LIFE UPSIDE DOWN
by Mary Austin Crofts
Photo caption: Sloths spend most of their time hanging upside down. On a recent walk, we encountered this three-toed sloth on the ground. He quickly climbed a little tree and tried to look ferocious for us! Both two and three-toed species inhabit the forests around the Bocas del Toro archipelago. You are likely to see them most anywhere.
Sloths do most everything upside down. They eat, sleep (an average of 15 hours a day), mate and give birth while hanging around in the trees. It is rare for them to go down to the ground, but they do so when they need to urinate or defecate, which happens about once a week. Because they live life upside-down, many of their internal organs (liver, stomach, spleen, pancreas) are in different positions from other mammals.
These animals have made extraordinary adaptations to their arboreal lifestyle. Leaves, their main source of food, provide very little energy or nutrition and do not digest easily. They have very large specialized, slow-acting stomachs with multiple compartments in which symbiotic bacteria break down the tough leaves. As much as two thirds of a well-fed sloth’s body weight consists of the contents of its stomach, and the digestive process can take as long as a month or more to complete. Even so, leaves provide little energy and the sloth deals with this using a range of economy measures.
They have a very low metabolic rate, which enables them to live on relatively little food and also maintain low body temperatures when active, even lower when resting. These creatures move only when necessary and then very slowly. A sloth has about half as much muscle tissue as other animals of similar weight. They can move at a marginally higher speed if they are in immediate danger from a predator, but they burn large amounts of energy doing so.
Their hair is long and gray or brown, which blends with their surroundings, helping to protect them from predators. Due to living upside down, it grows in the opposite direction to that of other mammals, pointing away from their extremities to provide protection from the elements. During the rainy season, it is often covered with a coat of blue-green algae, which also helps camouflage them.
Sloths can defend themselves with their sharp claws, but their main form of protection is their camouflage. Predators, besides people, include harpy eagles, jaguars and ocelots. Even though they move extremely slowly, they are good swimmers.
Besides the fact that one variety has two toes and the other has three toes on its forelimbs, there are other differences between two and three-toed sloths. Three-toed sloths have a small tail and its forelegs are substantially longer. Two-toed sloths do not have tails and its front and back legs are closer to the same size. The two-toed variety also has a shorter neck, larger eyes and moves more between trees.
It takes about 2 1/2 years for a sloth to grow to maturity and they grow to between 1-1/2 – 2 -1/2 feet. Their ancestor, the Giant Ground Sloth, which lived before the last ice age, reached the size of the modern elephant. The probable lifespan for a sloth is between 30-40 years, and the biggest threat to their future is the destruction of Central and South America’s forests.
BOCAS BLURBS
Community News
 The Bocas Breeze website is now averaging over 60,000 clicks per month from all around the world and is now being distributed in San Jose, Costa Rica!
Correction to February’s article on the Bocas del Toro municipal budget: $100,000 has been allocated to improve Parque Bolivar – not $10,000. The mayor also wants the citizens to understand that the million-dollar budget does not include money for the roads. The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) is responsible to repair the roads out of their budget.
Contest! The Bocas Breeze is holding a contest for the funniest story in Bocas. Submit your article (max. 300 words) article telling us what happened to you in Bocas and win a free dinner for two, courtesy of the Bocas Breeze. The contest deadline is March 15th. If you have any questions, please call 6-683-1369 or email BocasBreeze@yahoo.com.
NEWSPAPER FOR SALE – Serious inquiries only. Please contact the Bocas Breeze at BocasBreeze@yahoo.com.
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ANNUAL BOCAS INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL CHILI COOK-OFF The first annual Bocas International Invitational Chili Cook-Off will be held on April 15, 2006, at Big Creek Beach, on the right just before the broken cement bridge. This is a fun event and people will create their favorite chili recipe on-site in the morning and vote for their favorite in the afternoon.
Gates open at 12:00 noon and chili tasting will begin at 14:00. Admission is $1.00 for adults (over 14) and $10.00 for children. Admission includes your official B.I.C.C.O.O. chili slurping kit, so you can taste all the different chilis and get a ballot for voting purposes. There are lovely trophies for the first and second place chilis. Adult beverages will also be available. The B.I.C.C.O.O. will donate any surplus profits to the 2nd annual chili cook-off.
