Moruga Bouffe - The Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club

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Page 16 THE FIELD NATURALIST Issue No. 2/2011Moruga Bouffe Mike G. Rutherford(Continued from page 14)tarantula I’ve ever seen. Not much further alongAmy Deacon found a striped tree snail (Drymaeusbroadwayi) nestled amongst the spines on a pricklypalm trunk.Throughout the day many orchids were discoveredattached to trees, on rotting logs and on theground. Bede Rajahram listed the various species hefound including the epiphytic Ionopsis utricularioides,the white Maxillaria camaridii and the pink Epidendrumstenopetalum.The first sign we were getting near to our seconddestination was the sight of a small pile of mud inthe forest, people were stopping to look and takepictures but Dan encouraged everyone to keepmoving as we were very near to the main event.The vegetation thinned out and soon everyone wasstanding in a muddy clearing with the hot middaysun beating down on us. Another, rather out ofplace, metal Forestry Division sign welcomed us―Outstanding Features – Mud cones and flows aretypical of the impressive mud volcanoes on the site.You will hear it before you see it.‖ Again the signwas peppered with bullet holes.There was a second sighting of a Common Galap,this time an adult, hiding in the vegetation just nextto the mud flats. Scattered over the mud I foundseveral empty shells from two of Trinidad’s commonestland snails, the long, pointy, stripedPlekocheilus glaber and the brown, coiled Cyclohidalgoatranslucidum trinitense. The mud had also providedus with signs of other animals passing throughwith footprints all over the bouffe. Some were easyto identify, with an iguana leaving an unmistakablelarge, scaly, reptilian footprint and a brocket deerleaving a line of cloven hoof prints but there were afew other mammal prints that had us all guessing -racoon, tyra or just a dog?Reg Potter gave a talk about the volcanoes, which Irecorded with my camera. Here is a partial transcriptas the wind kept muffling the microphone.―Mud volcanoes are normally formed on geologicalanticlines. That’s when the sediment folded up andover (gesturing with his hands). It’s also quite interestingthat oil accumulates in anticlines as well butyou don’t always find oil where mud volcanoes arebecause mud volcanoes let the liquid in the earthescape and get squeezed out and there they arelying all round the place. Sometimes you get tracesof oil and frequently the bubbles you see are methanegas and if you try and light it with a match you’llsee it burst into flames as the bubble pops. Andthat’s a sure sign of hydrocarbons... It’s usually alsoon a fault along the anticline or crossing the anticline,whatever it takes to provide an escape routefor liquid under pressure and this pressure is causedby tectonic forces and it squeezes up and flows outat the surface.‖ At this point Dan pointed out thatthe cone Reg was standing on had bubbled up at theexact moment he had said the word pressure, Regnoted what dangers he put himself under just to giveus all a lecture. Dan then wondered if Reg was relatedto Manning’s Prophetess due to his ability topredict the bubbling, Richard Peterson wasconvinced there was a link. Anyway I digress, Regcontinued his talk, ―This is the biggest area of anymud volcano except maybe Piparo... there are somesuch as Erin that have pools that you can get intoand bathe and because the mud is of a higherdensity than water you tend to float rather high init.‖After the talk people spread out to find somewhereto eat their lunches, some found shady spots on theedge of the mud whilst others just collapsed wherethey stood. Once we had all eaten we started thewalk back to the cars. Initially we headed back theway we had come but eventually we took a differentroute allowing us to see more of the forest.The forest floor at one point was covered in largeflat seeds from a Bloodwood tree; I took someseeds with me back to UWI where WinstonJohnson from the Herbarium identified them as beingfrom Pterocarpus rohrii. There were also manycalabash trees around with their large distinctivefruits and lots of seedling Mora trees. Further aheada second juvenile Mapepire Balsain was found andagain moved to a safe distance away from the path.(Continued on page 17)
Page 17 THE FIELD NATURALIST Issue No. 2/2011Moruga Bouffe Mike G. Rutherford(Continued from page 16)On the route back we encountered a rather trickyobstacle as we had to get across a wide stream withsteep, muddy banks at either side. Dan stood in themiddle and helped many to wade across, some ofthe more limber decided to walk along a narrowfallen log and then swing to the far bank on a treebranch.We were all waiting around on the bank for everyoneto cross when someone called out ―snake!‖again. I moved towards the call wondering wherethe reptile was but didn’t see anything; it was onlywhen someone said it was right in front of me that Inoticed the cryptic critter. On the side of a tree,which I had already walked past, there was a DosCocorite or liana snake (Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis)pretending to be a piece of vegetation. Its bodywas kinked and bent just like a vine and it was onlywhen I traced the body to the end and found thehead did I realise what it was. The snake stayed frozenwhilst people came for a closer look. I was curiousto see how far its deception would go so onceeveryone had taken their photos and moved on Itouched the snake on the tail and to my surprise itdid nothing but sway slightly as though the vine itwas pretending to be had been caught in a breeze.Not much further on we came out of the forest intoan empty hunters camp and had a quick rest in theshade, poking around under the discarded sheets ofcorrugated iron that lay scattered around the sitewe found a fairly large Tailless Whip Scorpion(Heterophrynus sp.). A very long legged arachnid withlarge spiked pedipalps, they look rather scary butare actually harmless (to humans at least).It was only a short walk now along an old road pasta few more empty camps where we saw a Crapaudor Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) in a hole and aStriped Gecko (Gonatodes vittatus) on a post. Thelast animal encounter for me was a pleasant surprise,Amy Deacon and Aidan Farrell had foundsomething on the road so cheekily called for me tocome quick. I dashed over expecting to see somethingfast disappearing into the bush but instead wasgreeted with a very slow moving snail crossing theroad, it was a live Plekocheilus glaber and it was greatto be able to see what the snail itself looked likerather than just an empty shell.All the walkers were back at the cars and accountedfor by 2:30pm. After everyone had said theirgoodbye’s two car loads of walkers decided to addin a quick visit to another mud attraction. RegPotter led the way on a short drive to the LagoonBouffe, a mud volcano that had taken the shape of alake of mud rather than a cone. On the drive severalmore animals were added to the list of sightings forthe day – two Tegu lizards (Tupinambis teguixin), oneGiant Ameiva lizard (Ameiva ameiva) and a ChannelbilledToucan (Ramphastos vitellinus).Thankfully it was only a short walk to Lagoon Bouffealong a slippy path through thick forest. On the wayStevland spotted a skink (Mabuya sp.) but was unableto catch it for a closer look. After five minutes theforest opened up and we were greeted with thesight of a large expanse of liquid mud stretchingabout 100 metres across. We stood on the edgeand watched several birds flying around includingsome plovers, but as the group had all neglected tobring binoculars we could not identify them any further.There were several places where you couldsee the bubbles coming up but it looked a bittreacherous to head out any further to investigate.Around the edge of the lake there were the remainsof many snake millipedes and flat backed millipedes,seemingly they had become stuck in the mud andperished.We headed back to the cars and started the longdrive home. Overall this trip was a great day outand allowed club members and visitors to see someof Trinidad’s biggest mud volcanoes, its tallest treeand some of its most interesting wildlife. Of particularnote was the range of reptiles and amphibiansthat were encountered, I sincerely hope that thenewly formed TTFNC Herpetology Group have asmuch luck in their future trips.
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Moruga Bouffe - The Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club

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