SUMMARY: On a two-night stay at Las Tortugas Lodge, on the banks of the Yacuma River, I saw 14 mammal species, excluding three identified only at genus level. Mammals included five primates, Bolivian River Dolphin, Crab-eating Fox and Common Four-eyed Opossum. I also saw 7 reptile species including Yellow-bellied Liophis and South American Sipo. The lodge is 4 km south of Santa Rosa de Yacuma (Beni Department, Bolivia) and 85 km northeast of Rurrenabaque.
Continue readingGourikwa Reserve mammal records (South Africa, 2024)
SUMMARY: On a two-night trip to Gourikwa Reserve I photographed Cape Dune Mole-rat, Grey Climbing Mouse and Southern African Pygmy Mouse. I saw nine mammal species (including two introduced species) and four reptile species (including Cape Cobra). Gourikwa Reserve in the Western Cape Province (South Africa) is 365 km east of Cape Town. I was travelling with Chi Phan; our visit was over 25-27 Nov 2024.
Continue readingKaa-Iya del Gran Chaco NP mammal records (Bolivia, 2023)
SUMMARY: On a 6-day trip (2023 May 26-31) with Stuart Chapman to Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco NP (eastern Bolivia) we saw 19 mammal species. Highlights were Jaguar, Puma, Tayra, Chacoan Peccary, Foster’s Punare and Chacoan Gracile Opossum. This trip was led by Nick McPhee of Nick’s Adventures.
Continue readingJaguarland mammal records (Bolivia, 2023)
SUMMARY: On a four-night mammal-watching trip (2023 May 20-24) with Stuart Chapman to Jaguarland (eastern Bolivia) we saw 29 mammal species, plus at least five with tentative identification; and 4 reptile species. Highlights were Jaguar (a mating pair and singles), Jaguarundi, Tayra, Six-banded Armadillo and a tree-roost of Lesser Bulldog Bat. Our guide was Mauricio Peñaranda del Carpio from Nick’s Adventures.
Continue readingRed-shanked Douc Langur at Danang (Vietnam), July 2024
SUMMARY: In July 2024 I saw Red-shanked Douc Langur (Pygathrix nemaeus) on the Son Tra Peninsula on three different days. The best views were in a restricted area with Tuan (a Danang-based guide) after he had shown me Grey-shanked Douc Langur near Nui Thanh in the morning. I later saw Red-shanked Douc Langurs at the Lady Buddha complex and in trees at the road edge about 1.5 km before the Ban Co Peak viewpoint. There were also Rhesus Macaque at the Lady Buddha temple complex.
Continue readingGrey-shanked Douc Langur near Nui Thanh (Vietnam), July 2024
SUMMARY: As reported by Van Tuan et al (2019) there is a small population of rare Grey-shanked Douc Langur (Pygathrix cinerea) in a degraded forest area near the Tam My Thay commune (120 km southeast of Danang). Tuan (now a Danang-based guide) helps support the conservation of these langurs and he took me to the site on 20 July 2024 where we had great views for over an hour.
Continue readingSiberut Island mammal records (Sumatra, Indonesia; 2024), v3.
SUMMARY: On a six-day visit (7-12 Sep 2024) with Ian Thompson to the Toloulaggo Village area on Siberut Island we saw 13 mammal species of which 12 were endemic to the Mentawai Islands, as well as another 4 species without confirmed identification. Highlights included: Golden-bellied Treeshrew, Kloss’s Gibbon, Siberut Langur, Mentawai Long-tailed Giant Rat and Siberut Flying Squirrel (Petinomys lugens). We also saw Sipora Flying Squirrel (Hylopetes sipora), noting that literature and databases do not include Siberut in range for this species. Following discussions with Daan Drukker in 2025 we realized that some images were of Mentawai Flying Squirrel (Iomys sipora).
Continue readingSadiri Lodge mammal records (Bolivia, 2023)
SUMMARY: Sadiri Lodge is known as a birding destination with +400 bird species recorded. An online search showed walking trails on a forested ridge with mammal potential so I visited in June 2023 for four nights. I saw +17 mammal species at the lodge, including Western Amazonian Mouse Opossum, Ferreiras Spiny Tree Rat, Simon’s Spiny Rat and Vargas Llosa’s Bristly Mouse. We also saw fresh footprint of Bush Dog which Raul Navi (my lodge guide) has seen here before. In the nearby lowlands we also saw Madidi Tit Monkey.
Continue readingKathmandu (Nepal): mammal records
SUMMARY: I visited Kathmandu in 2022 (Sep-Oct) and 2023 (Oct-Nov) seeing six mammal species in the city. These included Indian Flying-fox at the Kanti Path colony and Rhesus Macaque at Swayambhunath Temple (aka Monkey Temple).
Continue readingSanta Cruz de la Sierra Botanical Garden (Bolivia): mammal records
SUMMARY
On a morning visit (2023 May 18) with Stuart Chapman we saw five mammal species including Black-tailed Marmoset.
Cuc Phuong NP mammal records (Vietnam, 2024)
SUMMARY: On an overnight visit (27-28 July 2024) with Nick Cox and Le Khac Quyet we saw 15 species. The highlights were Ha Long Leaf-nosed Bat, Indochinese Shrewlike Mouse, Mekong White-bellied Rat and a Tube-nosed Bat species. My first visit to Cuc Phuong NP (19-20 Nov 2012) included Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel.
Continue readingStreaked Dwarf Porcupine (Coendou ichillus) in the Iquitos area (northeastern Peru)
SUMMARY: On the nights of 20 and 23 June 2023 I photographed Streaked Dwarf Porcupine (Coendou ichillus, Voss and da Silva, 2001) in lowland forest 60 km south of Iquitos (Loreto, northeastern Peru), having found both with a thermal scope whilst in the company of Juan Pacaya (a guide from Tahuayo Lodge). These two records appear to be the first in situ records from northeastern Peru. C. ichillus is a poorly known porcupine confirmed from only nine sites (Ramírez-Chaves et al, 2020). One of the two sites in Peru is the Iquitos area in northeastern Peru where the only known specimen is a juvenile purchased by Pekka Soini in 1971 from a market near Iquitos and its collection point was never known (Voss and da Silva, 2001).
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