Pasture, once lush tropical forest, at the base of the Organ Mountains where the road nears the Centro de Primatologia. 



Inescapably, we worked during the highest heat of 

 the southern latitude midsummer day; but trapping in 

 the shade of the forest was a gratifying escape. At 

 times, however, we had to reach distant forested hills 

 by fording streams and crossing mile-wide pastures. 

 The cattle we passed taking their siesta in the shade of 

 scattered trees would idly turn heads toward us and 

 stare as we marched past under the full glare of the sun, 

 each of us loaded with traps, bags of bait, and drenched 

 by sweat pouring from our brows. 



Bait was ripe bananas, peanut butter, oatmeal, com, 

 rice, and manioc, used alone or in various com- 

 binations. Rodents took everything. Marsupials pre- 

 ferred banana and peanut butter, but so did ants and 

 other foraging insects. We baited the traps late in the 

 day to give crepuscular and nocturnal mammals a 

 chance at the food before the insects consumed it or 

 rains washed it away. In any case, bait doesn't last long 

 in tropical heat and must be replaced every one or two 

 days. 



For diversity of catch, traps were set in every habitat 

 type, whether on and above the ground, in forests, 

 thickets, forest edges, open fields, streams, cultivated 

 fields, abandoned banana and manioc patches. We 

 soon learned that the little forest animals we sought 

 were not active during the day and that they shunned 

 18 clearings converted to pasture or left fallow. Secondary 



Four-eye gray opossum {Philander opossum) on its way to escape. 



