Pygmy owls, sharp-eyed hawks, an explosion of bats, gentle manatees, raccoons, mysterious mushrooms, fishes and frogs are just a small fraction of the biodiverse life in T&T, which is home to some 3,330 different plant species, 100 mammal species, and 474 bird species.
Many people who live here may often take our rich variety of plant and animal life for granted, but some northern visitors can easily tell you how hard it is to find just a few species of unique animals or plants where they live, let alone the abundance of life here—all in such a small land area.
Celebrating Trinidad’s biodiversity this year is one of the country’s oldest clubs—the T&T Field Naturalist’s Club (TTFNC), a volunteer, non-profit group founded in July 1891 to help people interested in our natural environment to learn, develop their passion for nature and meet other like-minded people.
“That is perhaps our most important achievement—to serve as an incubator and help to support these activities,” said the club to the T&T Guardian in an email interview, noting that many of the country’s environmental educators, activists and organisations have links to the club.
Today the club has about 300 financial members and many others who are naturalists at heart. The club now has an active YouTube channel, a revamped website and a Facebook page, as well as a popular newspaper column on T&T’s natural history. The club is also digitising its archives to make all of the club’s scientific material accessible online to all and searchable via Google Scholar—which is the main route researchers use to access well-regarded scientific knowledge.
To mark its 125th birthday this year, the club launched an exhibition on May 20 at the National Museum, which includes film clips of club activities, fascinating natural history exhibits including a turtle skull and a pickled white bat, and an interesting infographic timeline of the club’s milestones along one wall.
Club member and Niherst science icon Dr Elisha Tikasingh, who is a biologist and award-winning parasitologist—known for his research in yellow fever and his pioneering technique for identifying arboviruses (insect-borne diseases) in mic—spoke at the launch about his TTFNC experiences.
A keen birdwatcher with a love of photography, Tikasingh edited the club’s Living World Journal and has been a club member for 49 years.
“I went on many field trips with the club...One stood out. It was a trip to Fishing Pond. It was the early days of turtle watching. We knew nothing about the Leatherback turtles nesting on our beaches. We only knew that they were being slaughtered at Matura when they came to nest. The Club decided to take this up as a project and Dr Peter Bacon took charge of the turtle project,” said Dr Tikasingh.
“The purpose was to collect information on the breeding season and nesting behaviour of these turtles. We had already patrolled the Matura Beach, but we did not know how far south they nested along that beach. This particular time the club, led by its president, Mr Laforest, decided to get to the beach via Fishing Pond and the rice fields in the area. That day there was heavy rainfall and the tide was high so there was a lot of ground water. I had some misgivings of going through that water, but Mr Laforest decided to go anyway. We followed him and as we entered the rice fields the water reached our ankles, then our knees and then almost to our waists. I swore I was going to drown that night.”
They all survived, and went on to collect useful data on the turtles for several years, data that helped the club make recommendations to government which it accepted.
Most trips of the different interest groups in the club today are not at all this dangerous. Whether it’s treks with the reptile and marine group, the bird group, the insect aficionados, the plant buffs or the art group, club field trips are often relaxing, fun, and gentle introductions to our natural world.
Some of the club’s earliest members in 1891—such as Henry Caracciolo, W Broadway, R Mole, F Urich, P Guppy, and T Potter—made important contributions to natural history. Caracciolo, the club’s first president, discovered a new bat, the Great Stripe-faced Bat (vampyrodes caraccioli), named after him; Broadway discovered hitherto unknown tropical plants; and Mole discovered that only four of Trinidad’s snakes were poisonous.
Meanwhile, TTFNC founding member Plantegenet “Planty” Guppy’s father, Robert John Lechmere Guppy, lent his name to the popular small fish. Planty’s father was an avid naturalist, and in 1866 he sent samples of little fish from the St Ann’s River to the British Museum in London where the species was initially named after him—Girardinus guppii. The name was later changed to Poecilia reticulata, but the “guppy” part stuck.
More recently, club member Dr Elisha Tikasingh discovered a nematode worm (Spironoura tikasinghi) in the guts of a Gayap turtle in the 1970s. And in 2014, club member Mike Rutherford, who runs the UWI Zoology Museum, discovered the Odd-legged Millipede (Pandirodesmus rutherfordi) in Tobago.
