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SURINAME 2012
FINDING THE GOLIATH TARANTULA IN THE WILD[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]
Dates
November 16 - December 9, 2012
Location: Suriname, South America
Week 1: Northern coastal plain from Saramacca Distrikt to the west and Plantage Fredriksdorp in Commewijne Distrikt to the east based around the capital city of Paramaribo.
Weeks 2 & 3: Primary and secondary rainforest of Brokopondo Distrikt from Babunhol in the north to Brownsweg, Brownsberg Nature Park, Danta Bai, Brokopondo and Afrobaka around the north and northwest of Brokopondo Reservoir.
The Team
- Michael Jacobi - ExoticFauna.com & TARANTULAS.com - Seattle, WA USA
- Guy Tansley - GiantSpiders.com & bugsnstuff.com - Newcastle, UK
- Paul Carpenter - LifeInTheRainforest.co.uk - The Midlands, UK
- & team leader Andrew Smith - lovetarantulas.com - London, UK
The Mission
Our goal, as always, was to locate as many of the country's tarantula spiders as possible and photograph them in situ while studying their habits and habitat. We do not collect other than temporary capture for photographic purposes. We found everything we were seeking including the goliath tarantula Theraphosa blondi, Avicularia sp., Ephebopus murinus, Tapinauchenius plumipes and what may be the first record of Tapinauchenius gigas in Suriname & more! Other arachnids found and photographed included two of the most venomous creatures - the wandering spider Phoneutria fera and the scorpion Tityus paraensis. Of course, a vast variety of insects and herps were also observed. Snakes found included the labaria or fer de lance Bothrops atrox and the Amazon puffing snake Pseustes sulphureus; lizards found included the monkey lizard Polychrus marmoratus, turnip-tailed gecko Thecadactylus rapicaudus and tegu Tupinambis teguixin; frogs and toads found included the three-striped poison frog Amereega trivittata, the harlequin toad Atelopus hoogmoedi and the marbled treefrog Dendropsophus marmoratus. Amazing birds and mammals were also seen including parrots, monkeys and tapir, and bats, bats and more bats!
The Images
Over the past month I have posted a number of photos on my Michael Jacobi's Exotic Fauna Facebook page. Please LIKE and search my Timeline images. Five are also included in the banner at the top of this post. Many others have been posted to my personal Facebook and the Facebook pages of Guy Tansley and Andrew Smith. Soon I will launch a brand new gallery at ExoticFauna.com that will feature my Suriname portfolio. Watch here, my Facebook & Twitter and ExoticFauna.com for details!
The Videos
Yesterday my film "Finding the Goliath Tarantula in the Wild" debuted on YouTube. This 17 minute HD video shows the sweaty work of four veteran tarantula hunters finding the world's largest spider. Please view, click the like thumb and subscribe to my Exotic Fauna YouTube channel. I also have two short snake-oriented films from Suriname - one of me wrangling an eight-foot Pseustes sulphureus from a rooftop at Brownsberg Nature Park and another of me moving the most dangerous snake of the Americas - the labaria or fer de lance Bothrops atrox - off Guy Tansley's path above the Leo Val (waterfall) on a jungle trail at Brownsberg, and a fourth video that shows Guy Tansley stirring up a colony of bats we found in an abandoned building on a farm in Saramacca. My YouTube channel also has the trailer for my film of our 2006 field trip to Costa Rica, which can be found in its entirety at lovetarantulas.com.
Finding the Goliath Tarantula in the Wild (16:46 HD1080p)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJB3RQR40zA
Pseustes sulphureus at Brownsberg (2:18)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEDBXF92Ejc
Labaria at Brownsberg (1:14)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR3VeCbkOsA
Saramaccan Bats (1:07)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46BfzYtvclE
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