20 Liters Down, 5 Hours to Go

Russ is studying wild Andean bears in Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, From San Diego to Dry Forest in 36 Hours.

There are serious logistical constraints involved in Andean bear fieldwork, whether in the cloud forests of Cusco or the dry forests of Lambayeque. In the dry forest, the critical constraint for we humans is water. For those of us waiting to collar bears, it’s WATER, in jugs of 20 liters (5.28 gallons), carried in backpacks from the flat lowlands into the rugged hills.

Although we’re camped near a waterhole, we don’t actually have access to any of the water in it; that water is for the wildlife to use. Based on what they’ve observed, Robyn and her team from the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society (SBCS) believe that bears travel down trails higher on the canyon walls to feed on sapote fruits at lower elevations, and return up this canyon to drink and swim in the waterhole.

Even though there is little drinking water in this area for wildlife, the bears may go for days without drinking, based on data from GPS satellite collars on some of the bears and photos from camera traps. Where do the bears get moisture when they’re not visiting waterholes? Robyn’s hypothesis is that they obtain some moisture from the sapote fruit and from eating cactus. One of our research goals here is to understand the ecology of water in this habitat, and one of our conservation goals is to promote protection of the watershed and the waterholes.

The landscape, and the vegetation, changes dramatically in this area. It’s been months since the last measurable rain in the dusty lowlands, yet there’s been a little mist and fog here in the hills. The shrubs and trees up here are green for the time being, but if it doesn’t rain soon they will turn brown again and lose their leaves. Every morning near dawn a large flock of parakeets shrieks its way in circles across the canyon as the group splits up for a day of foraging. Every evening near dusk, the parakeets’ calls again echo from the rocky hillsides as they regroup for the night. The hours pass, and the days go by.

Robyn, Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith, a veterinarian from the San Diego Zoo, and I spend the days moving as little as possible, making as little noise as possible (see Meg’s post Peru: Room with a View). Much of our time is spent under a canopy of tarps, which shades us from the sun and hides our movements. We’re trying to avoid accidentally alarming any nearby bears, preventing them from approaching the waterhole, where Javier sits motionless for hours, waiting to dart a bear.

We talk in whispers about what veterinary actions to take under different circumstances, how to proceed with research, how to raise funds for research, local politics, and what cold beverage we each crave. I’m yearning for a strong ginger ale I first drank in Kenya, while working on my doctoral research. I’ve never found this beverage for sale in the United States, but it would taste great right now, almost as good as a swallow of clean, pure water. We’ve used 20 liters of water in the days since the last jug of water was carried up to our campsite, even though we’ve used as little water as possible. The water jug is now dry, but with luck we now have to wait only four or five more hours before the hikers arrive with another full jug.
Tick.
Tock.

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. We’ll be posting more about his trip every few days!

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