Wild Tobago

Dr Anjani Ganase reports on the 2025 TT Bioblitz which was conducted on September 20-21 from base camp at Maracas Bay     The final tally of all species encountered at the Maracas Bioblitz is still being completed but initial numbers surpass 1000 and are a testament to the amazing wildlife that exists along the North Coast of Trinidad.   Bioblitz event organisers, Jernella Chedick and Amy Deacon, officially kick off Maracas Bioblitz 2025. Plant species took the lead with 419 species, the highest number of species in Bioblitz history. This may be no surprise, as the diverse plants species form the backbone of our northern range rainforests. But what naturalists found living among the plants will blow your mind! MOTHS Forests do not exist without bugs. Bugs were the second highest tallied with 337 recorded species. A large portion included butterflies and moths. Rainer Nrshima Deo, Game Warden from the Forestry Division, joined the El Tucuche overn...

Anjani Ganase invites aspiring scientists, biologists, botanists and families interested in the natural world to join or observe this year’s census of species living on Trinidad’s North Coast. Bioblitz 2025 in Trinidad and Tobago takes place September 20 to 21 based at the Maracas Bay Community Centre.   The first time I participated in Trinidad and Tobago Bioblitz was in 2018 at Toco. I had just returned home after living abroad for over six years, and it was the perfect opportunity to get re-acquainted with why I got into marine science in the first place. What I didn’t expect was the enthusiasm and being immersed in a community of passionate naturalists. While some were scientists formally trained in biology and ecology and others self-taught taxonomists, all were experts gathered for the one mission, to identify every living creature - from fungus to fish - within a 5 km radius around the Toco community centre (base camp) over 24 hours – aka Bio-Blitz. I ...

Keep an ear open for the latest science, Dr Anjani Ganase encourages us to pay attention to what’s happening in the world. The entire planet is our responsibility, from the forests to the deepest parts of the ocean. Do what you can to reduce plastic pollution, keep your backyard green and the ocean clean. Plant a tree While planting trees is important to offset climate change, researchers at the University of California have found that trees planted in the tropics have the most effective impact on climate mitigation compared to those planted in temperate regions. In the tropics, there are two main aspects to cooling the planet. First, trees sequester carbon dioxide, pulling the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Second, tropical forests effect physical cooling by releasing cool water vapour which results in higher humidity and cloud formation. Forests also emit organic aerosols, and these aerosols and the clouds reduce heat radiation on the...

Dr Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, discusses core elements for Tobago’s tourism product Buccoo beach is a beautiful stretch of coast - unmarred by concrete buildings - on the edge of Tobago’s 50-year designated marine park.   The beach begins west of the Buccoo Fishing Facility and is buttressed by a mangrove forest that protects the shore and provides shelter. The path parallel to the beach offers picturesque views of the wild mangroves on one side and beach and ocean on the other. Moving west along Buccoo Bay, you will arrive in the Marine Park, protected under national legislation. Indeed, all of the mangrove wetland is a Ramsar site, designated for their significant biodiversity, ecology and ecosystem services. Local obligations for Ramsar sites are management, monitoring for wise use.   Competing interests: horses, boats and beach bathers in the same space at Buccoo Bay. Photo by Anjani Ganase Beach Day at Buccoo A family heads to Buccoo Bay for ...

 Faraaz Abdool considers human impacts in the kingdom of the air, and urges us not to put obstacles in the way of migrating birds .     Migratory flyways Are the bronchi Of Earth; Dictated by a gentle planetary waltz The ebb and flow of life itself, Migration is the Earth breathing . *   The rhythmic mass movement of life across the surface of the earth is one of Nature’s many marvels. Whether the thundering hooves of millions of ungulates across East Africa’s Greater Mara ecosystem, or the multi-generational odyssey of Monarch butterflies in the Americas, the spectacle of migration has been unfurling over millennia. Pushing its participants to their physiological limits, the indisputable need to shift location stirs in bodies large and small due to external environmental conditions we are only now beginning to understand. Humans too, would undertake these journeys in ancient times in search of greener pastures, long before there...

Birds with shared interests – safety, food, similar nesting spaces – often roost in and traverse the forest together. These mixed-species flocks are a boon for the birder, according to Faraaz Abdool. All photos by Faraaz Abdool   In tropical rainforests, we imagine that the trees must be positively dripping with birds. Massive, bromeliad-laden boughs thirty metres in the canopy should be cradling all manner of avian diversity. Our imagination conjures toucans skipping over tanagers and honeycreepers in pursuit of the finest berry, as hummingbirds linger on the periphery, eager to sip from the nectar of delicate epiphyte blooms. Sometimes, or often, we put ourselves in a place like this and find a deafening silence. In forests that span hundreds, even thousands of square kilometres, one can easily spend a couple hours scanning without result at the risk of neck strain. Hope rises again upon the arrival of a mixed-species flock. The self-explanatory “mixed-spe...