Endangered Rainforest Species
Guyana with a population of roughly 865,000 and an area of 83,000 square miles, is a land of exceptional beauty, vast natural wonders, and pristine untouched rainforests. Over three-quarters of Guyana’s landmass is made up of forest and about 60% of that is classified as primary forest. Guyana's forests are highly diverse: the country has some 1,263 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, and 6,409 species of plants.
According to an assessment by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the forests in Guyana can be classified as follows: wet evergreen (36%), montane (35%), which is based on altitudes of 400 – 1000 meters above sea level and characterized by more moisture and lower temperatures, swamp and marsh (15%), dry evergreen (7%), seasonal (6%), and mangrove (1%).
Guyana is graced by many mighty rivers, which are an important source of transportion in to the interior areas of this untouched wonder. The Ameridian word for Guyana means land of many waters. There are three main rivers that run through this country, the most important being the Demerara (on which is found the capital city of Georgetown), the Berbice (in the South), and the Essequibo, which has many tributaries which drain the greater part of the country. The 200,000 acre rainforest preserve called the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession, that Save Your World is helping to protect, is located along this river running through the middle of the counry. These many great expansive rivers all support the ecosystem of unique and endangered species of animals found in this vast tropical rainforest wonderland called Guyana.
Unique Animals of the Rainforest
Guyana’s Essequibo River and the nearby Iwokrama Forest and Rupununi Wetlands provide a home for a wide variety of plants and animals, including the crocodilian black caiman and endangered giant river otter. Additionally, 400 species of fish, like the carnivorous piranha, live in the Essequibo River, and 800 species of birds, such as the endangered harpy eagle, build their nests in the canopy of this rainforest area.
Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)
 “There was an incredibly abundant population of caiman at the concession. It is anticipated that four possible species occur in the area,” says Amy Lathrop, Herpetology, of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, who visited this area on an expedition back in September 2007. “The spectacled, black and two dwarf caiman [Schneider's and Cuvier's].
“All of the caiman from Guyana are listed as CITES [Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species] protected and should be high on the priority list for protection when considering the concession as a conservation area.” She observed caiman in the Essequibo River, small tributaries, as well as a small lake upstream from the concession.
© SYW, Scott Cecil
*Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis): The world’s longest otter, also known as the river wolf, can reach six feet in length and weigh over 70 pounds. With thick chocolate-colored fur, they are often hunted by fur traders, and this has led to its endangerment. There is believed to be only about 1000 of these endangered animals still alive in the wild Eating fish, snakes, small caimans, and crabs, the giant otter is one of the largest predators in its habitat. These social creatures live in groups with their families and can be negatively influenced by human activity: a nursing mother may get so stressed by tourists coming close to their homes that she may no longer produce milk and cause her pups to starve. There are many of these endangered Giant river otters on the 200,000 acre concession protected by Save Your World and Conservation International.
© CI, Haroldo Castro *Harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja): The most powerful eagle in the world, the Harpies, for which these birds are named, according to Greek mythology, were wind spirits that took the dead to Hades, and were said to have a body like an eagle and the face of a human.
Covered with slate black feathers, and an underside of white with a black band across the chest up to the neck. This double crested bird weighs ten to eighteen pounds with a wingspan of about seven feet. A carnivorous feeding bird that powerful talons that help attack its prey of monkeys, coatis, sloths, and sometimes macaws, while hunting during the day.
A pair of harpy eagles, which mate for life, will lay 2 white eggs, every 2 - 3 years, in a large stick nest high in the rainforest canopy. After one egg hatches the other is ignored and fails to hatch. This infrequent breeding pattern along with the disappearing rainforest, contribute to its threatened with extinction status with CITES.
The fragile ecosystem of the Essequibo River area, and the 200,000 acre rainforest with which we help to preserve, could have been destroyed. However, Save Your World, in conjunction with Conservation International, leases back the rainforest acres through a timber concession grant and instead conserves this pristine area. By keeping these forests intact, we help enable the various species to continue to remain for future generations.
© CI, Haroldo Castro
Another interesting species living in the corridor of protected ares in the rainforest is the Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) or lessor anteater, (shown right), These animals climb in trees throughout the conservation concession and other Amazonian rainforest areas. These unique animals could be threatened in the future by habitat loss. Protecting the rainforest through the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession helps protect endangered species from extinction.
River Species Living near the Concession
During a recent visit, in September of 2007, to the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession, Dr. Phil Willink of the Fish Division of the Chicago Field Museum observed, “The aquatic ecosystems of the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession are one of the most pristine, if not the most pristine, on the planet. The only other comparable places are in the far arctic, Antarctic, and other pockets on the Guyana Shield. This observation is based on the high abundance of large-bodied food fishes.” He further states, “Biodiversity is high with many species unique to the watershed, as well as species new to science. It is imperative that we act quickly as pristine areas are disappearing quickly around the planet, so it is critical to learn about them before they are altered.”
 Photo by Dr. Phil Willink
Common name: marbled hatchetfish
Scientific name: Carnegiella strigata
The marbled hatchetfish is one of the most distinctive fishes in the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession. Its deep keel-shaped belly sets it apart from all other species. When threatened by predators, the marbled hatchetfish will use its fins as wings to jump out of the water and skim along the surface of the river, thereby avoiding being eaten.
