Blog entry:
Short summaries
This last
month was an accumulation of lot of things (e.g. power lost, lost of internet
connection, no water, food shortage) therefore it has been difficult to put my
thoughts together and write an entry. So, I like to write something
"light"; in this entry I like to write short summaries on various
aspect in and around the fazenda and
on the field.
Frankie
and Beth, the tapirs
To start, I want to inform you about the
tapirs, my favourite animals in this property. At the beginning I think that
these beasts are quite ugly (just like everyone in general). When we arrived
they were enclosed in the front of the fazenda with the peccaries. However,
after a while Leandro moved them to the enclosure on the back of our house. He
also mentioned that we could give them the left-over we got and thus we fed
them with some left-over. To be honest, at first I was a bit afraid of them and
when I gave them the left-over, I quickly open the gate, dumped it and quickly
close it again. It started to changed when one day I mustered all of my courage
to pet one of them (the male) actually. Surprisingly, they are quite meek or
perhaps they are already grew accustomed to me. The sudden change in liking
came because I decided to base my research on the big grazers (i.e. the
tapirs), hence I decided to learn more about them.
Between December and January was the mango
seasons. Back in our house we have 2-3 mango trees and everyday lot of mangos
fell on the ground. Leandro then asked as to give these mangoes to the tapirs,
and so I collected mangoes almost every day and gave them to the tapirs.
Coincidentally it is also the time when Mario
came for a visit. Mario is a professional animal trainer and has worked with
variety of animals. In that week-end that he was with us, maybe it was an
accident or maybe not, the tapirs got loose. The male was exploring the house
and eating the plants on the yards. With some difficulties Leandro was able to
herd him back to the enclosure. However, the next day when me and Mario were
going to feed them with some mangoes, we could not find them. Leandro was by
chance around and he informed us that they were loose again and the female was
actually nearby his house that morning. We saw that the back-door to the
eucalyptus was open and decided to go and search for the male. Mario saw him in
the distance and we approached him quietly, but he already noticed us and fled
to the corner of the plantation. We went to that direction and surprisingly we
didn't found him. Both of us were amazed on how quick he was able to run and
disappeared from our sights
Then Mario saw him again, not far from us. He
was lying on the ground, relaxing. we approached him quietly. Mario then gave
him some mangoes and started to walk away while hitting the bucket.
Miraculously, he followed us back to the enclosure.
It's when I fed them jack fruit
After that I started to hit the bucket every
time I come to feed them. I also decided to name them. I call the male Franco /
Frankie (because of mafia movies and uncle Frankie, I find the name quite
fitting for this big fellow), as the name that Leandro gave to him was quite
difficult. The female I decided to call her Beth (a short version of Elisabeth)
because Effie told me that is her name.
I still remember the time when I came in the
enclosure and Frankie already sniffing the scent of mangoes and came running
towards me. I dumped the mangoes on the ground, he came sniffing and
immediately jumped on the pile of mangoes. One of his legs stepped on a mango and
was slipping, though he didn't mind and carried on with the mango feast. Beth was
quite timid (now not so much) and more tranquil in her approach. She came
cautiously to the pile though when she started to eat she also ravaged the
mangoes as her better half.
Frankie likes to eat with his eyes closed
Mario trick with the bucket worked, Frankie and
Beth are already familiar with the sound. Now, even if they are sleeping, when
they heard the sound they know that food is coming and run immediately towards
me. Mario also teach me to caress the animals. Every time that I feed them I
spent some time petting them and removing some ticks. I grew attached to them
and I think the feeling is vice versa (see the picture). I will have a hard time leaving them ...
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| Courtesy of Efstathia Sideri |
The fungi
Now comes a part that maybe not so relevant
with the work that I conducted, but still it is something that I like to do. My
interest in fungi started in high school when I grew bread molds for a small research. My report for that research was graded quite
high. Although, sadly I do not continue to the next step (to collect and
identify mushrooms). The interest lay dormant and I started to like it again after
I did a small project during the second year of my bachelor. It was when I met
Dr. József Geml and learned a lot about the phylogheny of the Lactarius clade. Because, I really
liked the project I decided to do my bachelor internship under supervision of
József.
During the internship I had the chance to
accompany József during the fieldwork in Costa Rica (last year). It was there
when I found and gathered my first mushrooms. From then on I always keep my
eyes open for any mushrooms and surprisingly, I found many of them here in
cerrado.
So, this part of entry is actually more or less
directed to the people of NCB naturalis. Guys, these are the mushrooms that I
have found around sugarcane and in forest fragment.
The first one I found in the forest, nearby a
tree and a small stream of water. I think this is an ectomycorrhiza.
The second one I found in the sugarcane. A lot
of these mushrooms grows on the cut stem of the sugarcanes.
This mushrooms I found it along the road. It
resembles an Amanita, I am not sure
though. I didn't saw any trees nearby and on the record there are a lot of
cattle passing through this area.
Furthermore, I found more mushrooms after rain. I hope you like these images and perhaps could identify some of them.
The end??
My honoured audiences, my time in Brasil is
almost ended. The fieldwork went well although we had some accidents in the
end. Don't worry, I'm fine, the real damage was in the equipments. Thus because
it is almost the end I would like to dedicate my last entry to the jaguars. I
hope you stay tuned for that last entry, however I also want to warn you that
it will contain images of jaguars playing and devouring a dead animal.
Até proxima,
Yuga
