hey little bat!

Part of what goes into making a forest a  tropical rainforest  is the climate, which is very warm and very humid but not necessarily very hot. In the tropics, daylengths are more-or-less the same throughout the year, so there are no opportunities for heat to build up or be lost; therefore, you have more-or-less consistent temperatures throughout the year. What differs throughout the year is the rainfall: there is a marked rainy and dry season. Tropical rainforests generally receive at least 80 inches of rain per year. So what is it that is so appealing about the warm and humid tropical rainforest? For me, there's something about the ecologic complexity, the incredible biodiversity, the interdependency of the plants and animals, and the quietly dynamic personality of the rainforest. And then there's the enveloping exoticness, otherworldliness, and the captivating lushness that closes you off from the rest of the world. This "lushness" however is somewhat deceiving...

December 30, 2009 We signed up for the Sunset Tour the first night we were there. It's a relatively short walking tour of the grounds near the restaurant, that occurs right before dinner. It is astounding that we have no idea what is really going on out there in the darkness. Unless, of course, we venture out - with a knowledgeable guide - and see it for ourselves. I mean, we could have just as easily not signed up for this tour and headed straight to dinner, complacent but completely unaware of all the activity and wonder that was happening around us... blue moon We met up with Philip Davison, the resident biologist and ever-so-knowledgeable tour guide, with flashlights in hand and - under a  blue moon  - off we went into the darkness... The first stop was at some palms, under which the tent-making bats  will sometimes roost. Tent-making bats! (I got so excited!) Bosque del Cabo has tent-making bats! We didn't see any though, only evidence that these ...

help...stuck... (Anoura caudifer) - photo by Nathan Muchhala No, this nectar-feeding bat is not really stuck. (Nor what I would call a dainty eater.) Bats are known to push their heads into bat-flowers to lap up the nectar. Anoura caudifer - photo by Nathan Muchhala Anoura fistulata - photo by Nathan Muchhala Indeed. (I love these photos! They're so funny to me!) A bat will insert its head into the flower - even when its tongue is longer than the flower's tube. It extends its tongue as much as it needs to, then retracts it, lapping the nectar much like a dog drinks water. By pushing its head into the flower, the bat collects lots of pollen on its head and chest, inadvertently transferring it to the next flower. Moths are also nectar-feeders; however, when a moth drinks nectar, its tongue acts as a straw. So if a moth evolves a tongue longer than the floral tube, it could potentially partake of the flower's nectar without actually pollinating it. Therefore, the flower is a...

I see you! Geoffroy's tailless bat (Anoura Geoffroyi) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Ever since coming across this word, I can't stop saying it: chiropterophily. Chiropterophily, or pollination of plants by bats, is very common in the tropics. Hundreds of tropical plant species are exclusively or at least partly pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. Many tropical flowers are night-blooming, specializing in attracting bats. Bat-flowers are typically white, cream, or pale green in color, making them easier to see in the dark. They usually have a musky, fermented odor - like that of the bat - or sometimes a fruity odor. They have a large, sturdy, open shape with long, bushy anthers so that the bat's head and chest get coated in pollen when it visits. In return for the bat pollinating the flower, the flower provides the nectar that these high-energy flying mammals need.* Tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Nectivorous bats have both good eyesight an...

Inside a tropical rainforest, there's not a lot of wind, apart from high up in the canopy, and plant species tend to be very rare and quite far away from each other. Therefore wind pollination is not an effective means of plant reproduction. The preferred method is animal pollination, and many fascinating processes have evolved both in the pollinizer (the plant) and pollinator (the animal). It's a coevolutionary process - both plants and pollinators become specialized to attract each other. Tropical plants have evolved flowers that entice their preferred pollinator - be it hummingbird, insect, or bat - so that the pollinator will hopefully carry the plant's genes, via the pollen, to another plant of the same species. Sometimes it entices by rewards like nectar - making it a mutualistic relationship - sometimes by trickery,* but it will match its characteristics to the characteristics of a specific pollinator and discourage all other pollinators. At the same time, the poll...

Lapa Rios is more than a luxury ecolodge on the Osa Peninsula. It is a 1,000 acre, private, nature reserve, protecting Central America's last remaining lowland tropical rain forest. The reserve is mostly primary rain forest, meaning it has remained relatively untouched by human activity. * * * At 8:15 we hiked the Osa Trail, which, again, brought the Tropical Nature book to life. (There are sign-up sheets at the front desk where you sign up for the activities you want to do; they are all an additional charge.) Jason was our guide. One other guy also did this trail with us. He was the director for Sansa airlines in Panama, on assignment to figure out why people choose Nature Air over Sansa Airlines for their Puerto Jiménez flights. The hike was great. Very interesting... We saw the Sangrillo Colorado - a massive tree, found only in the Lapa Rios Reserve (not sure which picture this is). There were the "loco leaves" that move all crazy-like while the leaves around the...