Tag: Belize
Don't Just Vacation - Become an Ecotourist!
Everyone’s always talking about how much they need a vacation. They yearn for a nice, peaceful time to forget about the stressors of everyday life, and to just relax in a new atmosphere. But, do you ever take the time to research an environment before you visit? I don’t mean the good areas to get…
The Coral Reefs of Belize
The Belize Barrier Reef is a system of coral reefs stretching roughly 190 miles (305 kilometers) along the coast of Belize. It is the second largest reef system in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea of Australia. Designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and containing seven governmentally…
Leaf Cutter Ants: Farmers of the Forest
Walk through the forests of Belize, and you might spy dozens of small brown ants scurrying across the forest floor, each carrying a single, perfectly cut leaf. These are leaf-cutter ants, a name that applies to a collection of several antspecies native to Central and South America. With powerful jaws that can vibrate thousands of…
Identifying Jaguars By Their Spots
Jaguars once roamed free across the Americas, from the Southwestern United States to the mountains of Argentina and Peru. The third largest big cat in the world – behind only the lion and the tiger – and one of the largest predators in the Western Hemisphere, the jaguar has recently seen its numbers drop substantially,…
The Other Toucans
The northern emerald toucanet, also called the Mexican emerald toucanet, is a small species of toucan found in southern Mexico and Central America. (A similar species, Aulacorhynchus albivitta or the southern emerald toucanet, lives in the Andes region of South America.) There are eight known subspecies of the northern emerald toucanet found between Mexico and…
The Story of Sargassum
The first day of our Belizean journey began at Jaguar Reef Lodge, located in the small fishing village of Hopkins, Belize. The morning breeze was gentle and refreshing as we walked along the beach. But, something seemed out of place -large amounts of Sargassum algae had washed up on the shore. Upon further investigation, we…
Spider Monkeys of Belize
Belize is home to one of the largest primates in the New World, the spider monkey (Ateles sp.). These monkeys get their name from their ability to stretch out like a spider in the canopy of the forest. They are also an easy primate to recognize, both males and females have a black coat with…