# back from Suriname



## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Hello everyone, Amanda and I been back for a little more then a week, did not get around to do a little picture thread, so here we go.

1. our flight to Suriname from Trinidad got cancelled, so we got stuck in Trinidad for a whole day. Was quite the mess... after much waiting, our plane was finally there!

2. waterkant in Paramaribo

3. the bridge crossing Suriname river

4. Presidential residence (the president refuses to live in it)

5. road to the airport


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

1. bridge crossing the Saramaca river

2. me happy because I killed one of 600 million horse flies

3. having fun on the Suriname Highway

4. cool caterpillar

5. unknown funky spider!


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

1. armadillo hole

2. lovely bridge at Witagron, crossing the Copename river, was scarry...

3. Amanda and I on the bridge crossing the Copename river

4. some kind of mygalomorph

5. tasty grub


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

1. some kind of assassin bug I think

2. misc. lizard

3. one of our friends the horse flies

4. bird of prey

5. cool wasp like creature


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Some more pictures, we found plenty of amblipygids, was quite fun, they are always a treat to observe in nature.


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Plenty of those big black scorpions as well, just like in French Guyana


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Some kind of lynx spider I think and a cool pink caterpillar, was quite weird.


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

A nice little juvenile Avicularia sp.


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Bothrops atrox (I think) stalking some kind of Leptodactylus frog...


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

Phoneutria sp.

Ephebopus murinus burrow


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## Phil Hall (Sep 8, 2007)

Fantastic images Tarcan !  Thanks for the insight into a magnificent fauna explosion!

:clap:


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

One of the highlight of the trip, we had the chance to find a sloth


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

At one point we took a day off and went to the Parbo zoo. A small facility, but I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised of the quality of the enclosures, everything was quite clean.

A nice little sandwich accident on the main road!


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

1. Monument commemorating the arrival of some Dutch people, theyw ere dropped there and they pretty much all died

2. I do not know why, but I was fascinated by the phone booths there! LOL

3. Amanda and I being funeral dirrectors, it is hard to not take pictures of cemetery, I will spare you the douzens we took, will only share that one, an old jewish cemetery, very well maintained compared to some other cemeteries we have seen there.

4. Waterkant, the water taxis to cross the Suriname river

4. Back of Fort Zealandia, I think it is Queen Beatrix statue that was moved there on the night of the revolution.


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## tarcan (Sep 8, 2007)

The synagogue and right beside the mosqué

The Suriname flag

A mygalomorph with abdominal parasite

And to finish for all scolopendra lovers, a nice big one, not sure what it is, could it be S. viridicornis?

I hope you enjoyed

Martin & Amanda


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## Blaster (Sep 8, 2007)

This was AWESOME!!! :O Lucky You!


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## Androctonus_bic (Sep 8, 2007)

Is the las pictures a picture of a S. viridicornis isn't it?

Nice trip!

Carles


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## Crotalus (Sep 8, 2007)

Great stuff! Looks like a awesome trip!


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## ChrisNCT (Sep 8, 2007)

Very nice...I envy you guys that take these trips!


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## syndicate (Sep 8, 2007)

awesome pics guys!must of been so cool finding that sloth haha


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## Steven (Sep 9, 2007)

Awsome !!! :clap: 
very interesting and diverse field-trip pictures.

and yep,...
most probarly a _Scolopendra viridicornis_.
where did ya found it ? (forest, urban area,... ?)


and did ya had a few "Parbo bier" ?
_Parbo biri, dat n'a biri_


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## Tescos (Sep 9, 2007)

Damm nice pics guys. That sloth is minters.
all the best
Chris


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## tarcan (Sep 9, 2007)

Steven,

The scolo was in a forested area

We did not drink any Parbo as Amanda and I do not drink alcohol (yep, we are boring like that! LOL)... but there was plenty around I can tell you that! We brought a few bottles home for our family who unlike us appreciate beer!

Martin


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## tarcan (Sep 9, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, we really had a good time down there!


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## ahas (Sep 9, 2007)

Nice pics!  Thanks for sharing.


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## GoTerps (Sep 9, 2007)

Thanks for sharing Martin!  Great pics!

Eric


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## beetleman (Sep 9, 2007)

:clap: yes, very awesome pics! thanks for sharing


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## The Red Queen (Sep 9, 2007)

*Just a quick note about the sloth...*

When we found him, he had obviously just finished crossing the road and was trying to make his way through some thick bushes to get to the trees beyond.  Our guide was afraid that if someone saw him from the road that they would shot him and eat him, so after we got our pictures he picked up the little sloth and carried him over to the trees... and let me tell you, when they say "as slow as a sloth", they are not kidding!  The little guy did not even put up a fight when he was picked up and carried off!


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## Steven (Sep 9, 2007)

tarcan said:


> We did not drink any Parbo as Amanda and I do not drink alcohol (yep, we are boring like that! LOL)...


people who do drink alcohol also get boring after a few  

love the viridicornis !!! :}


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## DrAce (Sep 9, 2007)

The Red Queen said:


> When we found him, he had obviously just finished crossing the road and was trying to make his way through some thick bushes to get to the trees beyond.  Our guide was afraid that if someone saw him from the road that they would shot him and eat him, so after we got our pictures he picked up the little sloth and carried him over to the trees... and let me tell you, when they say "as slow as a sloth", they are not kidding!  The little guy did not even put up a fight when he was picked up and carried off!


It looked like a great trip.

Describe the sloth's feet.  How many toes/claws did it have?


