Gibson’s World

This Spring Break, we decided to go to Costa Rica with J.D. Willson (a herpetologist we know from South Carolina) and look for herps and other animals with him. In Costa Rica, we went to Selva Verde, La Selva Biological Station, Bosque Del Cabo in the Osa Peninsula, La Sirena, and Playa Nicuesa. In each place we saw tons of wildlife and had a really good time.

Selva Verde and La Selva Biological Station: First, we flew from Seattle to Houston to San Jose and then drove 1½ hours to get to our hotel, which was pretty boring. By the time we got there, it was already 11:00 PM. J.D. had gotten there earlier and had showed us what he had found. Then, we just had to go on a night hike to see if we could find anything. We were soon rewarded seeing a Parrot-snake, a Cloudy Slug-eater, a Turnip-tailed Gecko, and various other anoles and amphibians.

The next day, we woke up to some Howler Monkeys “howling” right outside our bungalow. Then, we went down to break-fast and then on a morning hike. It was very successful finding two Hog-nosed Vipers, a Green Vine Snake, lots of Poison-dart frogs, many anoles and Whiptails, some Green Iguanas, a Green Basilisk and a couple of Eleutherdactylus frogs. That night we went on a long night hike though the jungle. After a couple of Slug-eaters, we went for a really long time without seeing anything. So, Sterling, my dad and my mom all gave up and went to sleep. Of course, then everything started to come out. We quickly saw a Forest Toad and a Red Coffee Snake. As J.D., the local guide, and I started to head back to the hotel, he realized that we hadn’t seen a Red-eyed Tree-frog. So, he took us down to the pond and found two of them for us. There were also TONS of toads hanging out by the pond. Then, the local guide left and J.D. and I did another night hike around the hotel garden. We soon found a Blunt-headed Tree-snake, three more Red Coffee Snakes, and a Smokey Jungle Frog. I was amazed at how long and thin the Blunt-headed Tree-snake was in contrast to its HUGE bulging out head and eyes!

In the morning, J.D. showed us what he had found before we got to Selva Verde. I knew what it was going to be, but nobody else did, because we wanted to keep it a surprise. I hadn’t seen it, though. He opened his snake back and took out a Central American Coral Snake! It was really exciting, because that was one of the snakes I’ve always really wanted to find, but never have. We were already off to a good start. Then, we went to La Selva Biological Station. We found lots of cool birds there, and also saw a baby parrot in a nest with a Coati right next to it. The day before, the same Coati had eaten the other baby parrot and now was after this one. We temporarily scared it away, but we were pretty sure that it would come back that night and eat the baby parrot. As we started down the trail, we told our guide that we would like to see a sloth. Within about 30 seconds, he found one for us. The guide said that they had seen an Eyelash Palm Pit-Viper the day before and we told him that we really wanted to see it, so he agreed to try to find it for us. Sure enough, about 2/3 of the way through the hike he spotted the bright yellow snake we wanted to see. It was amazingly colorful and we could even see the eyelashes on it. When we got back our hotel at Selva Verde, we found some HUGE Green Iguanas, a few Black River Turtles, and a Tawny Tree-frog that night.

Bosque Del Cabo, Osa Peninsula: The next morning, we left to go to Bosque Del Cabo on the Osa Peninsula. We met our guide, and we stared off by going to a pond. At the pond, we found lots of Spectacled Caiman, some Brown Basilisks, and tons of Whiptails. That night, we went to some other ponds and found about 5 Northern Cat-eyed Snakes, a Milky frog, a Gladiator Frog, some more Smokey Jungle Frogs, lots of Cane Toads, some little tree-frogs (Hyla Ebercatta), and as we were going back to our hotel, we found a Masked Tree-frog in the swimming pool.

In the morning, we went on another morning hike and immediately found a new dwarf gecko, some anoles, a really awesome Casque-head Lizard, a new Whiptail, a Brown Vine Snake that J.D. spotted, and some other various frogs. In the morning we went flew to La Sirena in Corcovado National Park. We went on a hike and found a bunch of cool stuff. We saw a Tapir sleeping about 20 yards away from the trail, a really cool poison-dart frog, and a new anole for us on the trip (Norops Biporcatus). Then we took a plane to Playa Nicuesa, which would turn out to be one of the best snake places of the entire trip.