To enter the contest please sign up in advance at the Buena Vista Restaurant or Buena Vista Realty and receive your Chili Cook-Off rules. For further information please call:
John Lang 757-9824
David Cadwell 757-9786
Jerry Johnson 757-9949
Clay Blaker 6-615-7709
HOW TO AVOID THE FLU
Unknown
Eat right! Make sure you get your daily dose of fruits and veggies. Take your vitamins and bump up your vitamin C. Get plenty of exercise, as it helps build your immune system. Walk for at least an hour a day, go for a swim, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.
Wash your hands often. Get lots of fresh air. Open windows whenever possible. Get plenty of rest. Try to eliminate as much stress from your life as you can. OR……….
Take the doctor’s office approach. Think about it…. When you go for a shot, what do they do first? Clean your arm with alcohol… Why? Because alcohol kills germs. So …..
I walk to the liquor store (exercise). I put lime in my Corona (fruit), celery in my Bloody Mary (veggies), drink outdoors on the patio (fresh air) tell jokes, laugh (relieve stress) then pass out (rest).
The way I see it, if you keep your alcohol levels up, flu germs can’t get you!!! My grandmother always said, “A shot in the glass is better than one in the a--!” Live Well Laugh Often Love Much. NEW ONLINE SMITHSONIAN GUIDE
by Beth King A Caribbean Journal of Science special issue published in December 2005 presents the first scientific overview of the marine environment in Bocas del Toro, the site of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s new laboratory. With color photographic guide to marine invertebrates, the volume, edited by Station Director, Dr. Rachel Collin, debuts new species and new records for Panama providing an essential reference for researchers, eco-tourists, and conservationists throughout the region.
“The known diversity in Bocas, looks very good in comparison with other places in the Caribbean," explains Collin. "Sponges and brittlestars are much more abundant on reefs here, and after only ten days of sampling, Bocas has already become the second most diverse site for tunicates in the Caribbean. Diversity is expected to increase with more intensive sampling.”
The unique geology of Bocas del Toro first led Smithsonian scientists to this border region. “The rocks and vast marine fossil beds in Bocas tell the story of the rise of the Isthmus of Panama—the amazing creation of a land bridge between North and South America and the separation of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans,” explains Anthony Coates.
Collin hopes that people will take advantage of the free, online guide (www.caribjsci.org): For those who prefer a hard copy, they will be for sale at the Bocas Station once they become available from the publisher.
STRI Director, Dr. Ira Rubinoff, placed conservation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in Bocas high on STRI’s priority list for 2006: “It is critical that home-owners, divers, investors, sports fishermen, tourists--all of the different interests in Bocas del Toro--realize that they depend upon and benefit from the sustainable management of natural beauty and biodiversity.”
!!! AN INVITATION !!!
BESO (Bocas Educational Services Org.) announces that their 5th Annual Charity Dinner and Auction will be held on Tuesday, March 14th. This year the event will be held at Bocas Beach Club, very generously donated by Mr. Robert Smith, who will also be catering the dinner.
6:00 p.m. - No Host cocktails
6 – 8:00 pm - Silent Auction
7:30 - Dinner will be served
8:30 - Auction
9:30 - Dancing
Admission to Dinner/Dance/Auction is by ticket only - $15.00 per person. Admission to Auction and Dancing only is $2.00 at the door.
If you can’t personally attend our Dinner and Auction, consider buying a ticket for your favorite local person, or donate an item or two for the silent auction (craft items are popular), and money is always welcome.
**To make donations please call Sumayyah McCarren at 757-9689, or Marilyn Johnson at 757-9949
**Tickets can be purchased at Buena Vista Realty and Super Gourmet. Call Dorreene Reynolds (6642-1911) or Jan Williams (757-9786) for more information. ***
CARNIVAL DEVILS !!!
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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the number of times life takes our breath away.
- Unknown
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*** On Feb. 14th, 15 local residents, organized by Dave Cerruti held a Chocolate Bake-Off Contest at Starfish Coffee. The judges, Douglas Ruscher, Phyllis McMillan and David Jeffers downed numerous bites of all types of chocolate delectables, in front of enviously drooling observers. “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it”, exclaimed Douglas as he was grabbing for seconds. The frustration on Phyl’s face gave it all away when an observer mentioned that they would find it extremely difficult to choose. In the end the judges voted unanimously to award the $100 prize to the winner, Joellen Jeffers! All participants received a $5 gift certificate to Starfish Coffee.
