There were some trails which led off into areas which where pretty thick and relatively untouched.
I was pleasantly surprised by the results, I started out placing the trail-cams on the ridges, but found out fast enough that results where much better down the slopes away from any human interference.
THE ARMADILLO
Here a nine banded armadillo forages for food after dark
This nocturnal creature originated in South America getting its visa to migrate northward when the land bridge was formed some three million years ago.
They eat grubs and insects, beetles, ant, termites, reptiles birds eggs, in other words they are pretty adaptable with their diet.
COLLARED PECCARIES
These two wild Collared Peccaries are taking a drink at a small creek, although similar in form to a domestic pig they are considerably different.
They are known locally as the Javelina
The peccary migrated to South America when panama rose from the sea and created a land bridge some three million years ago.
The Collared Peccary is a social animal probably to ward off predators they run in groups of 15 to 50 individuals. And eat mostly vegetable matter, such as grasses, beans and nuts.
ANTEATER
Here an anteater hunts around for its usual food source, you guessed it , Ants
Known as the Northern Tamandua it has a very distinctive dark fur which looks just like they are wearing a jacket, the rest of the body fur is white.
They have a long tongue which is covered in sticky saliva and on which ants adhere pretty well.
They are prevalent from south to Northern South America.
FOREST DEER
Here a small forest deer or Brocket, takes a drink in the a pool.
They small being from 60 cm to 150 cm long and they like the thick forest, but are very shy and are rarely seen.
Different species of the Brocket are found throughout Central America and South America
The Male has distinctive antlers which do not branch out, but rather form two devils horns pointing straight upward
THE AGOUTI
One of the more common residents of the forest lowland floor is the Agouti which is classified as a rodent, though a cute one and related to the Guinea pig.
They are from 40 to 80 cm in length and are found throughout Central and South America.
They eat fruit, and nuts that have fallen from trees as well as some leaves and vegetable matter, they have sharp strong teeth and can be found living underground amongst root systems of trees where they make burrows to protect themselves from predators.
MALE AND FEMALE CURRASOW
This photo is of the Male great Currasow, it has a distinctive curly head-crest.
The female is of brown colour and is larger than the male, but both stand nearly a meter in hight.
Only the male has a yellow blob on its bill and the female the bill is smooth, they are Monogamous and mate for life.
These birds are found from Mexico to Northern South America, their diet consists of fruits and small insects and lizards.
The Currasow’s came from Northern South America more than six million years ago and drifted toward the North with the uplifting of the Panamanian Isthmus.
THE PACA
This is a Paca or Agouti Paca which in Panama it is well known as the Conejo Pintado, which means the painted rabbit in Spanish, in Costa Rica the people know it as the Tepezcuintle, which along with Paca are indigenous Indian names.
It is a large Rodent and inhabitant of the Cloud forest and lowland forests.
Here two are seen drinking in the creek, they are nocturnal animals and are rarely seen in the daytime.
As herbivores they eat fruit such as the Mangos and Avocados, seeds and root vegetables.
In length they grow to 80cm long. They originally came from South America and moved to the North when Panama rose out of the water and the Island chain became mainland some three million years ago.
They are found from Mexico all the way south to Argentina.
THE COATI
The Gato Solo is the Panamanian name for the Coati and is a member of the Raccoon family, it has a white nose and distinctive banded tail with long hind legs.
They grow to about 70 centimetres long and their tale can be almost as long as their bodies making them well over a meter long.
When you see them in the jungle they often walk with their tales held vertically upward, their long snout like nose can rotate beyond 50 degrees in any direction.
They are often found in large troops and they will forage for food high in the canopy of the forest trees, they will eat fruit and nuts but also lizards insects and eggs.
They are found from the south of the United States to The Amazon and are even found at higher more temperate altitudes.
THE TINAMOU
This bird of the forest floor is of the the Tinamou family and although they can fly, they don’t like to preferring to run away where necasacery, they have many predators such as birds of prey, cats such as the Ocelot, the jaguar and of course man.
They are heavily threatened by habitat destruction throughout the Americas.
The males hatch and rear the young from their eggs whilst the females visit the nests in succession wandering from male to male only to mate.
They are mostly omnivorous and will take small animals and worms as well as vegetable matter.
Their habitat is varied and they are found in the forests and mountains, Los llanos (the plains) from Southern Mexico to the tip of South America.
They are one of the oldest living bird species coming from the age of Gondwana the ancient supercontinent of 600 million years ago.
OCELOT
Here an Ocelot comes in to his watering hole One of the most beautiful of the cats of the Jungle and Savannah the Ocelot weighs up to 20 kilos, and are carnivores eating small game such as Rodents, peccary, squirrels, they do not take larger animals and represent absolutely no threat to humans.
They measure from 90 cm to 150 cm long including the tail , this one is a male and is seen here lying down to survey his territory.
Like most wild animals they will avoid human activity moving out of range, when they hear, sense or see someone coming, but they are able to tolerate living in areas with low densities of people.
They weigh up to around 15 kilos and will spend much of the night and early hours on the move up to 14 hours daily on the move in search of prey and patrolling their territory.
The cat is a solitary creature with territories of three to eighty square kilometres for the male and one to sixty square kilometres for the female, meaning a male will often have many females in his territory.
The female ocelot will give birth to up to four babies after a gestation period of around 80 days, they are nurtured solely by the mother whom uses thick vegetation or hollow trees to hide her young. She will move them often to protect from predators such as the Jaguar and the Harpy eagle.
They are found from the Very south of the United States down to Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.
They are Known as the Mani Gordo in Panama, which means Fat Hand and you can see why in the photos.The Ocelot is mostly active at night and have keen night vision making them able to move through thick jungle after dark with ease, for this they have a special membrane on their eyes which absorbs light easily.
THE SARIHUELLA OR OPOSSUM
This is a ghostly photo of the Sarihuella or Opossum which is a marsupial, that is they carry their young in a pouch, They have the appearance of an oversized rat but that is where the resemblance ends.
They inhabit the Americas from the south of the United States to South America and there are more than one hundred different species of them.
They eat a mixture of vegetation and small animals and reptiles.
The females give birth to large litters of up to 12 or more young which are often found clinging to the back of the animal whilst it’s moving.
CREATURE
This horrible creature can be found on occasion roaming the forests and mountains in search of interesting things.
Seen here on camera duty.
THE COMMON BLACK HAWK
This Common black hawk stares at the camera, They are found in the coastal forests and mangroves of tropical regions of the Americas, they feed on land crabs thus the local Spanish name for them is the Gavilán Cangrejo