PIJUAYO TREE
(BACTRIS GASIPAES)
-Distribution: Bactris gasipaes
is a species of palm native to
the tropical forests of South
and Central America.
-Description: Bactris gasipaes,
like most sea-island palms,
grows erect, with a single
slender stem or, more often,
several stems to 8 in (20 cm)
thick, in a cluster; generally
armed with stiff, black spines
in circular rows from the base
to the summit. The fruit is a
drupe with edible pulp
surrounding the single seed, 4
6 cm long and 35 cm broad.
The rind of the fruit can be red,
yellow, or orange when the
fruit is ripe, depending on the
variety of the palm.
-Measure: It can typically grow
to 20 metres or taller. The
leaves are pinnate, 3 metres
long on a 1 meters long
petiole.
-Edible: The fruits are edible
and very nutritious but need to
be cooked for 35 hours.
However the fruit contains
extremely high levels of
vitamin A with up to 1,500% of
the recommended daily
allowance in a 100g serving.
They also benefit many
animals in the wild.
-Uses: Peach palm fruit is
widely used as animal feed.
With its low fiber and high
starch content it can substitute
maize in the fodder mixture.
CACAO TREE
(THEOBROMA CACAO)
-Distribution: T. cacao is widely
distributed from southeastern
Mexico to the Amazon basin.
There were originally two
hypotheses about its
domestication; one said that
there were two foci for
domestication, one in the
Langdon Jungle area of Mexico
and another in lowland South
America.
-Habitat: Cacao trees grow
well as understory plants in
humid forest ecosystems.
-Description: Leaves are
alternate, entire, unlobed, 10
40 cm long and 520 cm broad.
The flowers are small, 12 cm,
cacao flowers are pollinated by
tiny flies. The fruit, called a
cacao pod, is ovoid 1530 cm
long and 810 cm wide,
ripening yellow to orange, and
weighs about 500 g when ripe.
The pod contains 20 to 60
seeds, usually called "beans",
embedded in a white pulp.
-Measure: the cocoa tree,
which is a small tree, can grow
(48 m).
-Lifespan: A tree begins to bear
when it is four or five years
old. A mature tree may have
6,000 flowers in a year.
-Products: Its seeds, cocoa
beans, are used to make cocoa
mass, cocoa powder,
confectionery, ganache and
chocolate.
SOUTH AMERICAN TAPIR
(TAPIRUS TERRESTRIS)
-Population: The South
American tapir can be found
near water in the Amazon
Rainforest and River Basin in
South America, east of the
Andes. Its range stretches from
Venezuela, Colombia, and the
north to Brazil, Argentina, and
Paraguay in the south, to
Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador in
the West.
-Description: It is dark brown,
paler in the face, and has a
low, erect crest running from
the crown down the back of
the neck. The round, dark ears
have distinctive white edges.
Newborn tapirs have a dark
brown coat, with small white
spots and stripes along the
body.
-Size and weight: The South
American tapir can attain a
body length of 1.8 to 2.5 m
with a 5 to 10 cm stubby tail
and an average weight around
225 kg. Adult weight has been
reported ranging from 150 to
320 kilograms.
-Behavior: Lowland tapirs are
excellent swimmers and divers,
but also move quickly on land,
even over rugged,
mountainous terrain.
-Lifespan: They have a life span
of approximately 25 to 30
years.
-Predators: In the wild, their
main predators are
crocodilians, and large cats,
such as the jaguar and cougar.
-Diet: It is an herbivore. Using
its mobile nose, the tapir feeds
on leaves, buds, shoots, and
small branches it tears from
trees, fruit, grasses, and
aquatic plants.
-Mating season: They mate in
April, May, or June, reaching
sexual maturity in their third
year of life.
-Period of gestation and
reproduction: Females go
through a gestation period of
13 months (390395 days) and
will typically have one
offspring every two years.
Newborn tapirs weigh about
15 pounds and will be weaned
in about six months.
SPECTACLED OWL
(PULSATRIX PERSPICILLATA)
-Distribution: The spectacled
owl is found in Mexico, Central
America, Trinidad and Tobago,
and South America (Colombia,
Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and
Argentina).
-Habitat: is primarily a bird of
tropical rain forests.
-Size and weight: The
spectacled owl can range from
41 to 52.3 cm in length. Mass
in males can range from 453 to
1,075 g where a females can
weigh from 680 to 1,250 g.
-Description: It is unmistakable
in most of its range with
blackish brown upper parts,
head and upper breast, white
facial markings and whitish to
yellowish-ochre underparts.
The eyes are yellow, the only
Pulsatrix with this eye color,
and the beak is pale. The head
is typically darker than the
back and mantle but the shade
of this area besides the
composition of the breast band
is the main distinguishing
external feature of the
subspecies.
-Behavior: This species is
largely nocturnal, it is a
solitary, unsocial bird, usually
roosting singly each day and
only peaceable associating
with others of their own
species for reproductive
purposes.
-Mating season: In Costa Rica,
eggs are laid variously in the
dry season (NovemberMay),
or at the start of the wet
season (JuneJuly).
-Period of gestation and
reproduction: Spectacled owls
lay 1-2 eggs, which are
incubated entirely or almost so
by the female for about 5
weeks. If two eggs are hatched,
often only one of the chicks
will survive, the smaller chick
usually perishing via starvation
or by aggression from the
larger nestling.
-Diet in the wild: Frogs, birds,
bats, small mammals, insects
and crustaceans. Diet in the
zoo: Rodents.
-Life Span: Up to 25 years.