SacBe Flora and Fauna

[Geoff]

Many locals and probably more than a few visitors are aware that El Jardin de los Aluxes, a popular exotic garden and vivero (located on 5th avenue just before the Colosio and the road to Las Palapas) are having to pack up and move. This was disturbing news to all who have visited there for gardening and permaculture lessons, or yoga classes, or simply wandered in through one of the connecting paths from La Cueva del Chango (see the write-up under PDC Directory on this site) or Shangri-la. Well, SacBe is happy to advise that Carlo Michieli and Cecilia Espinosa, the creators of el Jardin are relocating the gardens, in full, to Pueblo SacBe.

While it is a challenging project to accomplish in a short time, all of their structures, artistic woodworkings and extensive gardens will be transported from their present 2 acre property to various locations in the village. Most of the plants and artwork will be placed in SacBe in the Pixan park near the ruin and around the main Tohocu cenote park. Carlo and Cecilia will soon move into their reconstructed home in the village where they will add their formidable talents and vision in developing and maintaining the Pueblo SacBe park systems. A number of wwoofers will be put under their direction immediately to assist in the transplanting and enhancement of the first park areas.

Carlo and Cecilia were early supporters of the project. We welcome them with open arms now that they are finally getting their fingers into our soil.
Welcome amigos.

[Dave - Paradise Junkie]

Geoff,

This sounds like wonderful news and a great symbiotic addition to the village.

It was great to visit the village last week...I'm even more inspired than before. It was good to see the roads going in and to see the work Hari and family have done with the Welcome Centre...it's very cool.

It was also good to me you (at Babes). Can't wait to get down again and see the progress (maybe November). We've asked Hari to clear our land, so I'm hoping by November, we can begin real planning. Our site has lots of sinkholes (water close by?!?), so when the land is cleared, we'll be able to get a real sense of things.

We were happy to be able to access Hari's agricultural expertise. That way we are assured he'll clear the land in a sensitive fashion leaving plants and trees that are productive (fruits, nuts) or medicinal....or almost as important...shady.

Anyway, Geoff. Good to meet you and good luck with the moving of the gardens. Sounds very cool.

Dave

[Geoff]

For everyone who really likes nature stories; a week or so ago a small “tigrillo” was released back into the forest west of Pueblo SacBe.

Apparently this little pussy had gotten confused between the Audi’s, BMR’s and frustrated golfers that prowl Playacar and was causing problems at the savoury aviary. The rambunctious feline was passed to Hari Siliceo, Pueblo SacBe’s site manager, who along with Carlo Michieli and a fellow from the Playacar Aviary transported and released the tike deep in the forest, well west of the village.

Not trusting the locals translation of “trigrillo”, I scoured the internet and assembled for the readers’ benefit, the following description (garnered from various reputable websites) of what was supposedly caught and transplanted. It was likely a young ocelot. (Upon further review, the cat could have been a Margay, but they are not a lot different - equally endangered and possessing more or less the same following characteristics):

“The ocelot is the feline (cat) that is a most commonly seen in tropical forest where it is not hunted, although it may be seen close to inhabited areas. The ocelot, known in Mexico as the 'tigrillo' or 'little tiger', ranges through the forest regions of Central and South America from Texas in the north to Brazil and Paraguay in the south. It is the third largest of the South American cats after the jaguar and puma.
Very little is known about wild ocelots, even though they are popular as pets in North America. Pet ocelots are reputed to be very docile. They strongly resemble the closely related margay, and are generally twice the size of a margay or a domestic cat. Ocelots have much shorter tails than margays reflecting their less arboreal nature.
These cats are active both during the night (nocturnal) and during the day (diurnal). They are usually solitary. They hunt and capture their prey on the ground, although they occasionally climb trees A fully grown male measures about 4 1/2 feet from nose to tip of tail. Its beautiful spotted coat provides excellent camouflage in its forest home where it preys on a wide variety of animals, including rodents (including guinea pigs), bats, birds, amphibians, land crabs, insects, snakes, lizards, armadillos, crocodillians, small deer, agoutis, rats, peccaries, pacas, and birds. (What don’t they eat??) In areas where it is heavily hunted it has become a nocturnal animal, but elsewhere it can be seen in daylight. Although it can climb, the ocelot seems to hunt mainly on the forest floor. Ocelots are known to raid domestic poultry. Like most cats, they are expert bird pluckers, removing most feathers before eating their catch.
Sadly, it is much hunted by man for its fur, and it is now seriously threatened. Thirteen ocelots are killed to make one fur coat. In one year 140,000 ocelot skins were declared to have been imported by the USA. They were once the mainstay of the fur trade.
International commerce in ocelot products has now been prohibited; ocelots are now listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species (CITES). Almost extinct in their natural range in the USA, they are extremely rare in Mexico. Habitat loss and overhunting have decimated their populations.”

Nice story eh?

[Dave - Paradise Junkie]

That's quite something!! Wonder if it will stick around the area?...certainly lots of room to roam in the Pueblo Sacbe corner of the jungle.

Originally posted by "Geoff"

For everyone who really likes nature stories; a week or so ago a small “tigrillo” was released back into the forest west of Pueblo SacBe.

