We have to tell you about the best two days of our stay at the Iguana Station. It was incredible!
Last Thursday we – that means Jacob, Linda, Andrea and Steve – started our trip to Turtle Harbor. At 6:00am we loaded a boat with tents, equipment for the population studies, and a lot of food. The boat trip was a perfect start to the day: a calm sea, wonderful landscape, and a gentle sunshine.
Continue reading ‘Swamps, Swampers & Marshmallows – two scientific nights in Turtle Harbor’
To all our fans and supporters, past present and future volunteers please read and act as you see fit,
this was sent to us by the good people at avaaz.org
Dear friends,
Syria’s bloody crackdown is fueled by oil revenue from Europe. EU-wide oil sanctions would cripple Syria’s ability to continue the killing. Click here to demand EU leaders impose immediate oil sanctions:
Sign the petition
For months, Syria’s brutal President Assad has paid henchmen to wage war on his own people. Governments across the world have condemned these atrocities, but key European leaders could cut off the cash flow that finances this bloodbath.
Germany, France and Italy are the three main importers of Syrian oil. If they move to impose immediate EU sanctions, Assad’s slaughter funds will dry up. Assad has ignored political appeals for him to rein in his assault, and EU leaders have discussed ramping up sanctions, but only a massive global outcry will push them to act urgently.
We have no time to lose — every day dozens of Syrians are shot, tortured or disappeared simply for calling for basic democratic rights. The EU can stop funding the crackdown now. Click below to sign the petition to EU heads of state to immediately adopt oil sanctions on Syria:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_blood_for_oil/?vl
We have all watched and read about the horrific violence in Syria — much of the coverage coming from Avaaz-supported citizen journalists who are risking their lives to report on Assad’s crackdown. And now we have a chance to turn our horror into action. Experts say EU oil sanctions will seriously disrupt cash flow to Assad’s cruel army without significant negative consequences to either the European economy or the Syrian people.
Almost all Syria’s exported oil is purchased and refined by Germany, France and Italy, but these governments have yet to use their key trade relationship with Assad as leverage to protect the Syrian people. Still, they have denounced the violence, and newspapers report that some EU leaders are already pushing for oil sanctions. Let’s demand that they ramp up the pressure and push through oil sanctions immediately and cut the engine of Assad’s murderous regime.
Join in the call to cut off the cash to Syrian forces now. Click below to sign the petition for EU oil sanctions and forward to everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_blood_for_oil/?vl
Avaaz members have played a crucial role in supporting Syrians in their demands for freedom, democracy and human rights. Much of the footage and information shown around the world is funded by small donations from Avaaz members worldwide. Let’s build the momentum for lasting change as the violence against the Syrian people escalates and insist the EU take immediate action now.
With hope,
Stephanie, Pascal, Morgan, Alice, Ricken, Wissam and the rest of the Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION
Syria Forces Extend Siege on Hama as Toll Rises, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/world/middleeast/07syria.html
EU to tighten Syria sanctions, European Voice
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/august/eu-to-tighten-syria-sanctions/
Syrian rebels urge oil sanctions, Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9e735f18-bd22-11e0-9d5d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Uc2dGYoh
Syria steps up assaults on protesters, drawing first Arab League condemnation, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syria-launches-new-attack-against-protesters-in-east-arab-league-condemns-assault/2011/08/07/gIQAMmKS0I_story.html
Syria protests: Troops renew attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/09/syria-protest-troops-attack-democracy-demonstrators
Hi, I’m Steve or Steph, as I’m colloquially known around here. Last week for me at Iguana land. It has been a busy schedule so far, lots of old friends leaving and new people arriving and we also had the added bonus of there being another birthday in the iguana station this week, Charlys 21st, so a good excuse for a group of us to go celebrate.
Feeling pretty optimistic about the next few days,lots of new hatchlings, trips into the woods to catch and release iguanas, need to top up on bug spray, I have whale shark watching this afternoon so hopefully that will deliver and then I’m moving out to go and do my advanced diving course. On the whole everything is good….. watch this space….
