Counting Trees and Tracking Sloths | Tracking Diaries #17
Trees, more trees. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, more?! The beginning of the Great Sloth Census (a different research project SloCo is conducting to study the population of sloths) is definitely not easy. After the failure at the “Geckoes Lodge” property due to a forest that was too small, we are now tackling the primary forest—the real one.
What a wonder! What heat…
The initial plan was to grid a hectare of different forests (primary, secondary, and urban) to better understand the habitat and distribution of sloths. For that, stakes need to be placed every 20 meters in a 100x100m square. Then comes the challenge: we have to measure (height, circumference, and species) all the trees in the transect, and in a primary forest, there are a lot! After four intense days of rain, sweat, and nearly 250 trees identified and measured, we had barely completed a quarter. The only comfort was a few beautiful frogs, scorpions, snakes, and monkeys to keep us company in these moments of doubt and effort. It was time to change strategy.
I have to admit, I was disappointed at the time— all that work for nothing… But with my field experience, I also know that this is science, the real one. Try, fail, draw conclusions, and then start over. In this case, the conclusions were obvious: too many trees, too time-consuming. What to do? Halve the size of the transect, create sub-transects, and select 20% among all appeared to be the most obvious solution. And as the method requires, we must start over.
This time, it’s an urban forest that witnesses this group of international scientists armed with GPS, meters, compasses, and above all, unshakable motivation. So much easier! And especially faster. With a well-honed methodology and a more open forest, it can only work, and it does! Just two days in the field, and the first transect is completed. Only a few Nephila webs—spiders spinning some of the strongest threads in the world—and a few drops of rain slowed us down.
This success is a sign of good news. We decided to keep the work done in the primary forest, and we will use it. What a satisfaction! Now, we just need to add a few stakes, select the sub-transects where the trees were measured, and we’re done. And that’s two! The Geckoes Lodge forest has also become measurable thanks to the halving of the base transect, so we know the terrain; it shouldn’t be too complicated.
On the other side, tracking and the Urban Sloth Project continue its course. Buddha was freed from her collar after providing valuable data on her habits and habitat. It’s worth mentioning that this is a busy time for this study. Some sloths need to be freed from their collars, and even if they are in an easy position to catch, the hardest part remains. We need to climb the tree, provided the sloth is reachable and the branch to set up the rope is solid, and especially avoid crowds of people that could stress the sloths and complicate our work.
What an adventure! What work!
Between joys and failures, rain and heat, I sometimes wonder what drives me to do all this. But when, at the end of a long day, I see that very particular animal through my binoculars, I feel the satisfaction and importance of our work, their conservation, and the joy of overcoming challenges!
Louis Fontaine
SloCo volunteer
Master of Science in Biology
A huge thanks to our team of volunteers and collaborators for contributing their knowledge and expertise to SloCo during August-September 2024: Sian Taylor, Frances McNally, Lena Romeike, Anne Kristine, Mike, and Louis Fontaine.
