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BIRDS
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* Channel Billed Toucan
- Have all black bills
- Often live in groups with red-billed toucans |
Motmot
- Inhabit the deep woods and dense thickets
- Twitch their long tail from side to side when they are excited |
Paradise Tanager
- Is called seven-color in Suriname and surrounding countries
- Found in groups of 4-10 |
* Rufous Crowned Tanager
- Found in small groups of 3-4
- Mostly found in the savannas |
* Swainsons Toucan
- Second largest of the toucans
- Beak reaches 8 inches |
White Lined Tanager
- About 5 inches in length
- The white on the wings is visible when they fly or unfold their wings |
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REPTILES
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* Arrau Turtle
- Also known as the Giant South American River Turtle
- They eat vegetation and fruit, except during the dry season, during which they fast
- Juveniles and males have yellow scutes (scales) above eyes that look like eyes.
- Lay eggs in a cavity that may be used by several females
- Largest freshwater turtle in world, shell length can be 3.5 ft. |
Caiman Lizard
- Have flattened tails
- Are about two feet long |
* Dwarf Caiman
- Only have 4 teeth on each side
- Are an endangered species |
* Emerald Tree Boas
- Live 15-20 years
- When born they are red-orange with white bars, they turn green over a few weeks between 4-9 months of age
- Need to hang downwards to swallow prey.
- Preys on birds and bats
- Green color from a combination of effects, one of which is Tyndall scattering, which makes the sky blue |
Green Anaconda
- Courtship occurs between March and July
- Young may refuse food for up to seven month after birth
- Usually reach about 30 feet in length and 500 pounds
- Can live up to 30 years
- Spanish settlers referred to them as bull killers
- Preys on fresh water turtles, caiman, mammals and lizards |
* Green Iguana
- Are bright green to dull grayish green with black stripes.
- Their tail will grow back if broken off
- Arboreal (tree dwelling) can fall 40-50 ft to ground without injury |
Plumed Basilisk
- Males are very territorial
- Found from Costa Rica to Columbia |
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AMPHIBIANS
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Blue Poison Dart Frog
- Reach no more than two inches in length
- Breed continuously throughout the rainy season
- Live colonially on the forest floor
- Eggs laid on the ground and guarded by parents, tadpoles wriggle onto back of parent (usually the male) soon as they hatch and are carried to water. Attached with a mucous secretion that breaks down in water |
Yellow Banded Poison Dart Frog
- Males emit a mating call
- The indigenous people of Central and South America coat their darts with its poison
- Their poison can cause convulsions, paralysis, and even death in large animals like monkeys. Loose the poison with three months of captivity. It appears to be created by plant or plants that the frog eats in its natural environment |
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FISH
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Amazon Catfish
- Can reach up to 600 pounds and six feet in length
- Local people call them piarara |
Angelfish
- About six inches in length
- Hover over their spawn in order to circulate the water |
Arapaima
- Are a threatened species, favored for food so over fished in some areas
- Largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching up to 10 feet in length and 400 pounds
- Has a vascularized swim bladder that can function as a lung so it can absorb oxygen from air or water, it may be unable to meet its oxygen requirements from just gill respiration
- Its nest can be two feet in diameter (a sandy area cleared of debris with the tail). About 47,00 eggs are laid and guarded by the parents. When the fry hatch they cluster around the parents heads attracted by a pheromone secreted by glands on the parents heads.
- Can reach full length in 4 years |
Arawana
- Female carries the eggs in her mouth till they hatch
- Live in the freshwater of South America
- Leap out of the water to catch butterflies and other insects
- Lower jaw slants sharply upwards so that mouth opening is almost vertical
- Has 2 fleshy, forward pointing barbells on lower jaw that may be sensory. |
Banded Leporinus
- Reach about a foot in length
- Live five or more years |
Bleeding Heart Tetra
- Usually 2-2.5 inches long
- Get their name from a red heart located on their sides |
Brush Nose Plecostomus
- Literally look like they have a brush attached to their faces
- Usually a dark brown in color |
* Bucktooth Tetras
- Reach 3 inches in length
- Only live in freshwater
- Breed at 2.5 inches.
- Aggressive, will fight among selves. |
Cardinal Tetras
- Females are a bit larger than the males
- Are bottom-dwellers |
Festive Cichlid
- Tend to live around angelfish
- About six inches in length |
* Heckle Discus
- Have a prominent bar in the middle of their body
- Are nine inches in length
- Male does oral incubation of eggs. Eggs will not hatch unless he does, he may be protecting eggs from bacteria
- Hide in submersed roots of marginal trees along the river. |
Lemon Tetra
- Males can be distinguished by the more pronounced black edge around their anal fin
- During spawning season the female will ovulate once every 1-4 days |
* Orange Spot Freshwater Stingray
- Reach a maximum size of 18 inches
- The spine at the tip of its tail is venomous
- Has gills on top of head so it can breathe while hiding buried in sand |
Oscar
- Mainly carnivorous
- Have bright red eyes |
Pacu
- Reach about two feet in length
- Often feast on the fruit that falls into the river
- Cousin of the piranha juveniles often mistaken for piranhas |
Plecostomus
- Also called the Suckermouth Catfish
- Males will care for the eggs
- Back protected by bony plate armor
- Active at night, eyes adapted to nocturnal existence
- Surface air breather |
* Rafael Catfish
- Live for up to 15 years
- Nicknamed the The Talking Catfish because when out of the water they make faint croaks and clicks |
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Red Tailed Catfish
- Have been described as swimming mouths with tails because they eat anything that will fit in their mouths
- Can reach almost four feet in length
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Silver Dollar
- Approximately six inches in length
- Literally shaped like a silver dollar |
Silver Prochilodus
- Usually about a foot long
- Found in Brazil and Columbia |
Thread Finned Cichlid
- Colors fade during adulthood, but are still prominent during mating
- Males are slightly longer, but females are slightly fatter |
Uaru
- Gain color during spawning time
- Young are born with the same colors as the adults have during spawning, but loose this coloration when they reach 3-4 inches in length |
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INSECTS
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Brazilian Cockroaches
- Hide in the cracks and crevices of caves
- Eat organic detritus including bat guano, rotting wood, fruit, seed and other decomposing vegetation, dead insects and animals
- Females incubate eggs internally
- Have a trapezoidal black patch in the center of the head shield that makes them look like they have a human face on the back called Cockroaches of the Devine Face |
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MAMMALS
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* Agouti
- Main food is fallen nuts and fruits
- Will sound an alarm call and stamp feet when it senses danger
- Peels soft fruit with teeth
- Young born with hair and able to see and will eat plants within hour of birth
- Can jump up more than 6 ft. from standing position |
* Black Howler Monkeys
- Females are actually brown in color
- Their tails are as long as their bodies |
* Pale Faced Saki Monkeys
- Live up to 35 years
- Monogamy is a typical trait |
Pygmy Marmoset
- Primary food is the sap and gum of trees
- Only one female in the extended family breeds |
* Red Handed Tamarins
- Live in groups of 4-15
Mom will give birth to two kids at a time and cares for them till they reach 10 weeks old |
* Two-Toed Sloth
- Sleep around 18 hours a day
- Live up to 30 years
- Fur grows from the belly to the back
- Algae grows in fur giving it a green shimmer good camouflage
- Cannot walk because of weak legs & long claws. If it is on the ground it will pull itself along with front claws.
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