Some of the volunteers gaurding the days clean-up supplies.
This morning saw the start of the second annual clean-up festival. We organise this with the local community. (His was the public school students getting ready for the opening march through town, waiting for the other schools to arrive)
Tarantulas, ghastly, hairy and downright creepy to many, cute and cuddly little critters to me. We’ve had many pop in to say hello at the station of late, one such Tarantula even went so far as to try and jump on Paddy to give him a cuddle (Paddy, who its fair to say screamed like a little girl, was not amused). I’ll give you three guesses who was immediately called to the rescue. If you guessed me, then you sir/madam are correct. She was a beauty, a common Curly Haired Tarantula who was hiding under some wooden planks that were in the process of being turned into bunk beds. Initially I invited her to climb on my sandal, she didn’t approve of this plan, so I produced some cardboard with which she was very co-operative. One painless journey later (yes, finally an animal that hasn’t tried to savage me), I placed her near some burrows at the bottom of the station, where she casually strolled to freedom, as if it was all like one big stroll in the park.
This however was fairly undramatic compared to the events of the following night. There I was happily cooking some pasta when Paul’s voice came booming urgently down the stairs,
“Dave!!! There’s a massive Tarantula in my thong boxers, come and get it out!”
Not exactly the sort of thing I was expecting after a long day of work, so apparently now I’m spider man? If in doubt call Dave, well maybe Dave doesn’t want to be disturbed at all hours of the night to rescue people from the small hairy things in their underwear. I had quite an audience for the capture of this critter (or maybe just to spectate on Paul’s gallery of underwear strewn across the floor), which had left a long silky trail over the said underwear. A magazine cover was the Tarantula removal instrument of choice (or availability). We opened it up and knocked him down into it, where he seemed content to hide in its shade until I flicked him out to freedom in the garden. The relief amongst the room was immense, all that fuss over a small hairy arachnid. The said underwear was burned later that evening…
So what about Harriet? She’s our station Tarantula, and a very pretty little beast in my opinion. Typically of her species, she is very docile and prefers flight to fight. Even in her timid state, she still manages to scary many visitors, whom I openly encourage to give her a stroke or hold. I delight in the twisted expressions of horror from those whom are not accustomed to those eight hairy legs slowly creeping across their open palms. She has never bitten in the two plus years we have had her (or so I’m told), a fact that would no doubt help calm the visitors in the event that I actually tell them this information (I should have a little fun too right?) Alas Harriet’s former counterparts, our two deceased Tarantulas are in a very sorry state, one of them is totally legless (and not just due to the alcohol preservative), and the other has been ‘swallowed’ by one diver too many (thank you Parrot’s divers), however their large, gleaming black fangs are still intact, which is the important part after all.
Don’t you love these happy (and bite free) endings?
Good morning once again readers. I trust you are well.
My next set of posts will look at the colorful variety of animals that I (Dave) have had the chance to handle lately (or more to the point, the list of animals that have recently bitten, clawed, rendered or otherwise tried to kill me). Working at the Iguana station is a very hands on job, I mean would you really expect us volunteers to sit around drinking coffee while enjoying the view of the lovely animals? Heck no! The last week has been especially interesting for me, I’ve been summon to rescue several volunteers for the big bad Curly Haired Tarantulas that frequently make a new home in the station, I’ve been chomped on by a Pink Boa and made a daring rescue in the Parrot cage.
Just to remind you all ladies and gents, these animals may be in captivity, but they are still wild at heart, and are more then happy to defend themselves. Today I will be assessing my recent contact with the Iguanas. So within the last week I’ve ‘de-ticked’ Howard, our large handicapped Green Iguana (and believe me when I say this was NOT one for the ladies, those ticks get everywhere…) He put up a good struggle for an older guy, his tail is strong as ever, I took a few nasty tail swipes off him. However he can breath a temporary sigh of relief, his ticks are gone and we can leave him be for now, until the imminent tick invasion starts anew.
