Orinoco part 3- animals

I was hoping that this post would be heavily featuring all of the sloths that I saw and played with in the jungle... but sadly I'm still shut out on the sloth count. Boy o boy did we see a bunch of other animals though! Being in the jungle really made me appreciate being at the top of the food chain, because let me tell you, I didn't feel like I was at the top so much as a part of the circle of life in the Orinoco. Here are some of what we saw with my best food chain thoughts to boot.

We were told that this was the lake guacharaca- a quieter cousin of the raucous city guacharaca. I couldn't see much of a difference, verdict: tasted like guacharaca.

This arrow shaped bird is a Cormorant. I would have loved to see it spear a fish- verdict: tastes like fish sticks.

This is a type of turpial (national bird) that we saw frequently along the banks of the river. It builds it's scrotum-like nests above the water and next to peoples houses so the snakes are less likely to eat them. Quite smart of them but honestly would you eat anything found in a nest that looks like... anyway- national bird/ national dish. tastes like arepas.

aforementioned turpial nest (thanks to Cristobal Alvarado for the photo)

Not sure of this one's name. It was domestic and made some crazy howler monkey like noises. Too afraid to eat it 

Toucan Sam! tastes like fruit loops

No bat caves? No problem. These are 6 in a line of about 35 bats- just chillin and waiting for evening. Tasty I'm sure but I'd rather let them eat the bugs.

This fierce fella was guarding one of the docks in the village. Dogs seem to be well taken care of in Venezuela- even out on the river. Alas, I could find no perro calientes to eat on the trip.

It. just. never. gets. old. (seeing these birds that is)

Why do I have one ridiculously oversized claw you ask? well because it drives the ladies crazy. Why not two? well let's be realistic- the ladies would not be able to control themselves. honestly- two large claws! 

The mighty Kingfisher.
tastes like chicken

The guides were very surprised to see this- in fact they had never seen a deer out crossing the river. They followed it for a bit and I started to think we were indeed going to catch and eat it but they explained that they wanted to follow it and make sure the locals didn't see it. If they did- the deer would be on a dinner plate pretty quickly.

The red Ibis. If you are what you eat this one must be  hot cheetos.

 

Howler monkeys. when you know what sound they make in the mornings it is quite interesting- but I can't imagine the first explorers who were woken up by howler monkey.

Baby howler monkey- c'mon do you really think I ate baby howler monkey?

PUMA! this one was found injured as a little cub and stays at the lodge. Sad to see it in a cage but even with a chain link fence in between us I could tell who had a higher rung on the food chain. Beautiful animal.

this looks really fierce... but is actually just a well caught yawn.

When a scorpion was found in Tamara's room, Marco grabbed it and said "this one, is very dangerous"
I found it quite spicy

Dragonfly with seemingly backward wings. tastes like dragon... of course.

This guy was found the first night at dinner and never having held a tarantula figured this may be my only chance. Notice my sleeve pulled all the way down and the nervous giggle face I'm pulling. Now notice the cool hand luke face of the young Polish tourist behind me- he was much more at ease with it. I think he ate it later that night.

There were frogs loitering in most every bathroom, how in the world do the french eat those legs?

Didn't see this animal but leaving the delta on the eve of Carnival... there were going to be some crazy party animals out the next day/night. These speakers were on a street corner just cranking tunes.