Kanuku Mountains Expedition Day 2

Terrestrial snail.

Have you ever had the shoes sucked off your feet in a mud hole? If not, it's a pretty easy experiment to try at home – use old shoes, of course. On the RAP team, we get to try these types of experiments all the time. The problem is that there is not a handy mega-store to replenish your footwear. We lace up our boots, trudge into the forest and hope for the best, but sometimes we sink thigh-deep in mud.

Other animals, however, are better adapted to swamp life than we are. This terrestrial snail ambles across the path right after a driving rain. Even though they live on land, they still need to keep damp. Terrestrial snails and slugs are generally nocturnal creatures that avoid sunlight and extreme heat and cold, but they like humidity. They are most active at night, on dark, cloudy days, and also after a rainfall when they emerge to feed and search for mates. As sunlight intensifies in the morning and conditions dry out, snails take refuge under an object where it is shaded and humid.

	"Butterflies (family Lepidoptera) live about two to fourteen days and, like humans, they do sleep!"

Old logging skids and natural hollows fill with water, inviting scores of butterflies and dragonflies

Dragonfly (family Odonata).

like these. I also discovered that they are home to a million mosquitoes and little black flies that go for blood! Dragonflies (family Odonata) are beautiful creatures to observe in their adult form and also have very interesting developmental stages. Their eggs hatch into nymphs, which mature in the water, feeding on various forms of aquatic life. Nymphs of some of the large species are ravenous predators and will even attack small fish.

Dragonfly nymphs have a special extensible lower jaw, called the mask, with which they seize their prey. When nymphs have fully matured they leave the water and undergo metamorphosis into the adult form. Butterflies (family Lepidoptera) live about two to fourteen days and, like humans, they do sleep! To stay safe and dry, butterflies will hang from the under sides of leaves or crawl into crevices at night and during bad weather.

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