  Playa Nicuesa: When we got to Playa Nicuesa, we immediately knew that it would be a great place for snakes when they told us that they had seen three different snake species the night before we got there. So, we couldn’t wait to check it out. First, we had dinner and then went on a long nigh hike through the jungle. It started off great with a moss-colored Eyelash Palm Pit Viper and then later a baby Northern Cat-eyed Snake. After a while, it slowed way down and we didn’t see much for the rest of the hike, except for a few frogs. As usual, my dad, Sterling, and the local guide left and went to be. But, J.D. and I continued herping. Once again we saw all of the cool stuff when everybody else left. We started off with a cool Coniophanes fissidens (Brown Debris Snake) that I spotted near the boardwalk to the lagoon. Then we went down to the beach and we found another Cat-eyed snake sitting right on the Yoga platform (maybe he was waiting for his yoga lesson?…). On the way back, J.D. spotted yet another Cat-eyed snake in a tree. The Cat-eyed Snake had just eaten a frog, so J.D. somehow got the snake to throw up the frog that he had just eaten by squeezing the frog up towards the snake’s head and the out of its mouth. It was really cool, but kind of disgusting.

The next day, we woke up and as usual, went on a pretty successful morning hike. We went to the place where one of the guides had seen two Bushmasters not long before we got there (a few months). Since they are vipers, Bushmasters can stay in pretty much the same place for a long time waiting for something. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Bushmaster, but we did see a new type of poison dart frog for the trip (Phyllobates vittatus), a new species of skink for us (Mabuya Unimarginata), and two Aquatic Anoles (Norops Aquaticus). In the afternoon, we took some kayaks out and kayaked around in the ocean which was fun. That night, we went on short night hike with a group before dinner (about 30 minutes). Although, we didn’t think that we’d see very much since it was such a big group and it was only for about a half hour, we was proved VERY wrong. Right away we spotted a Mussurana crossing the trail and about to crawl under a log. When everybody gathered around the log, our guide flipped the log and we all got a great look at a really pretty, bright red, juvenile Mussurana. Finally, after everyone had gotten good pictures of it, we left him the snake and continued looking. Not long after, we found a Leptodactylus species (a frog) which was cool. Only about 10 minutes later, I spotted a snake in the low branches of a bush. At first glance, I thought that it might be a cat-eyed snake because its head was hidden in the bush, but it turned out to be the  endemic and fairly rare Red-eyed Tree-snake (Tripanurgos compressus). It was basically a brown snake with reddish blotchy bands, a white head, and red eyes. I was really excited because it was rare in the area and it had amazing colors. As we headed back to dinner, we found a bunch of HUGE Cane Toads, a few Tungara Frogs, and Cloudy Snail Sucker. After dinner, we went on another night hike. Once again, we didn’t see anything interesting until everybody but J.D. and I left. About a minute after they all left, we found a Fer-de-Lance crossing the trail. We only saw it for a couple of seconds, so neither of us got a picture. We continued hiking and found another juvenile Mussurana (it was close to where the first one was, so we thought it was probably the same one). Then, we didn’t find any thing for a while, so we decided to head back. When we got back to the hotel, we went through the restaurant and J.D. somehow spotted a cryptically colored Fer-de-Lance coiled up right outside the restaurant. We were thrilled and we both got some good pictures of it. In one night hike we found four snake species and three new ones for the trip!

Overall, it was a really awesome trip with 14 snake species, 35 individual snakes, 22 species of lizards, 2 crocodilians, 1 turtle, 39 reptiles, 20 frogs, 2 toads, 22 amphibians, 61 herp species, 20 mammal species, and over 120 birds! The trip to Costa Rica was definitely one of the best trips we’ve taken and I can’t wait to go back to Costa Rica and explore some of the places that we haven’t gone yet.

