Friday, September 11, 2015

The Anaconda

­THE ANACONDA


The green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). It is a constrictor snake of the boas family, endemic from the tropical rivers of South America, of all the snakes this is which has the highest weigh and perhaps the largest known snake, disputando con la pitón reticulada (Python reticulatus) que habita en las selvas de Indonesia y Filipinas.

Distribution

The anaconda is endemic from South America; inhabits the basins of the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers. Also they can be founded in countries as: Brasil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela and Trinidad Island.

Description

The anaconda is the biggest snake of America and can exceed the 8 meters long and weight more than 200 kg. The females are larger than the males, this is the most marked sexual dimorphism case into the order of these reptiles  are grouped (Squamata).


The anaconda is dark green in color with oval black spots and ocher on the flanks. The belly is more clearly, and the end of the tail shows yellow and black designs that are unique by each one. The body is broad and muscular, adapted to kill their prey by constriction.
The head is narrow and does not have a distinctive neck. The nostrils and eyes are in an elevated position, to make breathing and perception easier during the long periods that the anaconda spend submerged. The eyes of the anaconda are small and have the typical vertically elliptical pupil of the poisonous species and the boids, the vision of the anaconda is not very acute. The olfactory receptors are found on the tongue, like all the snakes.
The snout is covered for six thickened scales, three on each side, which are the most distinctive trait that separates the genus Eunectes species from the closely related Boa.
There is a kind of anaconda which the only part of the entire body is not covered by scales, these ones inhabit in the Caudal region, near the cloaca zone. In that environs, this anaconda presents spurs which are remnants of locomotives atrophied limbs.

Habitat and Behavior

The powerful muscles of the anaconda makes it a skillful swimmer, the green anaconda can travel short distances underwater or on the surface very quickly, where it is capable of reaching a speed of 6 meters per second, but on the ground their movements are slow and heavy. The anaconda choose the camouflage found on the banks of streams as well as the trunks and beaches to sunbathe or relax. The anaconda used to travel on the rivers , but prefer the still waters such as ponds or aguajales where most of the time is immersed to stalk their prey; the position of the nostrils allows it to submerge the most of the body as a camouflage.
Usually hunt animals that come to drink, it traps them with jaws and simultaneously wraps itself around its body to suffocate them. With its immense constrictive forcé, submitted its prey in just over 10 seconds, the death of his victim is by asphyxia.
The anaconda, like all snakes can not chew food, and instead of, swallow them integer. Teeth are like needles sharp and directed toward the interior of the mouth, they serve to retain the prey and allow not escaping. It has four rows of teeth, one regular and one on the palate used to move the food down her throat.
When swallowing, the maxilla and mandible, which are fasten to the skull by ligaments, they manage to separate to accommodate to the size of the prey.

Feeding

The anaconda is able to consume large preys as; Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) which is one of his favorite victims and juveniles unique species as: Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris), Red brocket deer (Mazama americana) Gray or brown brocket deer (Mazama gouazoubira)
Lizard: Common caiman (Caiman crocodilus), Lizard: Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger), Smooth-fronted caiman (Smooth-fronted caiman), plus other mammals, birds, turtles and other small reptiles.
The snake must alternate to fulfill the process of digestion. This is because the digestive process requires a lot of energy that the snake should use to digest the food efficiently, which can last days or weeks, depending on the size of the pray. The undigestible parts can be excreted or regurgitated.

Reproduction

According is shown in some field studies conducted to date, when a female anaconda is sexually available emits a pheromone smell,this is detected by the male from the area since a distance of 5.5 km.
The pairing of the anaconda occurs between the months of april and may; Females attract males by an olfactory sign, and they congregate around them along of several weeks. In the last phase of the courtship, up to a dozen males curls around the female, fighting for access to the sewer of her, forming a characteristic ball; They may remain so curled up to 15 days, often in shallow water, until the bigger and stronger female chooses the winner.
During the mentioned copulation, male spurs stimulate the caudal region of the female; both sewers get contact and the tails curl while insemination occurs.
During the actual copulation male spurs stimulate the caudal region of the female; contact both sewers and tails curl while insemination occurs.
The anaconda is ovoviviparous, it means that the eggs remain inside the body of the female until hatching. The gestation lasts 6 months inside the female. The anaconda can reach to have up to a hundred broods, but overall the number of the litter oscillates between 20 and 40. Newborns measures around 70-80 cm long. Because of their small size, often fall as a prey of other animals, only a few manage to survive till the adulthood.

Conservation

The main threat to their conservation is the destruction of their habitat and the hunting by those who consider it a threat to domestic livestock and children, without regard its role in controlling of the rodent pests.

Kingdom:    Animalia
Phylum:      Chordata
Class:         Sauropsida
Order:         Squamata
Suborder:  Ophidians
Class:         Reptiles
Family:       Boidae
Genre:        Eunectes
Specie:       Eunectes murinus

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Monday, August 17, 2015

Iquitos, Peru, South America

Iquitos, Peru, South America

Iquitos city is located in the northern jungle, to the east. It is the capital of the Loreto Region, with nearly 30% of the country is the largest and most northern of Peru. It is set in the Great Plains and surrounded by the Amazon, Nanay and Itaya rivers. Overall, it constitutes in the Metropolitan Iquitos, a conurbation of 471.993 inhabitants consists of four districts: Iquitos, Punchana, Belen and San Juan Bautista.
Near the confluence of the great Napo and Amazon rivers. In this river world, the communications depend as much or more than the navigation of land transport, virtually nonexistent outside the city of Iquitos.

