Well, I did it… I got married to a beautiful lady in mid-May of this year. For our honey moon, we decided on Puerto Rico. It was perfect: the US$ is the island’s currency, it was tropical, afforded me the opportunity to casually herp, and offered resorts fancy enough and clean enough to make it count as a honey moon! After much deliberation, we decided to stay on the lush, verdant, northeast coast of the island – not far from El Yunque Rainforest and about an hour east of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital.
After several long flights, we landed in San Juan around 9:00 pm, local time. An additional hour drive to our hotel had us giddy, but exhausted. We were to leave early the next morning on an ecotour* trip into the rainforest… something I was REALLY looking forward to…
Bright and early, we were picked up at the hotel and headed up into the mist-enshrouded mountains.
The plant life was amazing. Although my interest in botany pales in comparison to that in herpetology, I was fascinated by the lushness of the forest and the plants’ adaptation to such a moisture-laden environment.
Thick stands of bamboo, originally introduced from Southeast Asia to stabilize eroding mountain roads, were seen in some clearings.
The steep terrain provided us with some fantastic views.
Primary, secondary, and tertiary streams swell as rainfall higher in the mountains increases their volume – sometimes enough to dislodge logs and send them tumbling over 100 ft. high waterfalls.
Herp life was abundant in the forest, with several species of Eleutherodactylus, including the famous E. coqui, heard calling even during the daylight hours. Try as we might, though, we were unable to locate any of the frogs for a photograph. What we did see, though, was a variety of Anolis, a genus for which the Caribbean Basin is famous. (I apologize in advance for some [bleep]acular photos of some amazing lizards)
A. gundachi
A. krugi
A. cristatellus doing its best to look like a vine, that is, until it distended its colorful dewlap.
Another male A. cristatellus perched on a Sierra Palm ( Prestoea Montana)trunk. Note the aerial roots of the palm – very cool stuff.
My personal favorite, A. evermanni
Another photo of an A. evermanni
The forest is also home to an amazing variety of invertebrates. This includes land snails, like Caracola caracollus…
…as well land crabs (Cardisoma muguanhumi).
Upon returning to the resort late in the afternoon, we decided to grab some food and relax before we headed out on a kayak tour at dusk of a nearby bioluminescent bay, provided by the same ecotour company* as our rainforest adventure earlier in the day. I left the camera at the hotel, since I figured we’d get wet… and we did. The experience was fantastic, though – I enjoyed navigating through the tidal mangrove swamp almost as much as I enjoyed the glowing little Dinoflagellates (Pyrodinium bahamense) we’d really come to see!
The next few days Sam and I spent exploring the “wilds” of our resort.
It turned out to be a fairly decent place to herp, with at least 2 species of Eleutherodactylus calling loudly from every tree or shrub all night long.
Amieva exsul were relatively abundant foraging in any open, grassy areas they could find.
Hatchling and adult specimens of the introduced Iguana iguana were also common, but still a pleasure to see.
Several species of Anolis were often seen in landscaped and semi-natural area of the resort grounds.
A. pulchellus
And another favorite of mine, A. stratulus, an amazingly camouflaged trunk-dweller.
Our nighttime forays produced numerous Chaunus [Bufo] marinus, which in spite of their destructiveness and invasiveness, were fun to see. Sam actually admitted to liking (not licking) the big brutes.
Also present in any small stream were the Caribbean endemic, Leptodactylus albilabris, which were exceptionally loud and awesome with their “Bonk! Bonk!” calls.
.
Of course, Afro-American (or “Tropical”) House Geckos (Hemidactylus mabouia) were present on the stucco walls of the buildings. This species is interesting for its biogeography, likely having been present in the Caribbean Basin and parts of mainland Latin America in Pre-Columbian times.
Our resort owned a small, private island approximately a mile off-shore which was mostly covered with thornscrub, palms, and some sand/salt adapted trees like Coccoloba.
Large Iguana iguana roamed the grassy areas, grazing on fallen flowers and leaves.
Also abundant were more Amieve exsul, which, in spite of the heavy tourist traffic, seemed less concerned with people than their relatives across the strait on Puerto Rico.
Thanks for looking!
-Cole
*Enchanted Island Ecotours (http://www.eietecotourspr.com/EIET_Web-Site_08/Welcome.html), run by Michael Grasso, are a fantastic way to see portions of Puerto Rico you might otherwise miss. He and his staff are knowledgeable, friendly, and courteous naturalists – I have no problem giving them this shameless plug, here. While I, like most of you, might typically be inclined to set off exploring on my own, Enchanted Island provided a better service than I could have expected – especially on a whirlwind trip not devoted specifically to herping.
