The prehensile-tailed porcupines or Coendous (genus Coendou) are a group of arborealporcupine found in Central and South America. They are closely related to the other Neotropical tree porcupines (genus Echinoprocta and genus Sphiggurus) and these three are sometimes treated as subgenera of Coendou instead of distinct genera. [edit] Characteristics Among the most notable features of Coendou porcupines is their unspined prehensile tail. The front and hind feet are also modified for grasping. These limbs all contribute to making this animal an adept climber, an adaptation to living most of their lives in trees. They feed on leaves, shoots, fruits, bark, roots, and buds. They can be pests of plantation crops. Young are born with soft hair that hardens to quills with age. Adults are slow-moving and will roll into a ball when threatened and on the ground. The record longevity is 27 years (Gorbunova et al., 2008).
This porcupine is found in many Latin American countries such as Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras. They range in size from 20 to 30 inches with a tail that is roughly one third of their body length. Their bodies are covered generally in brown or black fur with yellow quills under their fur.
This porcupine has been visiting our house for many nights in a row. He likes the cat food on the balcony. Throwing water on him and shaking the banana tree in which he had esconced himself, did nothing to have deter him. His prehensile tail allowed him to remain fixed to the banana tree that Rick was shaking, trying to dislodge him! Additionally, the water we threw on him, did nothing to bother him either. Given how dry it is, our gardener said he probably liked the dousing....
Ay ay ay. The truth is, we don't mind him. Walking on the roof from the Mango tree and then dropping down over the bedroom wall to the balcony to check out the cat food bowl.- yes, it is noisy in the middle of the night, but we know it's him. We don't mind this. But it drives the dog beserk and the prospect of a quilled dog we DO mind. Finally though, he seems to have decided our house is not the best stop at night.
An M-35, Ex-Military Vehicle he imported from the States last year is Rick's latest fling. No sooner was it in-country, then he had a buyer! Yay! So I guess he will be bringing more down to Costa Rica.
What is cool about the "Green Machine" as I have nick-named her, is that it is multi-fuel. It can run on gasoline, diesel, bio-diesel, and used vegetable oil. Really!
The buyer of this truck will be using it for adventure tours in tropical, rain-forest Costa Rica near the Caribean side of our country. The back of the truck has fold-able bench seats and you can seat around 20 people.
Melissa, our reservations manager working at our business ( www.nosaratravel.com ) was getting married late last month. Rick and I both wanted to go but we had too much work with lots of holiday check ins so I went, and I took Gerardo as my date. Gerardo works in our office in charge of house maintenance.
One of the most exciting aspects of our little adventure was that Gerardo was (a) going to San Jose -where the wedding took place- for the first time, and, (b) also flying on a plane for the first time! I was quite excited for him and prior to the flight, he was more nervous than excited.
Our schedule was to fly out in the afternoon, arrive in time for the evening wedding, and drive back to Nosara with my office manager, Yanory, and her husband, Roberto. We all had responsibilities to attend to the very next day, which would be a Monday.
Another exciting aspect to this adventure was that we got to dress up. When you live in a rural environment that is one grade up from camping out- this is big deal! Luckily, I literally had one appropriate outfit from when I'd attended my high school reunion a year ago. And Gerardo was able to borrow semi-formal attire. So we were all set: gifts purchased, plane tix in hand, and we were interested in a good time!
Above, Gerardo's wife and daughter (Isabel and Graciela) and uncle, who is also the airport guard. Rick and our girls, and Gerardo's family, came to see us off.
If you think Gerardo looks a little nervous before take off, you're right.
Our kids watching the plane come in.
Yup, he still looks a little nervous.
The graceful Graciela. She's only 11 but very tall. I keep forgetting she's still a little girl.
View from the plane.
This was way better than he imagined. Gerardo told me afterward that he felt calm and not nervous, when we were finally airborne. That the experience of flying was like being in a dream and the worries in his mind exceeded the actual turbulence and nerves he had initially: his mind had built it up into something more dramatic than it was in reality. (we had a very smooth flight, luckily)
The office trio: Gerardo, myself, and Yanory
We clean up well, us country bumpkins. Gerardo and I had a chance to chat a lot before the wedding, as we had over an hour to kill before it started when we arrived to the hotel. He told me that he can remember when Nosara had ONLY ONE CAR in the ENTIRE TOWN! The car was for emergencies, like an ambulance to Nicoya for medical emergencies. It is amazing to ponder the massive changes people in Nosara have experienced in just one generation, and our talk made me hungry for a longer conversation about this later. Just a taste though: in one generation Nosarans have gotten: regular electricity vs. a few hours a day via generator; indoor plumbing; TV; phones; internet (a much later arrival); a high school; trade school; post office; health clinic; drive-able roads and the ensuing vehicles and a library. Just in ONE GENERATION! I think that these huge lifestyle changes have been absorbed with a lot of grace given the small amount of time people have had to adjust to them here.