 Photo by Dr. Phil WillinkCommon name: lukanani
Scientific name: Cichla ocellaris
This is the most popular food fish in the region, and is highly sought after by both sport and food fishermen. The lukanani is extremely common in the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession, which is an indication that fishing pressure is extremely low. The large number of lukanani is one reason the area is considered pristine.
Medium Size Mammals
Another unique species is the kinkajou (pictured right), known as the honey bear or cat monkey. This re lative of the raccoon is rarely seen in daylight. Their bodies are 17-22 inches long, with tails adding another 16-22 inches. They use their long tongues to reach into flowers for nectar, thus aiding the pollination process. Using their tails as a fifth hand, they skillfully climb trees like monkeys. Kinkajous communicate with vocalizations and are recognized by their loudest call, a shrill scream that earned them the name la llorona (“the crying woman”). These creatures, despite their sharp teeth, consume mainly fruits and are sometimes kept as pets, living an average 23 years in captivity.
 The capybara (left), the world’s largest living rodent, is a semi-aquatic herbivore that eats mainly river plants and bark, grows to 40-55 inches in length and weighs 75-140 pounds. Resembling guinea pigs, capybaras are great swimmers and can sleep underwater if they keep their noses above the surface. They hide from their predators (anacondas, pumas, jaguars, caimans, and humans) in water and spend most of their time there. Capybaras are often allowed to roam freely in public places and are often friendly with people.
There are also armadillos, which are small mammals with armored shells made of dermal bone and epidermal scales called scutes. These creatures are found in North and South America, particularly in warm climates. The three-banded South American armadillo, with more plates than other armadillos, can roll itself into a ball to prevent predators from getting at its soft flesh. Other species instead flee from predators. Armadillos have sharp claws used for digging for food and making underground dens. They can stay underwater for up to six minutes but will sink because of their heavy armor if they don’t inflate their stomachs with air before going under. The reproduction of nine-banded armadillos results in four identical offspring, which makes them valuable to scientific research.
Small Mammals
Additional preliminary findings during a scientific expedition to the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession, by Burton K. Lim, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy of the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum, are interesting: "Initial assessments of the small mammal diversity in the area suggest that there is potential for high biodiversity because of the gradually rising species accumulation curve during a 8-day rapid assessment survey. There were 24 species of small mammals documented but it is predicted that the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession has an equally high biodiversity as that recorded at Iwokrama Forest to the north, which has documented 98 species of small mammals after extensive faunal surveys."
Photo by Burton K. Lim © Royal Ontario Museum
Thomas's long-tongued bat (Lonchophylla thomasi)
Lim adds, "Bats are a very important component of the ecosystem because they are the primary seed dispersers and flower pollinators of many species of plants. Some species like the sooty fruit-eating bat (Artibeus obscurus) are fig-eating specialists that distribute seeds far from the parent tree as the seeds are passed through the digestive system when the bat flies or rests at a different night roosting tree. As implied by its common name, Thomas's long-tongued bat (Lonchophylla thomasi) uses its elongated snout to feed on the nectar of flowers. However, in the process of visiting the next flower, it transfers pollen that gets stuck on the face, which results in pollination. Bats play a vital role in the continued health of the environment and natural forest succession."
Although bats account for over half the species diversity of mammals, Lim states, "The highlight of this fieldtrip was catching only the second record of the Guianan brush-tailed rat (Isothrix sinnamariensis) in Guyana. This species was recently described as new to science about 10 years ago by biologists in French Guiana. Previously, the genus was only known from the Amazon River basin to the south in Brazil.” Coincidentally, Lim caught the first specimen from southern Guyana just before the paper was published. So for a few months he thought he had a new species! “The brush-tailed rat is an arboreal species that lives up in trees. However, its apparent rarity is probably an artifact of collecting bias because it is not as easy putting traps up in trees as it is setting traps on the ground," Lim explains.
Guianan brush-tailed rat (Isothrix sinnamariensis)
Photo by Burton K. Lim © Royal Ontario Museum
Amphibians & Reptiles
This preliminary report from the concession visit, was submitted by Amy Lathrop, Herpetology, of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada: “An Initial Assessment of the Diversity of Amphibians and Reptiles collected at Conservation International Concession, in the Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo Region of the Rupununi on the dates of September 14-21, 2007, shows that over the course of the 8-day survey, new records for species were made on a daily basis and the discovery rate had not leveled off; two new records were made on the last night of collecting. This suggests that further search effort would continue to yield additional new records.”
Photos by Amy Lathrop © Royal Ontario Museum
Monkey frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) Tukeit hill frog (Allophryne ruthveni ) Parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla)
The rainforest houses over two-thirds of all the living species in the world. 50 to 70 million different life forms live in the rainforests, yet we are destroying a conservative estimate of almost 9,000 species a year, most of which are coming from the rainforest. “This level of mass extinction is unsurpassed except for the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. And this time extinction is occurring at a much faster rate.”
Help reverse this trend through the support of the Upper Essequibo Conservation Concession. Keep animals such as the Giant River Otter or the Harpy Eagle from extinction by purchasing products from Save Your World and saving 1 acre of rainforest for 1 year with every product purchase. Help us preserve the Guyana rainforest in its pristine condition so that future generations might enjoy these areas and scientific discoveries will continue to enrich our lives with new medicines and new discoveries of Earth's natural resources.
1 PRODUCT = 1 ACRE OF RAINFOREST SAVED FOR 1 YEAR
Guyana is home to one of the largest, unspoiled rainforest on Earth. Learn more about how this rainforest impacts YOUR world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpy_Eagle
|
