More Cats!

Last week, the morning of January 26 to be exact, two members of the Chan Chich staff had an amazing experience. Guide Emil was out on the trails and encountered a family of pumas -- 2 youngsters with mom. He called Lodge manager Jason who rushed out with his camera ... and captured some amazing shots.

Here the 2 youngsters are investigating the Bajo and Lodge trail signs close to Chan Chich. Note the dappled spot pattern showing they haven't quite grown out of their juvenile pelage. They were in no hurry to leave as subsequent images will show ...

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.

Mid-May Ocelots

It's been a bit of a dry spell between camera trap photos. The camera I've been using has been in for cleaning and repairs recently (it's been doing things like shooting 1700+ images of "nothing" in 1 hour) but it's now back in service. Luckily Ben came through with this nice pair of mid-May ocelot photos from Chan Chich Lodge, the Bajo Trail.

One was shot on May 13 and the other on May 16. It's not entirely straightforward to compare the two images but from what I can tell by zooming in, this is not the same individual. The ocelot in profile (lower picture) is certainly a familiar-looking male often photographed in this Bajo Trail intersection near the Lodge.

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.

Road Crossing

A herd of white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) dashes across the trail near Chan Chich. I'm more accustomed to them hanging out in front of the camera for awhile (see earlier post on white-lips), checking things out. The caution shown here makes me wonder if they are concerned about a predator in the area. Possibly a jaguar, known to follow peccary herds?

Foraging Flock

One of the great things about the camera traps is the "slice of life" they show. Just life as the animals are living it at that moment in time. For those of us interested in animals and behavior, that is plenty interesting even it if is not always dramatic. This is a mid-sized Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata) flock foraging through an area by Chan Chich's Bajo Trail.

Bruce reminded me of a friend, who upon seeing the turkeys for the first time, thought they were peacocks. Yes, they really are that gorgeous and these days seldom seen outside of this protected corner of the country. To listen to the distinctive vocalization of the turkey, go to xeno-canto here. You'll note there is a recording from Chan Chich Lodge.

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!

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 ...

Curious "Jorge" on the Bajo Trail

We saw Ben, Chan Chich Lodge manager, Sunday night. He passed on these very exciting jaguar photos from one of the camera traps not far from the Lodge. I couldn't wait to share them! First though, I compared the spot pattern of this animal with those of male jaguars I had in my database from my previous jaguar projects in Gallon Jug Estate (yes, it's a male -- if you look carefully, on one of the frames you will notice the ... "details").

There were no matches in the database which wasn't actually too surprising. While this photo shows a healthy animal -- a couple ticks on his face notwithstanding -- he is by no means as heavy bodied as fully mature adult male jaguars. See the photos of Prowler -- who is massive -- for comparison ("On the Prowl," 11 Dec. 09). So I would conclude this is a fairly young animal.

Here then, is a slide show of a gorgeous young male jaguar, Curious "Jorge," examining the Bajo Trail sign and showing all the curiosity cats are famous for!