Arapaima
Arapaima gigas
Known as the pirarucu in Brazil and the paiche in Peru, this South America giant is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. Some reach lengths of more than 10 feet (3 meters) and weigh upward of 400 pounds (180 kilograms). The arapaima is the focus of several conservation projects in the Guianas.
The arapaima is an air-breathing fish that plies the rain forest rivers, lakes and swamps. They have a wide, scaly, gray body and a tapered head. Though arapaimas can stay underwater for 10 to 20 minutes, they tend to remain near the water’s surface, where they hunt and emerge often to breathe with a distinctive coughing noise. They survive mainly on fish but are known to occasionally grab birds close to the water’s surface.
The Amazon’s seasonal floods have become part of the arapaima’s reproductive cycle. During low-water months (February to April) arapaimas construct bottom nests and females lay eggs. Young begin to hatch as rising water levels provide them with flood conditions in which to flourish. Adult males play an unusual reproductive role by incubating tens of thousands of eggs in their mouths, guarding them aggressively and moving them when necessary.
Giant River Otter
Pteronura brasiliensis
Guyana’s Giant River Otter is the largest of the world’s 13 otter species (although sea otters may weigh more). Giant otter males attain an overall length of 1.5 to 1.8m and a weight of between 26 and 32 kg. The otter’s throat and chest are usually marked with irregular cream-coloured patches or spots which help to identify individuals. Long and numerous facial whiskers protrude from the muzzle, forehead and temples and are believed to be highly sensitive in order to facilitate prey location in turbid waters.
Historically giant otters ranged throughout the tropical lowland rain forests and wetlands of South America but is considered extinct in Argentina and Uruguay. The giant river otter is an IUCN red-listed species and is considered endangered. Accelerating habitat destruction and degradation, poaching, and unmanaged tourism are ongoing threats to this vulnearble species.
Jaguar
Panthera onca
The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere.
This spotted cat resembles the leopard although it is usually larger and sturdier and its behavioral characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense rainforest is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is notable as a feline that enjoys swimming. The jaguar is a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator at the top of the food chain. It is a keystone species, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of the animals it hunts. The jaguar is a near threatened species and its numbers are declining. Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation. While international trade in jaguars or their parts is prohibited, the cat is still frequently killed by humans, particularly in conflicts with ranchers and farmers in South America.
Black Caiman
Melanosuchus niger
The Black caiman is a a carnivorous reptile that lives along slow-moving rivers and lakes and in seasonally flooded savannas. It was hunted to near extinction primarily for its commercially valuable hide and is now listed as “conservation dependent.” They are commonly seen in Guyana’s Rupununi and Rewa rivers and are the subject of an intensive research project at Yupukari village.
The Black caiman is the largest predator in the Amazon basin measuring 3 to 4m (9 –12 ft) in length, with old males growing larger than 5m (15 ft). It is the third largest crocodilian in South America behind the American Crocodile and Orinoco Crocodile.
At the end of the dry season, females build a nest of soil and vegetation abd lay up to 60 eggs at the beginning of the wet season when newly-flooded marshes provide ideal habitat for the juveniles. Unguarded clutches are quickly devoured by a wide range of animals. As with other crocodilians, caimans frequently move their young in their mouths, creating a mistaken impression that they eat their young. Mothers will assist chirping, unhatched young to break out of the leathery eggs by delicately breaking the eggs between her teeth. The female only breeds once every 2 to 3 years.
False Vampire Bat
Panthera Vampyrum spectrum
This species is the largest bat (Chiroptera) in the New World and the largest carnivorous bat in the world, having a wingspan of 80 centimeters (almost 3 feet) and a body length 13-14 cm (about 5 inches).
Some alternate names for this species are the False Vampire Bat, Linnaeus’s False Vampire Bat and the Spectral Vampire Bat. Confusingly, they are not related to the Old World family of large carnivorous bats that are also called false vampires.
The fur on the upper parts of the bat is normally dark brown, chestnut brown or rust-orange and quite short. The ears are very long and rounded. There is no discernible tail. The large feet are robust, with long curved claws. The muzzle is long and narrow, and the teeth are strong. The noseleaf is medium-sized and lance-shaped, resembling a horseshoe and spear with a continuous rim forming a hollow cup around the nostrils.
A formidable aerial night hunter, this large predatory species takes a huge range of relatively large vertebrate prey including amphibians, reptiles, small birds and small mammals (including other species of bats) in addition to insects such as large crickets and cicadas. (Wilderness Explorer)