I also had quite a hair-raising situation early last week, while giving a tour I spotted a juvenile Swamper basking quite happily in the sun, thankfully it was in a cage, just not its own. Nope, the little sod had escaped and crawled into the Parrot’s cage. Even if more volunteers were around I think few of them would lack the common sense to venture into the cage to rescue it.
“Looks like its up to me then” I thought, I was a little weary of entering the cage with a tour group watching, I was worried this would agitate the Parrots, which needless to say I wanted to avoid for the safety of my face. Ramon, the male Parrot had attacked me a few days earlier while I was feeding them, I saw the gleam in the little devil’s eyes as he dive bombed straight into my shoulder. I entered the cage, Ramon was up high and tucked out of the way (or so I hoped), Rosalita was happy trying to tear the fingers off of my tour group. It seemed ideal, I was behind the Swamper, the Parrots were distracted, I slowly crept up to make a grab. I was just about to make a grab on the juvenile when Rosie saw fit to charge right at me. She had previously been on the ground, so my movements must have stirred her, as she ran towards me she ran right over the Swamper, I half expected her to attack it, but she seemed content to try and have a go at my toes. Time was up, it was now or never, one sneaky side-step allowed me to dodge Rosie, and grab the Swamper who had barely moved an inch the entire time. My right hand closed around its back legs, my left hand went to clamp its mouth shut, the little critter had other ideas though. It struck, sinking its jagged little teeth into my index finger. My thought pattern at that present moment was something along the lines of;
“Here I am saving your life and risking my toes / other appendages against these cute but feral Parrots and YOU have the cheek to bite me?” It is fair to say I was not brilliant amused by this gesture. Thankfully I didn’t flinch, otherwise I’d have been stripped of allot more finger flesh, but instead carried on, sidestepping another ‘affectionate’ peck from Rosie and darting out the cage before Ramon saw a chance to get another dive bomb in, all the while the Swamper was happy to keep its teeth firmly buried in my bleeding finger. Needless to say that was one additional bonus of that particular tour… You will be pleased to hear that the Swamper was reunited with friends and family later that afternoon. My finger alas, was not to be reunited with its freshly missing flesh.
(Alas the only pictures of my flesh being rendered are on tourist’s cameras, I’m sorry to disappoint).
Hello once again readers. Firstly let me just apologize for the lack of posts lately, its been a busy time at the station, and we are hoping to get back on track really soon.
I’m Dave, and I’ve been at the station for four weeks now. Over the last two to three weeks I’ve had the fortune of handling an array of different species both in and out of the station. We recently had an Iguana specialist staying with us from Roatan who needed some blood samples from the wild Swampers in the mangroves, in an attempt to discover the stress that human contact causes the Iguanas. I enlisted straight away with visions of frolicking through the mangroves under a canopy of more then just slightly worried looking Iguanas, dazed by the ever strange actions of mankind. The reality was not so, mangroves if you have never had the pleasure of visiting them are wet, claustrophobic and exceptionally smelly. So smelly in fact I dare say I’d rather stick my head into Graham’s laundry bag (which could have some serious health implications even with minimal exposure). The dream team consisted of myself, Volka, Steve, Liza, Andrea and our guest of honor. Once we had reached a prime ‘catching’ spot we set up our portable labs, and with fishing rods in hand the hunt began.
We caught our first Swamper, a male, relatively quickly (this first catch was why we did not travel further before setting up a base camp). Situated at a comfortable height up a tree, he was fairly easy to loop our line around, before *swish* Steve pulled him right off into his waiting hands. Although it may have been mentioned in previous posts, I’ll give you a quick reminded as to how we (mostly) safely handle Iguanas. Firstly we aim to hold their back legs with a gentle pressure to suppress their legs (or more importantly sharp claws) and hinder their escape movements. The second hand has the more important job, keeping the mouth closed. Iguanas can and will bite if they feel really agitated, though most prefer to remain still, and seize any weakness of grip as a chance to break for freedom, usually involving a drop of five feet into the murky depths below.