We've had a nice month of visitors and fun social activities down here. Most recently, we visited a small animal refuge in Playa Carillo, Samara (about 45 minutes away) that is a really nice place! They take in injured, orphaned, or abandoned exotic pets who are wild and often endangered Costa Rican animals, rehabilitate them, and release them into the closest natural habitat. They do this all with no assistance (but yet they do have oversight via MINAE) from the government.
We spent a nice couple of hours there and it is definitely a good side day trip from where we live, combined with lunch out and maybe a dip in their beautiful bit of ocean called Playa Carillo.
We saw: an owl, a tucan ( I forget the types), porcupines, a wild pig "Pancho", a margay- small leopar -like cat who can't be released ever, she's too tame- they're going to mate her and release the babies when they're mature though, as she is an endangered species, a jagarandi "jaguar"- set to be released in another year, a crocodile, ready in a month or so to be released with some others, an anteater, armadillos, oppossums, boa constrictors, a kinkajou- super sweet, and some varieties of wild parrots, some box turtles and caimans (relatives to crocodiles but apparently less aggressive), some wild ducks, and a few others I can't remember now!
Whenever it was appropriate, we could touch the animals. I liked the wild pig, the margay and the kinkajou quite a bit. The anteater was adorable but only interested in termites and ants, not us. And the tucan- he was so loud- squawking away at us to get our attention.
Owl
Margay
wild pig: he used to lead the guided tours at the refugio
Kinkajou- related to raccoons and bears
Jaguar: Rick said he looked pissed off, he clearly was not "tamed" at all and hopefully will do well in the wild when released
Coco, the crocodile. Does not come when called. Favorite activity: hiding under lily pads and surprising you. Really.
Squirming anteater. The zookeeper said they have quite small brains. Only wanted to go look for ants and termites. She'd be busy in our garden!
Scott and Stacey, our cousins, and the girls' godparents, enjoyed a long weekend with us and the visit to the refuge, in particular!
Having visitors and a full social calendar can be exhausting. Here, the girls take a nap after playing in our Casita. Frito joins them. After, we cleaned it up for guests.
I took no photos of Thanksgiving except this one. We had a great day with good friends and amazing food! We all stuffed our faces and did not feel deprived to be far away from our home countries that day.
Earlier in the month, Scott visited with his friend, Linda, who is looking at investment opportunities down here in the tropics of Guanacaste, CR.
Linda had come down with Scott back in August. When she returned, she had toy cell phones with lipgloss and barbie dolls for the girls. They loved their gifts and I told Linda she'd nailed it.
Sunset from Lagarta Lodge- Linda generously took us out one night to one of the best restaurants we have here. The ambiance, service and dishes are all 4 stars for Nosara. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are until we have someone visit us and then when showing them around, we remember how fortunate we are to live here and experience all that we do in a very special environment.
Well, some of you already know we've had some drama here the last 2 months or so. We've been invaded. In the beginning, we thought our dog was raiding the kitchen trash. Since we compost everything, all we'd see in the AM was some scattered paper or plastic and the dog kept going back to sniff the area- "returning to the scene of her crime", we thought.
We were oh-so-wrong. A mapache or raccoon had decided to make regular use of the cat door and/or climb up to our balcony. This had happened to us before. All we needed to do was lock up ALL the food. But it didn't work. This little guy, Rocky, for lack of anything better to call him besides "Hey You, you, psst, go!!" was very smart. Perhaps even smarter than the average raccoon, which is apparently, already quite smart.
He can open kitchen cabinets, dump large bins over (triple his body weight) holding dog food, and he can defend himself quite well against our dog., Nugget. But I get ahead of myself.
There he is below, in his favorite initial pose: hanging out in the banana tree near our balcony, upon which the pets are fed. No rush to leave. We would regard each other: Rick and I on the balcony, Rocky in the tree, for minutes on end. Later on, as we all got to know each other so much better, he actually just sat on the balcony waiting for me around dusk.
