BARRO COLORADO — INGLES 365 



of coatis (pi. 4, fig. 1) climb the tree to search for ripe fruit. Al- 

 though a carnivore, the coati, which is related to the raccoon, has 

 similar omnivorous habits. It includes considerable fruit in its diet. 

 When one of the coatis found a ripe breadfruit it was dropped to the 

 ground with a loud plop. At that instant all the other coatis imme- 

 diately began descending the tree to partake of the meal, and to our 

 surprise, three agoutis came out of the burrows and sat within three or 

 four feet of the feasting coatis waiting to clean up any leavings. 

 Thereafter we noticed that the agoutis nearly always appeared when 

 one of the 3-pound breadfruits fell. 



The largest mammal on the island is Baird's tapir (pi. 4, fig. 2) 

 which lives in the deep forest and is seldom seen. Three years ago two 

 young tapirs still wearing their longitudinal stripes were brought 

 in to the laboratory from the mainland. They were fed and cared 

 for until they were old enough to take care of themselves in their native 

 habitat to which they gradually returned. Occasionally even now 

 one or both of these tapirs will wander out of the woods into 

 the laboratory clearing where they still look for "handouts" of potatoes 

 and bananas. I shall never forget the beautiful sight they presented 

 one morning as they walked slowly out of the forest into full sun- 

 light not 25 feet away from the bird blind where I had my camera 

 all set for a chestnut-mandibled toucan. It was a rare opportunity 

 to photograph, in its native habitat, this large mammal which belongs 

 to the same zoological order as the horse and the rhinoceros. An 

 entomologist once came to visit the island and no one told him about 

 the young tapirs. One day while he was busily collecting insects 

 in a dark ravine he heard a high-pitched whistle and looked up to 

 see two large mammals slowly approaching only a few feet away with 

 their long snouts extended toward him. He quickly abandoned his 

 work and climbed a small tree. The tapirs walked around the tree 

 still whistling and finally one of them lay down at its base! He 

 hardly expected anyone of us to believe his story when he returned 

 to the laboratory that afternoon. He never told us how long he 

 remained up the tree to avoid the big animals that only wanted him 

 to give them a banana or a potato ! 



There are at least 15 species of bats known to occur on Barro Colo- 

 rado and on the nearby mainland. So far as known each species is 

 adapted to roosting and feeding in its own particular way. For 

 example the Watson's bat makes its own roosting place by cutting 

 the veins in the leaves of two species of small palms in such a way 

 as to cause the leaf to droop, forming a "tent." The bats hang head 

 down inside this little green tent and no doubt are somewhat protected 

 from the bat falcon and other predators as well as from heavy rains in 

 the wet season. The tent also serves to darken still more their roost in 

 the deep woods where the palms grow. 



