Russ Van Horn is studying Andean bears in Peru. Read his previous blog, Andean Bears: Peppers and Maize

Cusco, Department of Cusco, Peru
I’m leaving Cusco for a few days in Quince Mil before going to Lima for the Second International Symposium on the Andean Bear. Before going to Lima, I’m hoping to retrieve the memory card from a digital infrared camera, or camera ‘trap,’ that I set in the cloud forest over a week ago. We can’t collect enough data with this camera to address our ecological questions, but we do hope to collect a photo of a wild Andean bear and verify that they are using a particular site.

The site I’m referring to is about 20 miles (33 kilometers) away from Quince Mil, at 8,500 feet (2,600 meters) elevation. I visited this forest with two of my colleagues from BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) in response to conversations with local residents. We arrived at the closest settlement one evening, and planned to start hiking as early as possible the next morning. Unfortunately, by dawn it was raining steadily. Getting wet is a regular part of our routine, but rain this strong greatly reduces visibility and makes it impossible to cover much ground on the steep slopes without running the risk of injury. So, we considered catching the next ride back down to Quince Mil.

The local patriarch told us that it would stop raining by 9 a.m. I admit, after looking at the low uniform cloud layer, I was a little skeptical. I shouldn’t have doubted his experience, because by 9:15 the rain had decreased to a drizzle, and we were able to start hiking. Within 90 minutes we had hiked past three fields of peppers. As we began climbing above the highest field, 1,600 feet (500 meters) higher than the valley bottom, it became clear that the cloud forest at this site was different from the others that I had seen in this area. Although there was a great deal of moss everywhere, there was less than at other sites. Because the moss layer on the forest floor was not as thick as at some sites, it was easier to walk. Until you’ve experienced it, you’d never believe how difficult it can be to walk on a thick bed of moss!

Another prominent difference between this site and others we’d seen was that at this site there appeared to be more bamboo, and more species of bamboo, which are a potential food source for Andean bears. In addition, there seemed to be a greater diversity of both terrestrial and arboreal bromeliads. This was of interest to me scientifically, because wild Andean bears often eat bromeliads. Of interest to me personally, and perhaps to any Andean bears in the area, was the fact that none of the bromeliads at this site had spines. At the last site we visited, the most common terrestrial bromeliad species was quite large and had numerous spines, which I assure you were quite sharp and capable of delivering a memorable surprise!

After hiking upward for about three hours, we encountered the first concrete evidence that an Andean bear had recently used this forest: the remnants of a bromeliad eaten by an Andean bear. We still weren’t seeing many large mammal trails, so we continued to climb. Eventually we reached the top of a ridge, which was broader and less steep than most in the region. Immediately we began crossing large mammal trails. Due to the thick layer of moss and the regular rains, we weren’t able to find any identifiable animal tracks on the trails. However, there aren’t many species in the area, other than bears, capable of making such trails. Hopefully we’ll soon have photographic evidence supporting this hypothesis.

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher at the San Diego Zoo. Read more about his project…

Posted in Bear Awareness, Conservation, Default, Field Studies, General | Link to this post

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