On our trip this year, I have changed in many ways. I now really like looking for, finding, and catching reptiles and amphibians. I also like birds and mammals more. Another way that I have changed is that I now understand how big the world is and what it is like.

I had a lot of fun on the trip but some of my favorite parts were  the safaris in Africa, herping in Madagascar with Chris, running around at Bullo River, Australia, seeing the tiger at Ranthambhore, India,  the Pantanal in Brazil, and seeing the penguins and whales in Antarctica. I also liked camping in Australia.

On our trip we saw a lot of amazing animals. In some places we were lucky and saw a lot (Australia, India, Brazil, Jordan, most of Africa and Madagascar), but in other places, we didn?t see as much as we hoped to see (Amazon, Argentina, and Lukuba Island). Some of my favorite animal sightings were: Kangaroos in Australia, Boyd?s Forest Dragon in Australia, tiger in India, frogs in Phuket, whales and penguins in Antarctica, Anaconda in Brazil, Giant Anteaters in Brazil, toucans in Brazil, agamas in Jordan, lions, leopards, and cheetahs in Africa, and the herps in Madagascar (especially the Madagascar Tree Boa and Parson?s Chameleon).

While we were traveling we also met 11 baseball teams in 10 countries. In each place we would give all of the kids and coaches Red Sox hats and some equipment. Many of them were really poor and couldn?t even afford baseball gloves. Usually we would have lunch or dinner with them afterwards. The best players we met were in Beijing and in Delhi. The players in Beijing even got to play on the Olympic baseball field!!

When we were traveling we had a ton of guides that helped us get around and show us things. Some were good and some were bad.  My favorite guides were Trevor (Southern Africa), Chris (Madagascar), Rick (Cairns, Australia), Kallie (Namibia), Super (Namibia), Ida (China), Ignacio (Chile), and Mike (Antarctica).

Some of my biggest surprises were China, the Amazon, and Egypt. In China, I thought that everybody would be wearing silk clothes and triangular hats. I thought that in the Amazon, snakes would be every where, but in about 2 days, we saw ZERO snakes. I also thought that the pyramids would be clean and not have trash around them, but there was lots of it.

I learned a lot about other people on our trip. I learned that there are a lot of people who don?t even have enough money to buy clothes or food. I also learned about their cultures like what they live in, what they eat, what they wear, what their daily life is like, and much more.

Home-schooling was really interesting this year because we only had to do it for about 1-2 hours each day, but we still had to do a lot of work and finished our math book in November (2007, not 2008). We would usually do our home-schooling in the morning, but in Africa we had to do it in the afternoon since we usually did morning game drives.
On our trip, I missed a lot of things about our normal life. I missed Scallop (our dog), orange juice without pulp, consistent good food, artichokes, hamburgers and hot dogs, my bed, not having to go on so many plane trips, and sleeping in.

On our 10-month trip around the world we went to all seven continents, thirty-seven countries, saw 175 reptiles and amphibians, 166 mammals, and 1,204 birds. We went to lots of really cool places and I learned a ton of new things. 

Madagascar Tree Boas are probably the most interesting out of the 72 snake species in Madagascar. They are members of the Boidae family which is made up of large, non-venomous, constricting, primitive snakes. On some Boidae snakes, you can even see one or two toes sticking completely out of the skin because snakes evolved from lizards.

Madagascar Tree Boas are really beautiful snakes (in my opinion). They are grayish-green snakes with black diamonds or cross-bars all over their bodies. The only exceptions are  juveniles, which can be bright red in color but they still have the black markings on them!  Madagascar Tree Boas have triangular heads which are characteristic of both Boidae and a Viperidae snakes. They also have a thick black stripe behind the eye which is a great field identification characteristic. These thick snakes have been measured at more than 7 feet long!!

The Madagascar Tree Boa?s biology is amazing. Despite Their name (Madagascar Tree Boa),they are commonly found on the ground as well as in the trees. They also give birth to live young instead of laying eggs as most snakes do. Madagascar Tree Boas will feed on many animals including birds, lizards, frogs, and small mammals. They will even eat some small lemurs!!