Dream Brownies
by Joellen Jeffers
Brownies
3/4 Cup of Butter
1 Cup of Cerutti chocolate finely grated
1 1/2 Cups of Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t. Vanilla
1/4 cup Water
1 1/3 Cup sifted Flour
Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler and let cool. Mix sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in sifted flour. Grease a 9” x 13” pan pour 1/2 of brownie mixture into pan.
Cream Cheese Layer
8 oz. of Cream Cheese softened
2 Eggs
12 oz. Hershey’s Semi Sweet Chips
1/2 Cup of Sugar
Beat cream cheese, eggs and sugar until creamy. Add chips and spread gently over brownie batter in pan. Spread remaining brownie batter on top of cream cheese layer. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 for 40 minutes.
Creamy Brownie Frosting
3 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of Cerutti finely grated chocolate
1 tbls. Honey
1/2 t. Vanilla
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 tbls. Milk
Melt butter and chocolate. Add honey and vanilla until blended. Add powdered sugar and milk and mix until smooth. Drizzle over the top of cooled brownies. BECALMED IN BOCAS - PART II
by Roy Turner (continued from the February issue)
We took a trip aboard Ocean Pulses' 24ft craft out on the briny for a guided tour of the islands and beaches. Ocean Pulse, operating out of Starfleet, plans to run field-courses for UK Uni marine biology and environmental students with this speedy inflatable Rib. So, all you guys currently up at Uni, spread the word about www.oceanpulse.co.uk. If you need added value to sign up, the 200HP boat started life as a drug runner, became a police chaser-launch, and recently was used to film the Thames scenes in the Bond movie before last!
But this dynamic duo guided us out among the islands, over to Red Frog beach on Bastimentos, home of the thumb-nail sized red frog and site of one of the few developments about to happen, then along a series of idyllic sandy coves as yet untouched by developers, (though they are all circling), before mooring off Bird Island.
A gigantic outcrop of limestone and basalt, rearing vertically out of the limpid clear water, supporting a virtual jungle of trees and foliage over every inch of its surface, this huge upheaval, and its surrounding islets, is home to dozens of breeding pairs of Brown Boobies and stunning white Red Billed Tropicbirds, with magnificent trailing tail feathers, as long as the whole bird. These birds crowded the branches and undergrowth guarding nests and chicks, before swooping out and over the sea in stunning flights of sheer freedom from predators. High above the display of swooping white and brown shapes clear against the green trees, a flotilla of Frigate birds soared on the high thermals, their sharp, slim silhouettes black against the blue sky. Bliss.
We spent quite a time there, admiring the spectacle, before dragging ourselves away for an excellent if simple lunch at the palm-thatched restaurant on Drago. After a swim in the warm waters we headed homeward. This took us past more away-from-it-all sanctuaries, some with houses on stilts over the water, (Punta Caracol); past free-divers working from wooden dugout canoes over deep, deep water collecting lobsters and clams from the sea bed; past the town of Saigon (no, I don’t know why), and around the whole peaceful island. If tranquility is your bag, get here before the tour companies do!
Well fed and well 'cooked', it had been another hot, clear and dry day, we relaxed with the sound of the marching band practice in the town square ringing in our ears! Until 9pm. A bell tolls, kids disappear. Magic. If drummers are your bag, November is the parade month, with bands from all over in daily competition.
From what little I saw, if what you seek is the uncomplicated life, ability to eat well if simply without a free colonic irrigation, in relaxed surroundings without the need for umpteen changes of clothes, an interest in nature and/or diving, and don’t mind warm rain even in large quantities, Bocas could be a good base.
Bocas is, to my eyes, an up-and-coming addition to the places-to-go, and is attracting surfers, divers and would-be divers for the wide variety of coral in a diversity of reefs, and investors alike, so why wait?
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************ANNOUNCEMENTS*************
Photo Exhibition at IPAT - Ongoing
Bocas wildlife photos by Terry Hit
Backgammon Club
Call Chris at La Casbah, 757-9885 for more information.
Texas Hold ‘Em ALL IN $$$
Hotel La Rumba every Weds. 8:00 pm. 757-9961
BIRTHS
Samuel Anthony Sanders Feb. 7th, 7 lbs. & 20 inches
CONGRATUALTIONS Tony and Georgina! ***
****** NEW BUSINESSES/CHANGES ******
Lemon Grass Restaurant – new restaurant
located above Starfleet Scuba on 1st St. 757-9630
Café Tropical Suites - new restaurant
inside the Tropical Suites Hotel on 1st St. 6-572-5627
Templo – new bar on the main street,
formerly the Blue Nasty Mermaid. 6-645-4965
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