The Historic Center of Iquitos has several Cultural Heritage of the Nation: Iquitos Cathedral, The Iron House, The Old Hotel Palace, The Cohen House and more than 70 buildings. Other known landmarks are The Main Square (Plaza de Armas), Jiron Prospero; a pathway conglomerates several commercial and historical premises and the crowded neighborhood of Belen, often dubbed as the "Amazon Venice." The city is also home of the Amazon Library, one of the two most important in Latin America.
Because of its location in the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos has a natural landscape of immense biodiversity.

Now, the reputation of the city is growing as a tourist destination due to its location on the banks of the Amazon River which is one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. Over the years, Iquitos receives considerably foreigners; currently, the tourism index rose by international flights offered by the city airport.


According TripAdvisor Iquitos won the Travelers' Choice 2012 Award No. 22 of "Top 25 destinations in South America." Iquitos was also included in the number 6 on the list of "10 leading cities of the 2011" by Lonely Planet.



Official Language:      
Spanish (spa. amazonian in situ)
Entity:
City
 Country:
Peru 
Region:                          
Loreto
Province:                     
Maynas
Subdivisions:               
Iquitos, Belén, Punchana, San Juan Bautista
Foundation:                    
1757 (José Bahamonte)



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Thursday, July 30, 2015

The Ayahuasca

The Ayahuasca

The Ayahuasca or rope of dead, is a potion of medicinal and hallucinogenic plants used as a diagnostic to cure ills. Natural and ancient medicine that concentrates the power of the jungle.

Preparation of ayahuasca in the Region of Loreto, Peru

It is known as ayahuasca of a various entheogenic beverages resulting from multiple plants decoctions. The basic component is a decoction of the vine (Banisteriopsis caapi), which property is the content of (Monoamine oxidase) inhibitors, known as inhibitors (MAOIs). It is mixed with leaves shrub of the genus (Psychotria), because of its content of (Dimethyltryptamine) (DMT).

Ayahuasca in Quechua means 'rope of dead' by its etymology “aya” (dead, deceased, spirit' and “waska” (rope, string' because in the worldview of the native peoples the ayahuasca is the rope that allows the spirit leaves the body without this die. 
 It is used in medical or religious rituals and in traditional medicine of native towns of the Amazon.

How the ayahuasca is used:

Ayahuasca is used as medicine, such as purifying and as a master. It is called a Doctor because cure; Master because it teaches, and Mother for it’s guidance. It gives power, knowledge and vision.
The medicinal properties of Ayahuasca are not only in the spiritual realm, but also in the physical. There prerequisites before ingestion, such as mental, physical, emotional and spiritual preparation. 

The diet is essential: it must remain fasting at least 24 hours before the ceremony, it is important that the stomach is free from food as vomiting are common. You should not drink liquor, drugs, spicy, or sex with at least seven days prior to the ceremony.
Ayahuasca takes you to the magical world. It gives you what you need to give you, teaches you what have to teach you, heal you what it has to heal you. Ayahuasca is not a simple chemical relationship but a magical relationship.

To be understood, first you have to learn feeling its dimension, and as the shamans say, using the heart and not the head. 

Finally, each ayahuasca experience is distinct from the other.

Scientific Information:

Ayahuasca: (Usually pronounced/ ˌaɪjəˈwæskə/ or / ˌaɪjəˈwaːskə/), is an entheogenic brew made out of (Banisteriopsis caapi) vine, often in combination with various other plants. It can be mixed the leaves of Chacruna or Chagropanga, dimethyltryptamine (DTM)-containing plant species. The brew, first described academically in the early 1950s by Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by the native peoples of Amazonian Peru,so it is known by a number of different names.

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Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Urarinas


The Urarinas


Historical Summary:

The Urarinas inhabited originally in the Chambira river, having originally been a large group. In 1651, Jesuit missionaries made contact with this group through the christianized Cocam
illas, being seated in an annex of Jeberos Mission Concepcion. A year later, Father Lucero took some Urarinas to San Xavier de Chamicuros subsequently were transferred to Santiago de la Laguna.


In the late nineteenth century, Urarinas were persecuted by rubber patterns. Given these attacks they escaped to the areas of the headwaters of the river Chambira. Some were caught and turned into slaves on the farms located in the Marañón River. By 1924, Paul Rivet in his account of South American indigenous languages, are considered extinct, but by 1930 Tessman said 300 Urarinas still survived. Early in 1950, the number of Urarinas declined due to an epidemic.
In 1974, oil exploration in the area of Urarinas generated an increase demand for manufactured products and opened the possibility of offering labor.

Social Organization:

The social organization of Urarinas is characterized by patrilineal descent groups, preferential marriage with the bilateral cross-cousin and rule of post-marital residence matrilocal.

Economic Activities:

The Urarinas practice swidden horticulture, hunting and fishing. The main crops grown in the orchards are cassava (Manihot sculenta), banana (Musa paradisiaca), maize (Zea mays), rice (Oryza sativa), the Sachapapa (Dioscorea trifida), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and papaya (Carica papaya). Hunting is practiced individually and fishing, both individually and collectively. The collection is aimed at obtaining palm fruits such as palm (Mauritia flexuosa) and pijuayo (Actris gasipaes) and secondary forest trees as ungurahui (Oenocarpus bataua Mart).

The Urarinas produce for the bird market and agricultural products; also sell fine woods, leathers and fabrics palm of great demand in the regional market.

Vulnerability:

This relatively small group, is located in an area of oil exploration and forest extraction, can being qualified in a situation of medium vulnerability.


Family Language:            Unclassified
Autodenomination:          No autodenominación

Geographical Location:

Province   Department  District
Loreto       Loreto          Tigre
Loreto       Loreto          Trompeteros
Loreto       Loreto           Urarinas

Rivers and tributaries Chambira; Urituyacu, Corrientes and Ocelot.

Demographics: Population  Enumerated.
 TOTAL   MALE    FEMALE
  564        293         271

 Number of communities: 17


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