Apparently this little pussy had gotten confused between the Audi’s, BMR’s and frustrated golfers that prowl Playacar and was causing problems at the savoury aviary. The rambunctious feline was passed to Hari Siliceo, Pueblo SacBe’s site manager, who along with Carlo Michieli and a fellow from the Playacar Aviary transported and released the tike deep in the forest, well west of the village.

Not trusting the locals translation of “trigrillo”, I scoured the internet and assembled for the readers’ benefit, the following description (garnered from various reputable websites) of what was supposedly caught and transplanted. It was likely a young ocelot. (Upon further review, the cat could have been a Margay, but they are not a lot different - equally endangered and possessing more or less the same following characteristics):

“The ocelot is the feline (cat) that is a most commonly seen in tropical forest where it is not hunted, although it may be seen close to inhabited areas. The ocelot, known in Mexico as the 'tigrillo' or 'little tiger', ranges through the forest regions of Central and South America from Texas in the north to Brazil and Paraguay in the south. It is the third largest of the South American cats after the jaguar and puma.
Very little is known about wild ocelots, even though they are popular as pets in North America. Pet ocelots are reputed to be very docile. They strongly resemble the closely related margay, and are generally twice the size of a margay or a domestic cat. Ocelots have much shorter tails than margays reflecting their less arboreal nature.
These cats are active both during the night (nocturnal) and during the day (diurnal). They are usually solitary. They hunt and capture their prey on the ground, although they occasionally climb trees A fully grown male measures about 4 1/2 feet from nose to tip of tail. Its beautiful spotted coat provides excellent camouflage in its forest home where it preys on a wide variety of animals, including rodents (including guinea pigs), bats, birds, amphibians, land crabs, insects, snakes, lizards, armadillos, crocodillians, small deer, agoutis, rats, peccaries, pacas, and birds. (What don’t they eat??) In areas where it is heavily hunted it has become a nocturnal animal, but elsewhere it can be seen in daylight. Although it can climb, the ocelot seems to hunt mainly on the forest floor. Ocelots are known to raid domestic poultry. Like most cats, they are expert bird pluckers, removing most feathers before eating their catch.
Sadly, it is much hunted by man for its fur, and it is now seriously threatened. Thirteen ocelots are killed to make one fur coat. In one year 140,000 ocelot skins were declared to have been imported by the USA. They were once the mainstay of the fur trade.
International commerce in ocelot products has now been prohibited; ocelots are now listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species (CITES). Almost extinct in their natural range in the USA, they are extremely rare in Mexico. Habitat loss and overhunting have decimated their populations.”

Nice story eh?

yes extremely
Margays and Ocelots are beautiful and should be appreciated by all..
Keep up the great work.. I know we have a small North American Ocelot
population in South Texas still, but the Margay and Jaguar are no longer
resident because of hunters,etc..

[peter]

This is the tree to watch out for. If you rub against it or stand underneath while it rains an itch will start. Without treatment it will quickly spread as well. The only remedy is to cut into the 'gringo' tree and to apply its juices to the affected areas. (named after sunburned and scally tourists).

[peter]

optic fibre plant

[flowerBill]

Got some recent photos from our friend Lynn of a couple critters. The first is a critter that was found in someones hen house at Sacbe

Our weiner dog will be coming down with us in January- I'll have to keep a close eye on her to be sure she's safe and doesn't become a large bulge in a legless creature. A little closer shot of the critter below.

Lynn also sent a shot of an insect they've had tons of for several weeks- really quite pretty, might do a tile of it.

[flowerBill]

I was going through photo files cleaning up and came across some pictures of other critters we've seen at Sacbe. Lots of butterflies- these are only a couple of the many types there.


This is the Tohoku for which our park is named. When we were there in March they were checking out caves on our property for nesting. They nest in the park next to us as well.
Not my photo by the way.
And here's one of the Yucatan Jay, also common in the area.

I'll post a few I have reptiles later when I have time.

[flowerBill]

This is a vine snake, we've seen them in Tohoku Park. They are very easy to miss though as they lie motionless and look like a twig. Most of these are not my photos by the way.


Not sure what this guy is but we had one in ourr palapa, very small only about an inch and a half long.

An unknown lizard that was sunning on a log near the house.

Not my picture but wee saw three of these the last trip down. I'm normally scared about spiders, but these guys are docile and seem more like mammals.

Last one is a spider that we saw in Tohoku Park.

[Ranger]

Originally Posted by flowerBill

Got some recent photos from our friend Lynn of a couple critters. The first is a critter that was found in someones hen house at Sacbe

Our weiner dog will be coming down with us in January- I'll have to keep a close eye on her to be sure she's safe and doesn't become a large bulge in a legless creature. A little closer shot of the critter below.

Lynn also sent a shot of an insect they've had tons of for several weeks- really quite pretty, might do a tile of it.

How common are snakes like that ? What kind is it ?

[flowerBill]

It's a Boa- I've seen very few snakes while there. Up north we see snakes when the weather is cool and they're sunning or sluggish. My guess is they're warmer down there and get out of your way before you even see them. I'm sure they are there, just generally not a problem. I saw a boa once when we were on a path a Xelha.

[auntieninny]

I ran across this guy on the way back from taking pictures at Bill's Flower Loo

KEWL back legs!