/10). There are a couple of other similarly blurred night time photos of jaguars from this area, but until we get a clear shot, it will be impossible to make a match.

Another New Jaguar

As if one new jaguar wasn't enough, much earlier that same morning, the morning of April 7, this jaguar passed by. And that very afternoon, the stub-tailed puma. Same camera, same location, the Peterson Creek intersection on the Gallon Jug Estate. Interesting that the 3 big cats were using this same spot separated only by hours.

While it is always great to photo-capture a jaguar, unfortunately the image here is not a "flat profile." That makes it a bit more difficult, if not impossible, to say whether this animal has been previously recorded in the database. The image above is the clearest of the lot -- the others are quite blurred -- and is one of 6 taken. The heavy stocky build makes me believe it is likely a male and from what I can tell, more than likely a new addition to the database.

In the Pink

With great pleasure, I would like to present a new jaguar! This individual -- whom I believe to be female -- was recorded on the Gallon Jug Estate's Peterson Creek road on April 7 at 9:33 AM. This animal does not match any previously photo-captured in the database. There were just these two frames, and very nice frames they were.

Actually, they would have been awesome, had the normal color appeared. I had to doctor the images to remove a disconcerting pink cast. Evidently the infra-red did not switch over to the regular day time color. I have several pink turkeys recorded as well. We've emailed the camera company to see what they recommend to correct this. Nothing like being forced to view the world through rose-colored glasses ... !

What Did She See?

Another nice jaguar sequence from Ben at Chan Chich, not far from the Lodge! It's an early morning sequence, 4:22 on 4 March 2010. This female jaguar regards the camera -- she's clearly aware of it -- then sees or hears something that causes her leave. Interesting. Makes you wonder what exactly it was. At that hour, unlikely a human. Another jaguar?

A comparison with my jaguar database photos reveals no matches. This is definitely not "Kitty Carlisle" who was appearing in Ben's cameras regularly a month or so ago. Often female jaguars that have overlapping territories are related, perhaps mother-daughter. But unless we had some way to collect hair or scat for genotyping, that is something we'll never know about these two!

Hillbank Road Result: a Jaguar

When we set up the camera trap on the Hillbank road by the old rail bridge a couple of weeks ago (see 25 February post), I mentioned we'd seen jaguar tracks. Maybe they belonged to this animal who was photo-captured in a series of 3 photos on 22 February 2010 at 1:11 in the morning.

This sort of head on, or three-quarter view, type of photo can be very difficult to match with database photos. A full-on side shot is much better to try and make a definitive match. The distance from the camera and infra-red are not ideal here either. Still, if we get more photos of this animal in the future, there will be more we can learn about it. By the stocky build, I would guess it is a male. No telling though without more photos.

Hillbank Rail History

Recently, we scouted a new location for my camera trap since the Hillbank Road is being re-opened. We were following an overgrown track, formerly a railroad line used to haul mahogany to the Hillbank logging camp headquarters during the old days. It had been probably 10 years or more since we'd been that far east on the property. Amazing to imagine the rail road line here, an area that is now back to bush.

For Belize history buffs, the Belize Archives in Belmopan is well worth a visit. We found several reprints from the Gliksten Journal, a publication of the logging company that formerly owned the Gallon Jug property and the adjacent Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. One article quotes former logging manager Austin Felix ( b. 1886, d. 1975) as follows:

"The next milestone in the history of the logging was in 1922, when the Company bought some steel ... lengths of railway line ... We built our railroad first of all from Hillbank to the west, then north ... This was 16 miles from Hillbank. There were 200 men working on the railroad all the time, and although the country seems flat in this region, it was by no means flat enough to put a railroad through without a lot of cutting out of hills and filling in of swamps. It was all done by hand. .. The logging still went on while the steel was being laid..." And, he notes, the steel was salvaged from the Stann Creek railroad.

The cuts and swamps were certainly apparent to us as we walked and we marveled at the hand labor that went into cutting through the limestone banks. Then "...in 1929," Austin Felix continues, "it was decided to log in another direction entirely and all the railroad steel was taken up and re-laid due west of Hillbank..." Imagine the hard labor in tropical heat!

Besides being a pleasant walk on a nice day, it was fascinating to look for signs from "the old days" and imagine life in the chicle and logging camps. We saw tapir tracks, deer tracks and jaguar tracks which bodes well for the camera trap. Below is a map dating back to 1965 highlighting the railroad line between Gallon Jug and Hillbank before it was ultimately pulled up. All that is left are a few landmarks, like the bridge (above), and a couple steam engines that have been reclaimed by the bush.

The Prowler is back

Just in from Ben, another jaguar photo! Those of you that have been following this blog for awhile now, probably can immediately recognize that this is not the jaguar known as Kitty Carlisle! For one thing, it is massive, a much heavier build than Kitty. This stocky body is typical of adult male jaguars, and yes, if you look carefully, you can see the "details."

So we have a male jaguar on the move near Kitty's hangout. A comparison with my database photos shows that it is "Prowler," who has appeared 22 January 2009 (see earlier post). That's almost a year ago to the day (see date/time stamp top left corner of the photo above).

The Prowler's photo file dates back to March 2005, a few kilometers northeast of Chan Chich Lodge. It seems more than likely Chan Chich figures in his regular territorial "patrols." He'll make his presence known to Kitty and any other jaguars in the area through scent marking and spraying.

