#41 - TALES FROM THE FIELD #7

In this seventh entry of our Tales from the Field series I want to leave Sri Lanka for a bit and return to my late 2012 field trip to Suriname. I gave some background on the country and this field trip in TFTF #2 & #3 so I hope you've already read both of those. If not you might want to sit back with your favorite beverage and catch up first.

This installment will focus on Brownsberg Natuurpark, which we visited over the course of four or five days in search of the Goliath tarantula, Theraphosa blondi. I will always regret that we couldn't convince Andrew to stay there. It was quite rundown but it did have suitable covered areas to sling a hammock and I know Guy and I would have been quite happy given more time there, especially at night. This was my first field trip with Guy Tansley of giantspiders.com and bugsnstuff.com and in him I found a kindred spirit who enjoyed all of the denizens of the rainforest and would happily go herping with me. As you'll read Guy and I found some amazing reptiles and amphibians when the two of us separated from Andrew and Paul and "did our own thing". However, Andrew wanted to instead extend our stay at Babunhol, which was where we had rented an open-air house along the Suriname River (we'll come back to Babunhol in upcoming TFTF). Don't get me wrong ... Babunhol was amazing and we found all of our tarantula species except for T. blondi there. However, when we started working Brownsberg we would have a thirty minute or so drive south on the paved highway and then a pretty tortuous ride from the highway to the rutted road that ascended from sea level to an altitude of about 500 m. Our Hyundai Tucson AWD wasn't the sort of vehicle suited for this type of off-road experience. If it was my decision we would have made the journey only twice - the first time when we discovered how difficult the terrain and poor the road was and a second time to set up a base at Brownberg so we wouldn't have to repeat the trip. They did have some indoor accommodations that looked suitable, but most of the people staying there were "backpacker types" sleeping in hammocks hung in the open air under roofs that protected from rains. Andrew had insisted that we bring hammocks on the trip so I spent a couple hundred bucks on a very nice ENO hammock from REI with a separate mosquito net and SlapStrap suspension system for hanging it. I still have never used it. And we made the trek to Brownsberg all over again each morning ...

Before I delve into my tales from Brownsberg I will mention that my YouTube channel has several videos that you can watch to accompany the stories here. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which I suppose would make a video worth a million. However, I don't want to spoil my written stories so I will put direct links to the videos at the end of this blog entry. When you're done reading please view them as a companion to TFTF #7. Even if you've already watched them or attended my lectures on Suriname at ArachnoGathering #1 or ATS Conference 2014, I hope you'll enjoy my stories, photos and videos again.

I'm not sure what we all were expecting upon our initial visit to Brownsberg. I recall thinking that perhaps I could get a souvenir T-shirt there so I must have expected more. What we found was a very difficult road and a rundown park with little more than a small cafe and a handful of staff. But we also found beautiful rainforest and its amazing inhabitants. However, it was the road that was the problem. First we had to find the correct road as we came to a fork that had no signage. Fortunately our 50% chance turned out to be correct and we saw the sign for Brownberg later on. The road was a single lane red dirt path with deep ruts, potholes and large rocks. Our little all wheel drive crossover utility was not really up to the task. I did most of the driving even though the steering wheel was on the right side as it is back home for my three English mates (Andrew Smith, Paul Carpenter and Guy Tansley). At times the three of them would get out of the car so it would ride a bit higher and they could guide me around obstacles. It was slow going. At some points during the ascent the road would drop off steeply into the jungle and one little slip and ... well, we hoped it wouldn't come to that. The journey was certainly a bit hair-raising, but finally we made it to the top although our rental's undercarriage certainly received a few bruises. At the time I drove an old Jeep Grand Cherokee and I sure wish it was with us in Suriname. I was most worried about the lack of skid plates that would protect the oil sump at the bottom of the engine and the gas tank.