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## tarcan (Sep 9, 2007)

Well, not sure really about the details of the feet... this does not help much...


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## tarcan (Sep 9, 2007)

I will be honest, we were so worried that a local would pass by and attempt to kill the poor thing that we hurried up a couple of pictures and my guide took the animal and ran into the woods to take it to a tree. So I did not take time to observe much details


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## DrAce (Sep 10, 2007)

Hmm... first HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARCAN!

Second, I am not sure if it's a three toed or 2 toed sloth.  I'm thinking two, because I can only see one in the photo (meaning that there is either 2 hidden, or one, and it's easier to hide one).

Three toed sloths are a really interesting story.  They have nine cervical vertebra - and they are the only mammal to have that number.  For reasons which we do not understand, the number of cervical vertebra in mammals is restricted - humans, girraffes and mice have seven - and seven only.

It doesn't matter if your neck is 3 meters long, or 3 millimeters, you have seven vertebra.  BUT some people (~1%) are born with six, and here's where it gets interesting.  Those people are born sick, and they are lucky to be born at all.  Over 50% of all developing babies which are spontaneously lost in utero, have six cervical vertebra.

And no-one knows why yet!

Except, the sloth.  He's got 9, and there's no reason for that either.

(it's the only reason I asked).

If he was a two toed sloth, he has six cervical vertebra, and that's also different from all other mammals (the manatee is the only other mammal with six).


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## The Red Queen (Sep 10, 2007)

I found another picture that shows the toes... its 3!


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## DrAce (Sep 10, 2007)

The Red Queen said:


> I found another picture that shows the toes... its 3!


And he therefore has 9 cervical vertebra... two more than any other mammal.


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## The Red Queen (Sep 10, 2007)

DrAce said:


> And he therefore has 9 cervical vertebra... two more than any other mammal.



And when I become a contestant on Jeopardy and Alex says "This is the only mammal with 9 cervical vertebrae"  I am going to kick ass!


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## DrAce (Sep 10, 2007)

The Red Queen said:


> And when I become a contestant on Jeopardy and Alex says "This is the only mammal with 9 cervical vertebrae"  I am going to kick ass!


Damned straight.  Unless he asks "This is the only mammal with 6 cervical vertebrae"... then you'll be stuck with two-toed sloth and manatee.

But good-lord you'll sound smart.


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## eman (Sep 10, 2007)

Very cool shots!  Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,


Emmanuel


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## lucanidae (Sep 11, 2007)

Wow!  I think that mygal with the hymenopteran parasite on its abdomen is the coolest!


In case anyone was looking for an explanation of the cervical vertebrae and the answer to why most mammals are constrained to seven:

http://wwworm.biology.uh.edu/evodevo/lecture11/galis99.pdf


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## DrAce (Sep 11, 2007)

lucanidae said:


> In case anyone was looking for an explanation of the cervical vertebrae and the answer to why most mammals are constrained to seven:
> 
> http://wwworm.biology.uh.edu/evodevo/lecture11/galis99.pdf


Cool paper.  I had not seen it, but it's an interesting hypothesis.

I have a few problems with it.  HOX genes are all over the place.  Surely there is a similar mechanism WRT thorasic vertebra, or lumbar vertebra.  Why are they not associated with childhood cancer?

And why can a sloth get away with it (or a manatee, for that matter)?

It's still, as far as I know, an unknown problem.  Although there's quite a bit of work to be done on it.  Why restrictions in mammals?  I don't hold that "childhood cancer is only really important in mammals" argument...


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## metallica (Sep 14, 2007)

looks like you had a great trip Martin and Amanda! but i'm missing all the embarrassing pics here! oh well i guess i will see those in Stuttgart!


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## harrypei (Sep 17, 2007)

awesome pictures and awesome pic of the P.viridicornis...


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## Wadew (Sep 17, 2007)

Looks like it was an interesting trip congratulations to the two of you for another exciting vacation!
                                      Wade


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## rollinkansas (Sep 19, 2007)

gonatodes? Have any more pictures of these guys?







Like full body shots or such?


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## tarcan (Sep 19, 2007)

Here you go...


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## Blaster (Sep 21, 2007)

tarcan said:


> 5. tasty grub
> 
> http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/attachment.php?attachmentid=64972&stc=1&d=1189286321


Hey, don't the little guys in the corner look like some kind of Solfugids? Hehe, what are they?


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## tarcan (Sep 21, 2007)

He he, when I noticed them on the picture for the first time I was also wondering, I think they are just termites.

Martin


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## Darwinsdad (Sep 21, 2007)

The Red Queen said:


> When we found him, he had obviously just finished crossing the road and was trying to make his way through some thick bushes to get to the trees beyond.  Our guide was afraid that if someone saw him from the road that they would shot him and eat him, so after we got our pictures he picked up the little sloth and carried him over to the trees... and let me tell you, when they say "as slow as a sloth", they are not kidding!  The little guy did not even put up a fight when he was picked up and carried off!


How could you worry. The melow look on it's face was calm and quiet. Cool deal helping him out.


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## Icey (Sep 26, 2007)

Awww guys so sorry we were not able to hook up when you passed through Trinidad :wall:  I did try though, kept buggin the lady to page you guys in the airport lol.  Ah well


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## Ythier (Dec 5, 2007)

Hi Martin,
Great pics !
A sloth...lucky you  
Cheers
Eric


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## bliss (Dec 6, 2007)

WOW!  i love that centipede !!!  :drool:


  and also, martin, do you know what Amblypigid sp. that might have been?  i love its "all black" coloring!  :worship:

  -dan-


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