A wide range of remarkable and threatened species reside within Honduras’ lush forests, mountains and streams. This spring, our Save the Cloud Forests of Honduras appeal will help our partner AESMO protect vulnerable forest in the Trifinio region, safeguarding crucial habitat for countless species.
Let’s take a tour through the cloud forests and discover some amazing wildlife along the way…
Endemic amphibians
Starting with one of the cloud forest’s smallest and most elusive residents, if we look closely at the tree ferns and tree trunks close to the babbling streams of the forest floor, we may find the Critically Endangered Cerro Pital Salamander (Bolitoglossa synoria).
This tiny salamander measures just 5cm long, making it difficult to spot among the cloud forest foliage. It is endemic to the region, existing only in a very small, restricted area between Honduras and El Salvador. It is very rarely seen and not much is known about its behaviour, but it depends on cloud forest cover to thrive.
In 2017, a single individual was recorded in the Güisayote Biological Reserve, managed by AESMO, highlighting how vital it is to protect the remaining forest in this region from agriculture and cattle farming while we still have time. Who knows where else in the trees these tiny salamanders may reside?
Credit: Enrique Girón
Similarly, another Critically Endangered and endemic amphibian can be found here. The Honduras White-lipped Frog (Leptodactylus silvanimbus) is the only one in its genus to live at such high elevation, with no more than 50 mature individuals left in the world.
Charismatic Mammals
Not so elusive are the White-lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari), who we’re bound to hear before we see. This Vulnerable species, also known as ‘the pig of the jungle’, produces loud sounds by screaming and cracking its teeth. Their noises can be heard from hundreds of metres away.
Much like we’re able to hear these peccaries, we’re likely to smell them too, due to the strong unique odour they use to mark their territory by rubbing against trees and rocks.
As the peccaries come into view, we find them roaming the cloud forest in herds of 50 to 300 individuals. These herds traverse a large home range, often sticking close to water in search of fruit, nuts, snails and fish to feed upon. In fact, White-lipped Peccaries need up to 120 square kilometres of wild habitat to have enough food. This makes them particularly vulnerable to deforestation and habitat fragmentation.
Credit: AESMO.
While White-lipped Peccary herds mostly travel by day, come nightfall the solitary Margay (Leopardus wiedii) makes an appearance, claiming the forest canopy as its kingdom.
This mid-sized cat sleeps, rests and even hunts high in the trees. Margays are extremely agile, using special adaptations to manoeuvre between branches. Their hind feet can rotate 180 degrees, making them the only cat able to descend a vertical tree headfirst, while large paws aid jumping and allow them to grip tree bark and narrow walkways. They also hang from branches by their hind feet, manipulating objects with their front paws.
Margays are very intelligent and opportunistic predators; field researchers have found them mimicking the calls of tamarin pups to attract Pied Tamarin prey.
The Margay’s arboreal lifestyle makes them dependent on continuous forest habitat. They refuse to cross open areas and the severe fragmentation of the Trifinio region often means they end up cornered in isolated parcels of land surrounded by cleared forest.
Credit: Erni/Shutterstock
Stunning Birdlife
As the Margay beds down after a successful night hunting, we explore more of the treetops to find a flurry of beautiful resident bird species.
Here, the shy Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) can be found quietly feeding at fruiting trees. In contrast to its reserved nature, this striking bird is known for its colourful plumage of metallic blues, greens, and reds, including a flowing emerald tail.
The Resplendent Quetzal was a revered symbol in ancient Aztec and Mayan culture. Quetzal comes from the Aztec “quetzalli”, originally meaning tail-feather, with modern day translations of “precious”, “beautiful” or “sacred”. While the Resplendent Quetzal’s colouring is magnificent, its plumage actually helps it blend into the forest canopy, maintaining its shy and elusive presence.
Credit: Shutterstock
Meanwhile, the tiny Wine-throated Hummingbird (Selasphorus ellioti), measuring at just 6.5-7cm, forages for nectar, hovering in midair to feed on flowering plants. Males have an expansive patch of glittering, magenta-pink feathers at their throat, known as a gorget. But despite their iridescent colouring, this hummingbird is rather stealthy and can easily steal nectar from the floral territories of other hummingbirds, using its bee-like size and flight pattern to slip past undetected.
Credit: Enrique Girón
A seasonal visitor
It’s not only resident bird species that thrive in these cloud forests. Come the autumn, you will see a familiar little bird making its journey back to the Trifinio region.
The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia), an Endangered migratory species, makes an annual trip to the Honduran cloud forests after a breeding season in the Juniper trees of central Texas. It will spend its winter months here in the lush forests, often joining mixed species flocks with other warblers.
With both its summer and winter homes facing severe threats, it’s crucial that we protect these cloud forests to ensure the Golden-cheeked Warbler’s habitat is there for them when they return.
Credit: Jason Crotty
As you can see, the cloud forests of Honduras are home to an array of unique and beautiful species. But their home is becoming more and more fragmented.
Our Save the Cloud Forests of Honduras appeal will enable AESMO to purchase and protect 91 hectares (225 acres) of vulnerable cloud forest before it’s lost to deforestation.
Your donations will protect habitats for these species and countless others. Help us protect this crucial land before it’s too late.
find out more about the species mentioned in this news story:
Cerro Pital Salamander, Honduras White-lipped Frog, White-lipped Peccary, Margay, Resplendent Quetzal, Wine-throated Hummingbird, Golden-cheeked Warbler
