点评:Vincent's camera trap tour was a highlight of our trip to Costa Rica! We were first on the new trail, and the risk was that either animals won't show up or rising water levels will flood the cameras. But it all turned just right!
After traversing the creek (in the rain season, it's wise to find yourself rain boots) and discovering some hawks, possums, coatis, monkeys on the first two cameras, we had a bad luck with another one or two, and just when suspense built up significantly - we got all the cats one could dream of! We saw a male puma, pretty tall and fit, one ocelot, and a jaguar next to the water hole, and another puma and a jaguar mom with a very cute and curious juvenile. So, despite possums mess up with cameras preserving privacy of the forest, we were able to spot what we learned later were a few new, previously not recorded, jaguar species.
What's best about Vincent's tour is that you can learn a lot from him - he's a real biologist (phd) and a keen storyteller.
Attached is a school essay of my son where he brings up the camera trap tour:)
P.S. If you hope to see wilds cats in Costa Rica live and in the wild, I'd say adjust your expectations. It is an extremely rare occasion, and happens only when the cat wants it, not you. Which can be a bad sign:)
翻译:文森特的相机陷阱之旅是我们哥斯达黎加之旅的一大亮点!我们是第一次踏上这条新路线,风险在于要么动物不会出现,要么水位上升会淹没相机。但一切都恰到好处!
穿过小溪(在雨季,最好穿上雨靴),在前两台相机上发现了一些鹰、负鼠、长鼻浣熊和猴子,我们又遇到了一两台相机,但运气不佳,就在悬念大大增加的时候——我们得到了人们梦寐以求的所有猫科动物!我们在水坑旁边看到了一只雄性美洲狮,它相当高大和健康,一只豹猫和一只美洲虎,还有另一只美洲狮和一只美洲虎妈妈带着一只非常可爱和好奇的幼崽。因此,尽管负鼠会弄乱相机以保护森林的隐私,但我们还是发现了一些新的、以前没有记录过的美洲虎物种。
Vincent 的旅行最棒的地方在于,你可以从他那里学到很多东西——他是一位真正的生物学家(博士),也是一位热衷于讲故事的人。
附件是我儿子的一篇学校作文,他在作文中提到了这次相机陷阱之旅:)
附言:如果你希望在哥斯达黎加看到野生的野猫,我建议你调整一下你的期望。这是一个极其罕见的场合,只有当猫想要的时候才会发生,而不是你。这可能是一个不好的迹象:)