*Interesting fact: Swamper’s teeth are relatively small, and are serrated. This is important to remember in the event of getting bitten, do NOT attempt to pull or yank your fingers free, you will only deepen the wound and strip yourself of more flesh. Keep your finger/appendage perfectly still and wait for the Iguana to release before pulling out.* (I appreciate most of you reading this will not encounter this situation, I however, have, and wish to spread the message before someone attempts to play tug of war with an Iguana using their finger. This is not advised…)
Once we had caught an Iguana, we had a strict time limit of no more then five minutes navigate the mangroves to the base camp, where the first blood sample would be taken from the upper end of the Iguana’s thick tails. This is done to minimize harm to the Iguana’s body. Once the sample was taken the Iguana was, measured in length, weighed and bead tagged (two beads colored to show date and location caught) and had a number painted on them. Yes, a number, not a natural feature of the Wild Swamper, I half envisage large beetle jockey’s riding their numbered and tagged Iguana in their grand mangrove races, who will ascend the tree first? Its number 171 in the lead and so on and so forth…
The Iguanas were then put into pillow cases to calm down in a dark and secluded environment, for after half an hour a second sample would be needed. This acted as a comparative sample. Once this was done we freed them back to the tree of their origin, allowing them to… sit pretty much still and not move until we were long out of eye sight, my hopes to watch them dash madly up a tree were sorely scrapped. In our roughly 5 hour expedition we caught a total of 13 Iguanas, 10 of which were male. This helps confirm the research that there are roughly 11 males to just 4 females in the wild, this no doubt is largely attributed to the extreme poaching of pregnant females that still exists on the Island.
We had to repeat the process back at the station, thankfully after a long cold shower, to complete a comparative study. We took one Iguana from each of our enclosures and completed the same procedures. I found it unsurprising that our captive Iguana were much more reluctant to take part in the test, bites and scratches were received and we had a near-escape. The two samples from each Iguana would become subject to centrifuges, however the results of the research will not be discovered for a little while yet, as our specialist had to return to the USA to get the right equipment needed to finish the testing. We are hoping to hear about some results soon, we’ll keep you posted.
No rest for the wicked though, it was Paul’s turn to voyage out the next day for round two.
From my time working as a volunteer on this station, one thing that stands out is definitely the magic of the incubator! The incubator is the home for iguana eggs until they reach the age when they are ready to leave the nest.
Iguanas have a mating season from February to March. From March to April iguana mothers travel all the way from the safety of mangroves to the beaches of Utila to lay their eggs into the sand. Iguana mothers lay from 6 to 24 eggs. However, the journey to the beach is not an easy one – even today one Honduran tradition and food delicacy on the island are iguanas and especially the mothers that are carrying the eggs inside of them. This is why hunters gather up to the beaches near February and March and try to catch the poor iguana mothers. What we do here on the station, is go to the mangroves before egg laying season and take the pregnant iguanas back to the station to wait until they lay their eggs and then release them back to the wild. This prevents hunters from killing the mothers, but also protects the eggs and ensures that as many eggs as possible survive.
Eggs of the iguanas that live here on the station and the eggs that are from wild iguana mothers are sorted into boxes that contain sand from the beaches of Utila to mimic the natural hatching process. The boxes are then introduced to the loving care of Incubator, where they spend around 90 days growing.
From July to August little iguana babies are ready to face the world and they start hatching.
Here on the station we keep a good eye on the eggs and at this time from July to August we are very busy taking care of the new hatclings. When the hatchlings are ready to pop out of the safety of their shells, we measure them (weight and length of the body and the tail) and take a DNA sample of their outer toes to mark them so that they can be recognized once released to the wild and also to conduct multiple DNA studies to gain more information about the Swamper of Utila (e.g. the differences between the populations of wild iguanas compared to the station iguanas, genetic tendencies etc.). We also check that the babies are healthy and mark everything out of ordinary down. The most common out-of-ordinary occurrence is that the umbilical cord is still connected to the baby. In these cases, we let the baby have a few days off before letting it go outside, to ensure that it has all the skills to enjoy its time outdoors!
On a good day, there might be as many as 40 new babies ready to be measured and weighed, and this takes fair amount of time due to the eagerness of the new babies to explore the office laboratory where we work. Sometimes just catching the little escapees takes a fair bit of our measuring time. After measuring they are released to the cages outside to get to know their brothers and sisters!
