Page 308 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

306 CONTEXTS Wildlife
considered one of the loudest bird songs on earth. Mention should also be made of the
ubiquitous oropendola (gold pendulum); these large, generally russet-toned birds, with
outsize pointed beaks and golden tails, are renowned for their colonies of skilfully
woven hanging nests, which dangle from tall trees like Christmas decorations.

Terrestrial mammals
Spotting any of Panama’s 230-plus mammal species – half of which are small bats –
requires luck and persistence and is nigh on impossible when it comes to Panama’s “big
five” wild cats, which in descending size order are the jaguar, puma, jaguarundi, ocelot
and margay. Nocturnal and shy at the best of times, from years of human predation,
they are most numerous in the country’s two remaining wilderness areas at either end
of the isthmus: the Darién and Amistad.
Spotting tracks in the morning mud is the closest you’re likely to get to a jaguar in the
wild. Referred to as a “tigre” (tiger) by indigenous populations and revered as a symbol
of power and strength, the jaguar is the world’s third largest feline after the lion and
tiger, weighing in at around 60–90kg, and with leopard-like markings. It’s more
probable you’ll encounter its dinner, be it deer (venado), the raccoon-like coati (gato
solo) or large rodents such as the agouti (ñeque) or the nocturnal paca (conejo pintado,
literally “painted rabbit” on account of its white spots). Panama also harbours the
world’s largest rodent, the capybara, which can tip the scales at 65kg; resembling a
giant guinea pig, it wallows in the shallows round Gamboa and grazes at Punta Patiño,
in the Darién. A more ambitious feature of the jaguar’s diet is the peccary, a kind of
wild boar. Two barely distinguishable species forage through the rainforest undergrowth
in Panama: the more frequently seen collared peccary (saíno), which lives in small
herds, and the elusive, aggressive white-lipped peccary (puerco de monte), which can
travel in battalions of several hundred and be dangerous when threatened.
One of the largest, most extraordinary-looking mammals in the Neotropics is Baird’s
tapir (macho de monte). Another endangered nocturnal creature, it resembles an
overgrown pig with a sawn-off elephant’s trunk stuck on its face, which is actually a
stubby prehensile nose and upper lip used to grip branches and eat the leaves and fruit.
Though the adults are dull brown, baby tapirs have spotted and striped coats for
camouflage. More commonly espied are sloths (perezosos) and anteaters (hormigueros),
both of which arrived on the planet shortly after the demise of dinosaurs. Panama’s
two-toed and three-toed sloths spend much of their time literally hanging around
treetops, either curled round a branch camouflaged as an ants’ nest, or gripping with
their long curved claws, doing everything in slow motion to conserve energy.
Inexplicably, they make a near-suicidal descent to ground level once a week to defecate.
In contrast, the northern tamandua, a type of anteater, moves nimbly along the
branches, hoovering up ants and termites. Not an uncommon sight in the Metropolitan
Park, even though mainly nocturnal, they are widespread across the country, whereas the
wholly terrestrial giant anteater is verging on extinction nationally, as is the spectacled
bear, named after the cream-coloured markings around its eyes.
Monkeys are an almost guaranteed sighting in Panama, which hosts all seven Central
American species. A distinctive feature of the tropical landscape, the large, shaggy mantled
howler monkey (aullador negro) is more likely to be heard before being seen; the ape’s
stentorian cries travel for kilometres, with large troops announcing dawn and dusk and
even the onset of heavy rain. The other two more widespread species are the cherub-like
Geoffroy’s tamarin (mono tití), found in central and eastern Panama, and the larger,
highly intelligent white-throated capuchin (mono cariblanco). Named for their physical
resemblance to brown-robed Capuchin friars, though also somewhat misleadingly dubbed
“white-headed” or “white-faced”, the monkey’s pink anthropomorphic face makes it a
popular pet. Catching sight of a troop of black-headed spider monkeys (mono araña negro)
– one of several types of endangered Panamanian spider monkey – elegantly gliding
through the canopies of eastern Panama is a magical experience. At the other end of the

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