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Reports by FLAAR Mesoamerica
on Flora & Fauna of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo
Peten, Guatemala, Central America
Wasps that make honey?
Posted March 1, 2018
Last year I was surprised to learn that there is a wasp which makes honey, the “Mexican Honey Wasp.” Since this wasp is also present in Guatemala, we began looking for it.
Last week, while in a school in the remote mountains parallel to the Rio Cahabon, Guatemala (donating educational material to the teachers to utilize for the primary school Q’eqchi’ Mayan children), one of the teachers said that the wasps I was photographing were actually honey producers.
This is the second time this year that local people have said there were more than one kind of honey wasp. Snag is that other than the well known Mexican honey wasp there is not much on the Internet to allow us to easily identify the other species.
We are studying pollinators of the plants of Mesoamerica: bees, wasps, beetles, flies, and mammals. We have now photographed male mosquitos several times on the same flowers as bees and wasps in our FLAAR Mayan Ethnobotanical Research Garden around our office.
We look forward to contributing to knowledge of honey wasps that are native to Guatemala.
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These particular wasps are capable of stinging but the school teacher said they do not sting anywhere near as frequently as other species of wasps. In other words, it is polite not to destroy their nests. |
HOWLER Monkeys everywhere
Posted Feb. 15, 2018
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.
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Where to experience river, swamp, and ocean beach crabs in Guatemala?
Posted Feb. 7, 2018
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.
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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.
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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.
Help preserve Crocodiles & Caimans of Mesoamerica
Posted Jan. 25, 2018
Caimans are related to alligators; crocodiles of course are related to crocodiles (the most famous of which are in Africa).
Guatemala and Mexico have three species: two crocodile species and one caiman (alligator relative).
Each live in slightly different eco-systems; all are endangered (their rivers and swamp eco-systems, and their own skins!).
We at FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala) are continuing our long-range project to study these remarkable reptiles. We are preparing new scientific illustrations to significantly improve the standard profile and “from above looking down” view which are in dozens of books and scores of articles and web sites.
To continue reading about crocodiles and alligators of the Mayan areas….
Happy Holidays, December and January New Year 2018
Posted December 22, 2017
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).
To experience remarkable tropical flowers of Guatemala, enjoy our www.maya-ethnobotany.org.
To see our newly launched cartoon book web site, look at our
www.mayan-characters-value-based-education.org.
Here you can see a video of Dr Nicholas interacting with a 350 pound tapir and her spotted baby.
Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture is indeed present in Guatemala
Posted Dec 21, 2017
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.
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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
Birds and Mammals of the Mayan Rain Forests: Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador
Posted Nov. 3, 2017
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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.