While we were in Madagascar we were lucky enough to see a Madagascar Tree Boa (baby) in the wild. It was really interesting and I hope to come back to Madagascar some day to see more of these snakes and many other animals.

Southern Africa is one of the best places in the world for mammals. There are over 140 species and many are endemic. On our trip we were able to visit Southern Africa and went to South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana.We had great luck and saw almost everything we wanted to see with our guides, Trevor (Most of Southern Africa) and Craig (Cape Town) including the “Big Five” (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, and African Buffalo). We also saw the “Super Six” which is the “Big Five”+Cheetahs. Below are the most interesting animals that we saw in the wild (except for the Eland, which was in semi-wild). Each animal description below has a matching picture that I took of the animal while we were in southern Africa.  

Impala

This is by far the most common antelope in most of southern Africa. They were everywhere while we were in southern Africa. They usually live in herds of more than 20. When a male breaks its antler off, they immediately drop to the bottom in the ranks because they can no longer fight with other males. (African antelopes? antlers DO NOT ever re-grow).

Springbok

Springbok are the national animal of South Africa and are very common in some areas. Unlike the Impala, Springbok are more solitary although you may occasionally find them in herds. They are only found in the western part of Southern Africa, since Impala have taken over the more humid East.

Common Eland

Eland are huge antelope and are southern Africa?s biggest antelope. The females ?moo?, the males bellow, and the babies bleat. Eland can easily jump 2 meters/ yards high. They are usually in herds of 8-12 individuals.

Gemsbok (Oryx)

Gemsbok have huge, long horns and are white, light-brown, and black colored. They live in herds of 12 or more and can survive for long periods of time without water. They live in the north-western part of southern Africa.

Klipspringer

Klipspringers are very small, but interesting antelope. They live on big boulders and look out for predators. They are very good at climbing boulders and usually are solitary or found in pairs. Their coat is thick to provide protection against bumping into rocks. Klipspringers’ horns are short and straight.

Bontebok

Bontebok are rare antelope restricted only to the cape area. At one point, there were only 42 left, but today there are about 2000. They are easily spotted because of their bright white patches on their head and bottom.

Blue Wildebeest

Blue Wildebeest are very common in the northern part of southern Africa and can be found in implausibility (herds) of up to 30 individuals. They can easily be told apart from the Black Wildebeest by the entirely white tail and the forward pointing horns. Blue wildebeests are often seen in large groups especially during migrating as shown in The Lion King.

African Buffalo

Being a member of the ?big five?, African Buffalos are considered to be one of the most dangerous African animals. They form huge obstinacies (herds) of several hundred while migrating only. when they are not migrating, buffalos will usually form groups of up to 30 animals.  They look very similar to cows.

Plains Zebra

Zebras are one of the most well-known African animals. They form huge dazzles (herds) while migrating and the stripes make it difficult to make out individuals or to hunt them. A few years ago, just

Cape Porcupines are really fascinating rodents.  They are also one of my favorite animals because they are so different from most other animals.  Some people don’t like them, though, because they believe that porcupines can shoot their quills, which isn’t true.

Cape Porcupines are big, nocturnal  rodents covered in black fur on the head and legs, but long, sharp quills on the rest of the body.    Porcupines are usually 10-24 kg., the female being bigger than the male.  The quills are about 30 cm. long and are banded with black and white.  The quills are also modified hairs and are hollow to keep warm. On our trip, we have found several porcupine quills and they were really sharp.

These rodents have some interesting habits.  Cape Porcupines eat plants and sometimes insects. They are usually solitary, but may share a burrow with up to three other porcupines.  Its predators are cheetah, leopard, lion, and caracal, so Cape Porcupines need to be able to run fast when they are chased.  They also will back into the predator, growl, snuffle, teeth-chatter, or rattle their tail quills.  The porcupines’ best and most famous defense, though, is the quills.  When the cape porcupine succeeds in jabbing the enemy, the predator will often get infected because porcupines have very dirty quills. 

