homework questions

For a school project, I need to know what animals live in your country, what kind of clothes you where, and how do you celebrate the winter holiday season. Are there any interesting facts you can tell us about the Dominican Republic? Thank you for all your help. Allie

Thanx to TW & Natasha

Cats
Dogs
Rats
Really big rats that look like opossums
Frogs & Crabs
Lots of pretty and rare birds (There is even a one-eyed parrot in San Pedro de Macor?s)
Lizards
Crocodiles
Am I missing any, guys?

For Christmas stuff click on these:
http://dr1.com/board/index.cgi?read=74186
http://dr1.com/2000/index.cgi?read=41732
They are thanks to TW and Natasha and are excellent descripitons. They are complimentary so read both.
They probably celebrate Chanukka (sp?) in the North...Can someone help with this?

Dominicans dress just like people in New York, and the poor people wear lots of gold chains and vago jeans. It's a brand like Wrangler or Roebucks or Jordache. The only people who dress differently are tourists. They tend to wear shorts and tacky shirts and silly hats. I think that way when they get lost in places like Alcarizzos and Las Caletas people will spot them easily and be able to help them.

What am I missing? Help Allie out. Good luck on your project.

Re: Thanx to Loren

Loren: Nice description, specially your Alcarrizos notation. By the way I came up with our famous Manati, the almost extinct Iguanas from Lago Enriquillo, The Juron, a large rodent that has not been seen lately very much. Dominican Cotorras which you mentioned are now an endangered species along with the Perico.

There is also Wild Boar(a smaller species) and Wild Goats. Non-poisonous green and brown snakes are very common. La Cacata or Dominican Tarantula is hunted for tourists and is possibly in danger too. We have plenty of native Scorpions and Centipedes, if insects were included in the request. That's all I can think of right now.

Oh, I forgot...the domesticated Pajuil(Peacock)and the Guaraguao, a falcon.

TW

Funny thing: Next year's calenders are

going to be dedicated to Birds.
Hooray for Anabella Dodd, whose book is the best on Dominican Birds.
The juron is the mongoose, imported here to hunt rats in the cane fields but it turned out to be an ecological disaster since rats forage by night and the mongooses by day...

there is also an animal called the celiodontus(??HELP!!) or something like that . it is or maybe WAS the only Native mammel.

They haven';t been seen for a while.

We have beautiful hawks, owls and lots of little birds like hummingbirds. The new Calender deim BHD/Coldwell-Banker has some of them and I think there will be another one out shortly.

Do read the article by Natasha onChristmas traditions,

HB

Re: Hillbilly..Not sure about that mongoose

Hillbilly:

I am not sure about that mongoose thing. I have never heard of the mongoose being in this island. I have never seen or heard of one. The Juron, for all I know, is a native species and does not look at all like the mongoose. A mongoose loose in DR would be quite a dangerous spectacle. That's a very ferocious little critter.

TW

Re: Thanx to Loren

I'd like to add to the list "the Roosters" which kept me up incessantly while staying in Puerto Plata...they obviously can't tell time!

Cockadoodeldoo indeed!!

Mongoose...mongeese?

On our not-so-recent tour to the national park in Cabarete, we were told that there are mongoose on the island.

marc

Most Definitely !!

Either because or in spite of the fact that Dominicans are deathly afraid of them.

I once found a huge one in my house that was maybe as big as any of the giant tarantulas seen on tv. I called a Dominican man to look at it out of curiosity. He came running with a broomstick. I stopped him, explaining that they eat a lot of insects, especially cockroaches. He retorted that they are poisonous enough to kill cattle, although he finally admitted, after intense grilling, that he couldn't substantiate it.

Anyway, yes they still exist, at least in the country, and no, they are not dangerous to animals as large as humans. No human is documented to have died from a tarantula (any tarantula) bite.

Re: Funny thing: Next year's calenders are

Hillbilly, the hutias and solendon (a type of rodent) are supposedly still extant. I believe there are a couple in the zoo in Santo Domingo; in the wild I'm sure they are endangered but supposedly they still exist. You are right about the mongoose, I have seen mongoose on the north coast hunting at dusk in isolated fields.

Banana Rats... *PIC*

Since you mentioned them, here are the results of my findings on Hutia. A member of my delegation to Nicaragua swore such things existed. We thought he was in an alcohol induced stupor caused by the vodka I had pilfered despite the ley seca.
quoted:

There has recently been heated discussion within the consortium over the purported existence of "Banana Rats." Many suspected that this was a creation of drunken seafarers, such as the mermaid legends of old. Others suspected bats or Zarigueya (Opossum). In the faithful execution of my duties as President, I have dispensed forthwith a definitive finding, submitted for the full ratification of the consortium.