Upon arrival we saw that the "gate" was nothing more than a flat area with a little cafe and staff who would collect a fee. There was a parking area and we put our little CUV to rest there and off loaded. We heard some commotion off to one side and noticed a dark-skinned guide with a group of fair-skinned tourists. They had spotted a monkey and we grabbed our cameras to join them. However it wasn't too long before we heard alarmed voices back by the cafe and adjacent buildings where we had parked. One of the staff pointed at the tin roof of one small building and I saw a very long snake moving across it. I called to Guy to return to the car for my snake hook while I kept my eye on the eight or nine feet of serpent. My video (linked below) shares my capture of this snake better than words could describe. Guy handed me the hook and I used all of my height and the length of my arm to pull the snake off the roof. The staff couldn't believe it and the tourists who turned out to be Dutch came running over as well. I had quite the audience for a bit of snake wrangling. In fact, you can hear Paul Carpenter say at the end of the video, "Mad Michael, the snake wrangler". The snake was what is commonly known as a puffing snake. You will hear me identify it in the video as either Spilotes or Pseustes. I was correct on both accounts. Long known as Pseustes sulphureus, this beautiful large snake had recently been transferred to the genus Spilotes.

I hold my prize - a beautiful adult Spilotes sulphureus that was eight if not nine feet in length.
© one of the other lads

We had only been at the top of Brownsberg for five minutes and I was already posing with a snake as a dozen or so Dutch tourists took turns taking a photograph of me handling it. I then marched over to the forest's edge and sent the big puffing snake back into the bush. We then had a cold drink at the cafe and settled up on our entrance fee. Andrew spoke with the staff and was happy to discover that one of them had an image of a mature male Theraphosa blondi on her mobile phone. I told the story of the old woman at the Maroon village we visited pulling a mobile phone from under her breast in an early TFTF and it no longer surprised us that no matter where we were everyone had cell phones. But this image was important as it confirmed that the Goliath tarantula lived at Brownsberg and we would return over the course of the next few days to search for this difficult to find spider.

After our refreshment we proceeded towards one of the trails and before long found Avicularia. We had found Avicularia throughout the country. Some of them looked more like the hobby's A. avicularia and others looked like pet trade A. metallica. I consider them to be varied and regionally different and just refer to all as Avicularia sp. However, as Maria Merian's painting of Avicularia was Linnaeus' basis for his Avicularia avicularia I prefer to think of all Suriname's Avics as geographic races of that type species.

Andrew films an Avicularia sp. after Paul tickled it out of its long silk tube. © Paul Carpenter

Team shot at Brownsberg Natuurpark: (l. to r.) Guy, me, Paul & Andrew. © Michael Jacobi

Our first day at Brownsberg revealed many Avicularia around the buildings and lizards like the turnip-tailed gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda). We also saw big toads mating in puddles and an assortment of arthropods and amazing birds. Day one would be mostly reconnaissance as we knew we would come back until we found Theraphosa blondi. I walked past the few people who had set up camp in hammocks and saw a large pickup truck with a camper top on the bed. I noticed a California license plate. This was a surprise. The Californian couple turned out to be a man and woman we had seen photographing birds along the entrance road. They had driven their rig all the way down Central America and around South America and were making their way back north and home. They had spent many months studying and photographing birds.

On one of our return days Guy and I separated from Paul and Andrew to hike a trail that our little map showed led to a waterfall. It was nice to be trekking the rainforest as a duo as we were quiet and would see monkeys and birds that would have fled before our arrival had we been walking as a foursome. Andrew has only one target and that is tarantulas. He doesn't move quietly enough to see or enjoy the other wildlife. As Guy and I headed toward the waterfall we found three-lined dart frogs (Ameerega trivittata). I had seen them at Babunhol, but had never managed to capture one for a photograph. Here along our Brownsberg trail capture wasn't even necessary as we came across them and quietly photographed them in situ. Farther along the trail we came across the amphibian at the top of my "bucket list". I could barely control my excitement as I photographed several harlequin toads (Atelopus hoogmoedi).

Ameerega trivittata @ Michael Jacobi

Atelopus hoogmoedi © Michael Jacobi

Atelopus hoogmoedi © Michael Jacobi

Guy and I forged ahead and the trail began to descend to a stream where we could hear the waterfall. As we approached Guy noticed a labaria. Known in other parts of South America as the fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox is a feisty little pit viper that is responsible for most cases of envenomation in Suriname. The video linked below shows me talking about our find and moving the snake off of the path and into the bush. The following photographs show me capturing my images of the snake and one of those portraits.

Photographing a labaria (Bothrops atrox) in situ. © Guy Tansley
See if you can spot the snake ... I guess my lens direction gives it away.
But you can see how much attention you have to pay to both avoid and find these camouflaged serpents.