I grew to become quite fond of him as long as he stayed out of my kitchen and didn't wake our elderly dog with his visits. I could give him by hand, dog and cat food or bananas and he would come back in the middle of the night for more, whereupon I just threw a handful over the balcony as I was not so entranced around 3 AM.
However, as the family's fondness for Rocky grew (even the girls fed him once and even Rick called him a "good guy"- huge praise by Rick)- Nugget grew to hate him. She became a crazed, hyper-vigilant dog.
The climax of the situation, including increasingly losing more and more sleep, was when Rocky got caught by me in the kitchen cabinets again and as he was exiting via the front door, the dog, Nugget, was coming back inside, not having luck finding him outside (she knew he'd returned, but she's getting old and she misses some clues!).
They met in the middle and Nugget went for him. I was worried the racoon would be killed. As she went to bite him he launched himself onto her face, clinging with his arms and little hands around her head in a deathgrip. He immediately bit down hard on her snout and held on for what felt like an eternity. Nugget yelped and yelped and tried to shake him off. He just clung with his hands and clamped with his mouth.
After what was more likely just 15 seconds, he lept off of her and left the house. Nugget dripped blood all night but she was fine. Well, she recovered and became more hypervigilant, but she doesn't have rabies, so we're satisfied.
Meanwhile we decided to relocate Rocky. We trapped him in a cage and Rick drove him a few miles away. Rocky was hesitant to leave the cage (and was utterly calm the entire time inside it), giving Rick a look that Rick told me was: "Are you really sure about this?" before he sauntered off.
He returned on the 3rd night about 11 PM. We believe he literally arrived back and stopped at our house the first chance he had (he has a neighborhood route, but we are his favorite stop). We fed him and welcomed him back. But we knew it would have to be temporary. Early this week we trapped him again and this time he is 15 minutes away by car and across a large river. We're on day 4 and halfway hoping it works this time (and that he's of course, adjusting to his new digs) and halfway towards listening for him in case he comes back. We know he is trying to come back, as Rick said that upon the second release, he lept out and ran in the direction of "home". We're just hoping the river proves to be a big enough natural barrier.
In the banana tree. No hurry to leave.
In the cage, uninterested in the dog food kibble at this point.
Not so sure, the cage is a known place, a place where he's eaten many a meal...
Post-Script: Rocky, svelte for a young male, has a chubby rival, perhaps a much older raccoon that is easily twice his size. Towards the "end", there were raccoon hissing fests and screeching fests (but no biting or bloody results like cats will do) between them, fighting over our house and I can only assume, its contents. We tried to view their fights but they were usually in the gardenor in the trees even. When Rocky went on his "trip" the second time, "Chubster" attempted to climb up the balcony. But she didn't make it far and is much more timid than Rocky: a bark from Nugget and she was gone in a second. So we seem to be safe from a full-on second invasion. For now. We've been feeling a little like Wild Kingdom over here....
Well: we're getting much closer! Only a year practically, from the date of when we and the girls were matched up last year!
There is a social worker visit/final family functioning evaluation due, assigned by the Nicoya Family Court, but we have NO idea when this will happen. It's been pending for at least 2 months. It takes something to get someone to come from Nicoya to where we live, and that is an item that could hold up the end of the process for many, many more weeks. It's one of maybe three items left for the adoption to be finalized here in Costa Rica.
Here is the Edicto (notice of public intent to adopt, published in the paper here):
Se avisa que en este Despacho bajo el expediente numero 09-000142-0869-FA, los senores Heidi Dawn y Richard Hamilton Chalmers, solicitan se apruebe la adopcion conjunta de las personas menores de edad Maria Celeste y Francini Ambas XXXX. Se concede a los interesados el plazo de cinco dias para formular oposiciones mediante escrito donde expondran los motivos de su disconformidad y se indicaran las pruebas en que fundamenta la misma.
JUZGADO DE FAMILIA DE NICOYA.- 16 Setiembre del ano 2009.- Lic.- Berta Lidieth Araya Porras.- Jueza. FROJASP.
So if anyone objects, they had 5 days to state it and why, in writing to the court, otherwise one of the last steps has been finalized this month! Fingers crossed for a very, very Merry Christmas present to our family of the adoption being finalized by Dec. 1 (my new magic date: my wish list to Santa Claus).
Heidi
Ricardo
Allison