As it turns out, the proponents of the Banana Rat are vindicated. The Banana Rat is the Capromys Pilorides, also known as the Hutia. It is found in variations throughout Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas. From the website Xrefer:
A large rodent of the family Capromyidae (which also includes the coypus), found in Cuba and the West Indies. Hutias are 20-60 cm long excluding the naked tail (3-30 cm). They are mainly vegetarian and are either diurnal and arboreal (genus Capromys; 4 species) or nocturnal and terrestrial (genus Geocapromys; 3 species).

Like Nicaragua's Sandina, The Banana Rat has a true history of interaction with the U.S. Marines, though not as successful as the Sandinistas. For information on the US Marines Banana Rat Interdiction, please see the official military archive at: http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/Archives/FY2000/20000317/volunteer0317.html Creature feature: GTMO volunteers clean up 'the slot'

-Loren

Hawks, Owls, Mongoose, Roosters, Oh My ...!!

I have never seen a hawk here. With so few birds and small mammals it is hard to see how they could flourish, unless they went after chickens, of course. Consider that there aren't any vultures here, either, apparently for the same reason.

Concerning chickens, I've never heard farmers complain about hawks, or mongooses either, which would surely find them easy pickings.

With all due respect, I don't believe that mongooses exist here. There are no poisonous snakes to be exterminated, hence no reason to import them. An American friend who has lived many years here in the campo claims to have only seen 1 - you guessed it, at dusk, from a distance. It could have been a big rat, or cat, or small dog, or even GASP - a rabbit. So many rabbits are here in cages in the campo that surely some of them escape occasionally (although obviously not in sufficient pairs).

The owls I have seen are miniature and could probably only prey on bugs. They don't have much of a hoot, either.

Concerning roosters that can't tell time, I believe that it is the city slicker roosters kept in too small cages, confused by shadows from buildings, etc. After all, what do you expect from city slickers.

ONE FASCINATING nocturnal creature that is fairly common but I haven't seen mentioned is a giant firefly, with a light maybe 5 times as big as that of the typical firefly.

Re: Hawks, Owls, Mongoose, Roosters, Oh My ...!!

I heard from a friend that the DR is considered one of the best places to collect exotic insects...

I have seen another bug called a click bug or something like that. It is about an inch long, looks similar to a cockroach, but it has two glowing parts on the side of the head. It makes a loud clicking sound when picked up..

Re: Hawks, Owls, Mongoose, Roosters, Oh My ...!!

Concerning roosters, I was told that roosters in the D.R. crow in the day only during the Christmas and Easter seasons. No one said anything about shadows.

I have seen hawks but they were flying very high so they could have been pidgens, flying not so high.

Cats and rats and elephants? Cats and rats, yes, and I did see one elephant in Santo Domingo. Long necked geese, yes, flying over the northern part of the country, heading south. I saw ducks in the same place, flying in the same direction.

I hve not really seen any live camels but I saw a picture of one. He was smoaking a cigeratte.

HB! What are those little animals that run across the highways in the areas of the cane fields. Muskrats? Ferrets? There is a Dominican name for them but I do not know the translation.

Owls? They are not "Hootie" owls. They are barn owls and there are a lot of them in the country. I used to see a lot of them on the road going up to Camp David Ranch, when they first put the street lights up there. I have not been up that way in the last few years so, I do not know if they are still there.

Mongooses/mongeese...HAWKS..

Please try and find a copy of Anabela Dodd's great book on Domiican Bords. there are perhaps 8 or 9 species of hawks native to the island. All are endangered.

As for the juron/mongoose: It was imported here about the same time it was imported into Hawaii, also considered a grave mistake nowadays. I have seen lots of them at dusk and at dawn, and we have captured and killed many of them on the university grounds. they are definately pests and carriers of rabies, as you should know.

In a hurry today,

HB

Re: Mongooses/mongeese...HAWKS..

At last, a definite testimonial!

Strange though that they should apparently be more numerous in the city than the country.

Re: Hawks, Owls, Mongoose, Roosters, Oh My ...!!

I think it's ardilla (squirrel)

Speaking of Squirrels...

I think that I saw some in a yard in Jarabacoa (from a distance of course) a couple of years ago.

Can anyone confirm this?

If so, over how great an area do they occur?