The club’s membership has today expanded to include people from many backgrounds, a healthy mix of scientists and amateur naturalists.
The club has a strong academic leaning. “Over the last 125 years the club has placed our local flora and fauna on scientific record through publications in our own peer-reviewed journal, the Living World, and by members publishing their research and observations internationally. It was the club that forged links with the international museums and experts back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, allowing our biodiversity to be officially documented and new species discovered,” says the club.
The club has been instrumental in the success of several conservation campaigns over the years, most notably the introduction of turtle protections laws in the 1970s, and the protection of Caroni Swamp via the Blue River Action Committee in the 1970s.
More recently, the club helped establish an annual Bioblitz for T&T, in collaboration with the UWI Zoology Museum. This event brings together the public and scientists so that both learn more about the biodiversity of our natural habitats.
The TTFNC also publishes a few popular reference materials—a book on Native Trees, a hiking Trail Guide, and handy laminated guides to our wildflower, butterfly and wildlife species. The club also helps distribute other natural history material such as the Bats of T&T book by local bat expert Geoffrey Gomes.
“A big achievement is having persisted for so long!” says the club. “Apart from a bit of a hiatus in the early part of last century, we must be one of the oldest clubs in the country—demonstrating the deep passion and interest that people have in our natural history.”
How does the club see its relevance today? The TTFNC says: “To paraphrase the great English naturalist Sir David Attenborough, if people are expected to think that conservation is important and that plants and animals should survive, they first have to be convinced that those species are worth preserving. Protection of our biodiversity and habitats is more of a concern today given modernisation and unsustainable development practices. It is important to use and appreciate our natural environment, as this demonstrates its value. Engaging people with nature helps appreciation and leads to conservation. Young people in particular need also to be educated on our biodiversity, including need to value and protect.”
SPECIAL NATURE EXPERIENCES
“My first club hike was to Moruga Bouffe in South Trinidad,” says Amy Deacon about her membership in the T&T Field Naturalist’s Club (TTFNC).
“It was a fairly long, muddy walk through magical rainforest, which included some of the largest silk cotton trees in the country. After a couple of hours of walking through the jungle, we emerged from the trees to find ourselves in a completely alien landscape—a huge clearing scattered with bubbling mud pools and several large mud volcanoes, the edges lined with pink and yellow bromeliad flowers. I had no idea such habitats existed anywhere on earth! On the way back a highlight was a beautiful vine snake—it was perfectly still and had made its body crinkle to imitate a real vine—an amazing example of the wonders of evolution. I’m not sure who spotted it, but it was so well camouflaged I feel sure I would have missed it if walking with any other group of people!”
Kris Sookdeo, a bird aficionado who is the TTFNC president this year, shares: “I think my fondest experience with the club has to be when I found myself in the remote north coast forests of Grand Tacaribe at 1:00 am in the morning, attending to a light trap for surveying moths with fellow enthusiasts. Needless to say, the opportunity for such an experience doesn’t come very often and would have been non-existent if I wasn’t a member of the TTFNC. The diversity and number of species we recorded that night was just astounding and we all had a fantastic time. When it was time to take the lights off, we had to wait a few minutes in darkness to let the insects disperse. There was the sound of distant crashing waves, the moon overhead, forest night sounds and the darkness all around….Nature is awesome.”
TTFNC member Renoir Auguste shares his BioBlitz experiences: “I have taken part in all four BioBlitzes thus far in T&T. All have been a great experience for me, but what stood out occurred during the third and fourth BioBlitz. Here, along with members from the amphibian and reptile group, we potentially discovered two new species for the country, which included a frog and a lizard. Growing up as a child fascinated with animals, this was one of the things a young scientist dreams of. Work is still ongoing on documenting these species, but who knows what other new species we may find yet in sweet T&T?”
MORE INFO: • Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/ttfieldnaturalistsclub/.
• Website: http://ttfnc.org/• YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPhMvJ9RU0&feature=youtu.be• Club email contact: admin@ttfnc.org
• 125th exhibition: May 21 to June 18 at National Museum, Tues to Sat, 10 am – 6pm.