Porcupines are very well camouflaged because their quills blend in with the tall grasses in Africa. Our guide said that is was very rare to see porcupines  because of their camouflage. Although Cape porcupines have some great defenses, sometimes predators come in large numbers and usually succeed in killing the hopeless porcupines.  They often kill the porcupine by flipping it over to reveal the unprotected throat and belly.

Cape Porcupines are fascinating animals.  While we were at Jack’s Camp, Botswana, we got to see a Cape Porcupine and it was really interesting to see it in the wild.  

A sandfish despite its name is a type of skink (see Super Skinks).  They “swim” in the soft sands of the desert and inhabit Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East.  Often times, you will see a dart of a lizard and then it will be gone into the sand.  This is usually a sandfish.

Sandfish are usually about seven to eight inches long with a tail shorter than the body which is very unusual for lizards.  They are mainly yellow/gold colored with black cross-bands and white sides and belly.  Sandfish also have short legs and a long, pointy snout.  To keep the sand out of its eyes, nose, and lungs, sandfish have very small eyes and nostrils. Because sandfish have such unusual characteristics, they are commonly sold as pets.

Sandfish have some very interesting behaviors.  They are insectivorous and eat three to four times a week with 4 crickets per meal.  To hunt they emerge from the burrow.  They can also hunt by listening to the vibration of insects walking over its burrow.  Then the sandfish will attack.  Since it is very hot in the desert, sandfish have developed the ability to “swim” through the sand in order to cool down.  They also use this method to escape predators like snakes (vipers). Scientists found out only in 2000 that sandfish created less friction than polished steel, glass, or nylon which enables them to swim through the sand so well.

While we visited Dubai, we went on a “desert safari.”  On it, we saw a sandfish, so of course we caught it.  I was amazed at how fast it could disappear into the sand.  Sandfish are very interesting animals and I am glad that we could see, catch, and hold one in the wild.

Jerash is an ancient Roman city 48 km. north of Amman.  It was inhabited for about 6500 years by the Romans and at one point had 20,000 people living there.

If you went to Jerash, the first thing that you would notice would probably be the columns.  They are huge and are in rows.  There is also a hippodrome which held chariot races and gladiator fights.  Nearly 1/2 of Jerash’s population would attend these events every day.  Other items in Jerash were fountains, a city wall, towers, the oval plaza, amphitheaters, and gates.

Jerash developed into a big town in the 4th Century B.C., but it wasn’t until the 3rd Century A.D. that the “Golden Age” took place.  The Golden Age was the most prosperous time in Jerash and it was then that Jerash held 20,000 people.  Then, in 749 A.D., a series of earthquakes took place which caused serious damage to Jerash and the population declined to about 4,000 people.

Today, Jerash is one of the largest and well-preserved ancient Roman cities.  The reason for this is that Jerash was covered in sand, so it wasn’t exposed to wind or rain.  It was rediscovered in 1806 when Ulrich Jasper Sutzen (a visitor) found part of it.

While we were in Jordan, we visited Jerash.  We saw not only the ruins, but also got to see lots of animals.  We ended up seeing Starred Agamas, a Gecko, a lizard, and a Red Whip Snake (Our guide had never seen a snake before in Jerash).  Jerash and Dana National Reserve (see Sterling’s report) were my two favorite places in Jordan and I hope to return some day.

Death-stalker Scorpions are super-cool arachnids. They are one of the world?s most dangerous scorpions and kill a few people each year especially young children and old people. The reason for the name Death-stalker is probably because when it bites you, death is stalking you, but some people keep them as pets, anyways!

Although these creatures are highly feared, they are not completely bad. One good thing about Death-stalkers is that scientists think that parts of the death-stalkers? venom may be able to treat brain tumors and diabetes. Luckily or unluckily, Death-stalkers are very rare, so not many people get bitten by them, but the medicines to cure brain tumors and diabetes are harder to find.