Note the confidence shown by appearing mid-day near the Lodge. Clearly, the Prowler knows he has nothing to fear striding along a main trail close to the Lodge without cover of night or vegetation.

Kitty Carlisle walks again

Here's a new jaguar photo from Ben, just in. Yes, a quick look at the spot pattern and it is clear that it is Kitty Carlisle again. She's in her "usual spot" on Chan Chich's Bajo Trail, 06 January 2010 in early afternoon. Just about like clockwork. The Kitty's looking especially good in this photo, sleek and well muscled. She'd be, at a minimum, about 8 years old. Her first photos were taken in 2004 very close to this same location just a couple hundred yards from Chan Chich Lodge. She appeared to be a full adult then, let's say at least 2 years old. Great to see that she has made her 2010 trail debut!

Flip side?

I think there is a good chance this is the "flip side" of the jaguar from the previous post. Can't say for sure though. This image was taken 35 minutes later on the same date at the same location on the Hillbank road. This cat doesn't appear in my database, so I wasn't able to match left (or right, in the case of the previous post and image) profile patterns to my database cats. We'll just have to see whether it appears in future images. Interestingly, this jaguar has a torn up shoulder.

Pieced together

I'm sure it is apparent that this rather odd image is pieced together with the help of software. The jaguar was photographed walking "into" the frame and then "out" of it two seconds later on 6 January 2010. Ben has been operating two camera traps at Chan Chich and recently loaned me the third. I've moved it between a couple locations on the Hillbank Road, east of Gallon Jug, in places where I'd successfully camera-trapped jaguars some years ago during two jaguar density studies.

This camera trap was placed at Gallon Jug's lower escarpment overlook which in the past, has been a good place for cat photos. I think that's because they prefer using the road rather than clambering over the changing topography there. Not that they couldn't do it -- it's by no means all that challenging. But the road is a low-effort way to get from Point A to Point B.

Of course I consulted my jaguar database. This cat is a stranger. If I had to guess gender (since that isn't immediately apparent), I'd say "female," but it could be a youngish male. Only more photos can say for sure. And, there's other one coming up ...

And here she is again ...

And here she is again, "Kitty Carlisle" the Jaguar Formerly Known as UF2, at 11:12 on 03 March 2009 at Ben's camera trap set up at Norman's Temple/Bajo Trail (see also previous two posts). These are much clearer photos than the previous infra-red images which were slightly foggy, due, I imagine, to high humidity. Still, a careful side-by-side spot pattern comparison shows that this is the same jaguar. Her first photos date back to 2004, only a couple hundred yards away from where this March series was recorded.

The interesting thing about these images is the bulge toward the back of her belly. A zoomed-in examination suggests that she is a nursing mother. We were hoping she'd confirm such speculation by bringing the kids along for a photo op. We're still waiting ...

Meet "Kitty Carlisle"

Ben, my partner in crime, or should I say, camera trapping, has come up with a name for UF2. (There she is above, a bit blurred due to motion, but still clearly recognizable, about 3km from the Lodge on 28 May 04). For those of you wondering, UF2 translates to "Unnamed Female 2." I amassed quite a database of jaguar photos several years ago when I was conducting a track study and two jaguar density studies in the Gallon Jug Estate. It is fantastic to recognize some of these same animals still stalking the trails.

While we in science are often chastised for "anthropomorphizing" study animals with names, that never bothered me overmuch. After all, the animal is never going to know and feel insulted or flattered, as the case may be. A name is a nice shorthand method for referring to individuals rather than the ponderous "UF2," which is a sort of name anyway (besides, it always reminded me of unidentified flying objects). Not only that, if naming helps people connect to wildlife and come to care about its conservation, then hey, I'm all for it.

So once I'd gotten more than a couple photos of an individual jaguar -- which implied it was using our area and likely to turn up again -- I invited people who had been helpful to our various conservation projects to Name-the-Cat, as a show of appreciation. Since this isn't a Formal Study we're doing, just sharing and enjoying some of the magnificent wildlife found in the Gallon Jug Estate/Chan Chich Lodge area, I say: let the naming begin.

And, with more photos of UF2 still to be posted, it is clear that she is a regular presence near the Lodge and is thus in need of a better name. Ben suggested it was HIS turn to Name-the-Cat. After some days of thoughtful deliberation, he announced: "I would like to name the jaguar ‘Kitty Carlisle’ or Carlisle for short. It is in memory of the late Uncle Scotty who loved his cats and would be honoured to be named after a jungle pussy cat!"

So there you go. Kitty Carlisle she is.

Another Jaguar Walks

How lucky can we get? More jaguar footage from Ben! This series appears in black-and-white due to low light levels triggering the infra-red mode. It's a really nice feature as it doesn't eat up batteries anywhere near as rapidly as conventional flash photography does. Since a canopied tropical forest typically has fairly low light, the infra-red mode is frequently necessary, even during daylight hours. I used to spend hundreds of dollars each field season to replace batteries almost weekly due to heavy flash usage in the "old style" camera traps.

Anyway. So here we have another nice sequence of an adult jaguar going about her business on a trail near Chan Chich Lodge. Yes, it is a female ... and it turns out we've already "met" her in 2004 and 2009.

More on this jaguar soon!