Labaria (or fer-de-lance), Bothrops atrox © Michael Jacobi

After I moved the snake and we carefully descended the slippery rocks to the base of the waterfall we found a cave filled with bats. Suriname certainly was bat country! Everywhere we stayed, even in the capitol of Paramaribo, we had little difficulty encountering bats and I'll tell more about them in future installments of Tales from the Field.

As successful as Guy and I were on our brief herping excursion, we sadly would never have a chance to work Brownsberg at night where we could have found more reptiles and amphibians. However, our team was in search of tarantulas and Brownsberg was our place to find the largest spider in the world. On successive days we decided to avoid the entry fee that you had to pay once you reached the top and the "official" nature park entrance, and also avoid having to drive the entire length of the treacherous entry road. We began to find places where we could park our car out of the way perhaps half way to the top and set out to look for Theraphosa blondi. We were armed with two endoscopes that would allow us to look into burrows and holes in the ground. Many were occupied by large toads or were perhaps made by rodents and other animals. Without the endoscopes it would be difficult to find an adult T. blondi. They are opportunistic burrowers and will seek shelter in any deep hole or pit, often not one that they made themselves. We knew that a mature male had been found by the staff at the highest elevation in the park, but didn't know if they would also be found lower down the road. Everything I had read about the species in the preceding years spoke of them as being a lowland species often found in damp areas. Our best luck would be if we all fanned out in teams of two, with each team having an endoscope. When I walked around roadside embankments I continued to look for burrows that would contain Ephebopus murinus and E. rufescens and we did find these species here. However, it was a find by Andrew in a shallow hole in one embankment that led to our T. blondi success. He found a spiderling! We now knew that our altitude was fine and that there had to be a female in the general area. However, finding her or another would still be sweaty difficult work that would require as much luck as Andrew's chance finding of the young T. blondi.

A very happy Andrew Smith points to the spot where he found the Theraphosa blondi spiderling. © Michael Jacobi

Spiderling Theraphosa blondi © Team Suriname

Eventually the viewfinder of Andrew's endoscope revealed an adult Theraphosa blondi. It was shortly after we had our usual trailside meal of sardines on crackers and Pringles chips washed down with water. We were overjoyed.

We spent many hours searching under every log and in every hole that was large enough
to hold an adult goliath tarantula. Many times we would encounter large orange toads
that lived in similar retreats and once Andrew called "Michael, Snake!"
and I came over to see that he had discovered yet another labaria.
We were definitely in watch where you put your extremities territory.

We were unsuccessful at tickling out this girl and darkness was approaching. We didn't want to drive down the dangerous road without light. So we blocked the entrance and marked the spot for return the following morning. We woke up eager to try to extract the spider that would complete our trip. We already had many Avicularia, two species of Ephebopus, two species of Tapinauchenius and many other amazing finds under our belt, but the field trip would soon be ending and we had to photograph T. blondi. When we returned to the spot we had noticed that there was a back exit as well and the female had tunneled herself in. All attempts to "tickle" her out failed so Paul began to do some digging. I concentrated on filming the excitement and the process and that is why we have the film for you to watch. Guy was taking photographs and Paul and Andrew focused on the excavation.

My 17-minute movie tells the story quite well so I am going to leave you with some photographs and then ask you to click the three links below and watch the films that will serve as companion to this Tale from the Field.

A happy Guy pots up the spider after we got her out and Paul congratulates him. © Michael Jacobi.

The joy of catching the world's largest spider. Guy displays our prize with thumbs up. © Michael Jacobi

One of the many team and individual shots we took posed with the big hairy spider. © Michael Jacobi

The beast! © Michael Jacobi

Female Theraphosa blondi poses next to Mag-Lite for size reference. © Michael Jacobi.

This blog entry has been a very brief overview of the incredible time we had searching the forest of Brownsberg Natuurpark. I hope this park survives its threats such as illegal gold mining. The drive down to Brownberg from our camp at Babunhol passed many mines where they extract bauxite and other minerals, but it is gold that is the Suriname resource that will be exploited to the detriment of the land.

In a future Tales from the Field I will return to Suriname and talk more about our base at New Babunhol River Resort. Until next time ... MJ


Video Links

• Spilotes (Pseustes) sulphureus at Brownsberg, Suriname (2:19)
• Finding the Goliath Tarantula in the Wild (16:46)
• Labaria at Brownsberg, Suriname (1:15)