Death-stalkers are super interesting looking animals. They are light yellow colored with black on the end of its long, slender tail and grey on its back. The black on the end of the tail is not always present which only confuses identification. When talking about Death-stalkers, most scientists use the scientific name (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) as not to confuse it with other dangerous species of scorpions. The scientific name (Latin) (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) translates to ?Five-striped Smooth-tail?.

Death-stalkers are native to northern Africa and the Middle East and live in natural burrows and under stones in deserts and scrublands, so right as we got to Dana National Reserve, Jordan, I started flipping over rocks. I was very excited when under the first rock that I flipped over was a Death-stalker Scorpion! Right away I started taking Macro pictures of it and looking at it. Death-stalker Scorpions are really interesting creatures and I am glad that I got to see one in the wild.

King Tut or Tutankhamen was an Egyptian Pharaoh.  He lived from 1341 B.C. to 1323 B.C. and died at only the age of 19. Although King Tut lived for a short amount of time, even by ancient Egyptian’s standards, he still ruled for 10 years starting at the age of nine.

King Tut’s tomb was discovered completely intact by Howard Carter in 1922.  It was only robbed once but nothing valuable was stolen besides some clothes, amulets, and some other small items.  Even though Howard Carter was supposed to be an archeologist, it sadly turned out that he too was a robber and stole some items from the tomb. They haven’t been found yet even today.

The cause of King Tut’s death is unknown.  Some people think that he was murdered and some people think that he died of a  fractured leg bone.  In 1968, a group of Egyptian scientists did an x-ray of King Tut’s mummy.  They found a place in the back of his head that looked like it had been caused by a blow. Therefore they concluded that the King was murdered. Horemheb and Ay were both in line to be king of Egypt, so the scientists thought that one of them may have murdered King Tut.

Then, in 2005 another group of scientists x-rayed King Tut’s body.  This time, they found nothing on the back of the head besides a hole in which the ancient Egyptians used during mummification.  They also found a fracture in his leg.  They found out that King Tut had died soon after the fracture took place, so they thought that he may have died from falling off a chariot.

King Tut did not rule for very long and didn’t do anything great as a pharaoh, yet he is the most famous pharaoh.  The only real reason for this is that his tomb (not pyramid) was the only one found intact in the Valley of the Kings.  Also, his tomb was made for a priest, so it isn’t even half as big as the average pharaoh got. The reason that King Tut had a tomb instead of a pyramid was because every single pyramid had gotten robbed after only 1000 years, so the Egyptians moved to underground in order to protect the valuable buried with each pharaoh or queen.

While we were in Egypt, we got to see King Tut’s tomb, mummy, sarcophagus, and much more.  The tombs of all of the pharaohs were really amazing because the colors were still there. Some tombs  looked almost newly painted.  Ancient Egyptians especially King Tut are really interesting and I hope to learn even more about them sometime.

Common Diving Petrels are really amazing birds.  They inhabit the Falkland Islands and other small islands above the Antarctic Convergence where they live in burrows on steep slopes with tussock grass but occasionally on flat grounds.

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There are several species of Diving Petrels, including Magellanic, Common, South Georgian, and Peruvian.  The Common Diving Petrel is very closely related to the South Georgian Diving Petrel.  The only way to tell them apart is that the Common is slightly bigger, that they have different bill shapes, and that the South Georgian Diving Petrel has a black line on its leg, but the Common does not.

Common Diving Petrels are tiny birds compared to other sea birds.  They are dark bluish-grey on their back and whitish grey on their belly, much like a penguin.  They are usually about 8-10 inches long with a wing span of about 13-15 inches.  Sometimes, when you see a Common Diving Petrel at sea, they almost look like a big butterfly because of the way that they beat their wings.

On our Antarctica cruise we have seen plenty of these amazing birds (both the South Georgian and the Common Diving Petrel).  We also got to see some that had hit the ship at night.  One morning at breakfast, another passenger asked us if we wanted to see the Diving Petrels.  There were about four of them, one of which we found and released.  Common Diving Petrels are really fascinating birds and I hope to see more on our ship soon!