Bam! Puma!

After arriving at “Un poco del Chocó” I was very excited about getting to know the impressive biodiversity of this beautiful montane rainforest. One day Nicole showed us how and where to place a camera trap in the correct way so that one could eventually see some diurnal and nocturnal mammals.

This time we placed two camera traps on the trails of the reserve. One was right next to a little wild trail, which can be very easily distinguished and the other one was placed together with the irresistible aroma of Calvin Klein Obsession… why? Well, there have been studies that confirmed that especially the family of Felidae (including ocelot and puma) are attracted to this perfume, so every once in a while we apply it to a tree and then place a camera trap in front of it.

After leaving the camera traps for a week, the time of evaluation finally came. The recordings of the wildlife trail showed us a lot of interesting things such as armadillos, pacas and a lot of birds. But when we started looking at the footage from the second camera the biggest surprise happened. A giant puma male walked along the trail at 09:00 am in the morning. Nicole couldn’t trust her eyes and had to repeat the recording over and over again. It was the first puma caught on video in the reserve and I am glad to leave this place with the image of a nice puma butt in my head!