These hatchlings spend around one year at the station and are then micro-chipped and released to the wild.
Hello dearest followers. We haven’t posted for a few days but what a fun packed few days it has been. We kicked of the weekend with one of our favourite activities; renting quad bikes, mopeds and a golf buggy to tour the island. This was kind of Dan’s last leaving activity as well so we tried to make the most of the time we had. However, as is typical of our motoring experiences on the island a few problems managed to get in the way of full enjoyment of this activity.
First on the way to Pumpkin Hill Beach, I (James) managed to burst the tyre of my quad bike in the middle of nowhere. So after a long trek to the beach and a little bit of snorkelling I had to drive the quad back at – 5 mph to the garage where they kindly changed the (bald) tyre. After a little lunch and a new tyre we proceeded to the freshwater caves to show the new guys the erotic delights of al fresco swimming. However on the journey back from kinky time motoring disaster struck again. Growing in confidence with a moped, Rogan was trying his luck at riding faster than normal. Consequently he had a little accident in which he and Julia went skidding across the gravel floor. Medical attention followed and $20 debt followed that. In an attempt to emulate Rogan’s impressive accident, Graham, not wanting to be left out had one as well. However his attempt was pathetic and he grazed his foot, he seemed to do more damage to the tree he hit than himself. Boo-frickedy-hoo!
After the adrenaline and injury filled Saturday, a relaxing day at the beach was required. The most memorable thing that happened on this day was an assault of the eyes and nose by two young dogs who found it necessary to shit either side of our beach area.
Sof and laura are having issues of their own as well. Having been here for many weeks ( I have lost count, they have probably out stayed their visa though and they won‘t let us watch Prison Break) they are finally trying to leave the island. This isn’t going to plan though, even though it is quite simple, it may be that they have been lost here for weeks and didn’t tell anyone. We think they want to go to Costa Rica, but they still haven’t left. They were supposed to leave on Thursday but they are still here. Im not even sure they know where Costa Rica is. I think a map is probably the solution.
People’s bowels are also on the move. Kirstin has been a little unwell all week and now I have the bug. Expect to see me in the Guinness Book of World records next year as the man doing the most shits in a day (at least 10) and for the poo that most looks like Guinness. Sof has had a similar condition as well but is less liberal when it comes to describing poo and toilet etiquette.
Monday also brought a new working schedule and longer opening hours. The volunteers have been split in to two teams who rotate on a four day basis. Those who work four days get the following four days off whilst the other team works. We are also open from 12 – 5 every day.
In late night shenanigans and after copious alcohol consumption, Claire Rogan and Dave got a police escort home. Not for minor disturbances of the peace but because they are clearly suave and sophisticated people capable of charming Spanish speaking officers into being chauffeurs. After multiple nights out we have realised that Julia has now replaced Imogen as the Station party animal.
Volka and Cecilia (new arrivals) went night time turtle patrolling too this week and were fortunate enough to observe a turtle make two false nests. However they also discovered that; a) they are not very strong or, b) we have teenage mutant ninja turtles on the island as they could not manage to restrain the turtle for biometric measurement. I think that option b is the most likely.
In other animal news our recently captured juvenile swamper ‘Nilley’ will hopefully be released to day.
Now we close with a plea to the outside world. This morning whilst collecting my shit tablets (for the shits) I saw a truck crammed with five Honduran soldiers driving down the main strip. The air was also filled with the sound of aircraft flying fast and low. Needless to say that last night a plane full of drugs was flown onto the island. If you do not hear from us either; a) assume the worst it wasn’t drugs and there has been another coup, or b) we got caught and have been arrested, please phone the British Embassy.
Disclaimer: If we do not reply for a while, do not contact the British Embassy, this would be wasting the authorities time. It would be more likely that we haven’t replied because we couldn’t be arsed. Furthermore we don’t actually know that much about the drugs raid so if the Honduran authorities are reading this, please do not arrest us.
