Paul Carter. Draft posted 6 Sep 2024 (revisions probable: more images to add and species ID).
Contact for ID queries/suggestions: paulcarter@pacapix.com
Summary
Sadiri Lodge is known as a birding destination with +400 bird species recorded. An online search showed walking trails on a forested ridge with mammal potential so I visited in June 2023 for four nights. I saw +17 mammal species at the lodge, including Western Amazonian Mouse Opossum, Ferreiras Spiny Tree Rat, Simon’s Spiny Rat and Vargas Llosa’s Bristly Mouse. We also saw fresh footprint of Bush Dog which Raul Navi (my lodge guide) has seen here before. In the nearby lowlands we also saw Madidi Tit Monkey.
Contents
a) List of Mammals seen at Sadiri Lodge
b) Images and comments on mammals seen at Sadiri Lodge
c) Mammals seen on side trips from Sadiri Lodge
d) Reptile sightings at Sadiri Lodge and nearby lowlands
e) Trip information and logistics
f) References
A. List of Mammals seen at Sadiri Lodge
This list includes two bat audio records that were made with an Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro using the Neotropics regional setting, noting that taxonomy in the app is not up to date and that audio records may not be definitive. I only show audio records where there was a sighting as well.
- Western Amazonian Mouse Opossum (Marmosa macrotarsus). ID is based on MDD taxonomy; iNat appears to treat the form here as Marmosa murina. M. rapposa and M. lepida are also in range.
- Kinkajou (Potos flavus).
- Common Red Brocket (Mazama americana).
- Southern Hairy-legged Myotis (Myotis keaysi). AUDIO.
- Argentine Serotine (Eptesicus furinalis). AUDIO.
- Great Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus literatus).
- Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata).
- Lowland Paca (Cuniculus paca).
- Bolivian Squirrel (Hadrosciurus ignitus / Sciurus ignitus).
- Ferreira’s Spiny Tree Rat (Mesomys hispidus).
- Simon’s Spiny Rat (Proechimys simonsi).
- Vargas Llosa’s Bristly Mouse (Neacomys vargasllosai).
- Tufted Capuchin (Sapajus apella). AKA Brown Capuchin.
- Azara’s Night Monkey (Otus azarae).
Observations not yet confirmed:
- Oecomys sp. Possibly Mamore Arboreal Rice Rat (Oecomys mamorae)?
- Rhipidomys sp. (June 5). There are 3 Rhipidomys sp in Bolivia.
- Scolomys sp? A Gray Spiny Mouse on the Nogal South trail.
- Bush Dog (Speothos venaticus). We saw fresh prints of Bush Dog that Raul recognized; he has seen Bush Dog at the lodge before.
Raul noted that Jaguar has also been seen here but not recently.
B. Images and comments on mammals seen at Sadiri Lodge
This list is of species seen on walking trails around the lodge and excludes those seen in the lowlands.
I used the following coordinates for my iNat posts: -14.17 / -67.916 with accuracy up to 2,000m
Abbreviations: PH – Photographed; NP – Not photographed.
Western Amazonian Mouse Opossum (Marmosa macrotarsus). PH. @ Nogal trails; 2-3 seen each night. iNat posts: June 3, June 4, June 5.
Mouse Opossum #1 (June 3):
Mouse Opossum #2 (June 4):
Mouse Opossum #3 (June 5):
Kinkajou (Potos flavus). PH. @ Nogal Trails and main road. Common (2-4 per night).
Common Red Brocket (Mazama americana). PH. @ Nogal South trail; two sightings.
Southern Hairy-legged Myotis (Myotis keaysi). AUDIO record. NP.
Argentine Serotine (Eptesicus furinalis). AKA Argentinian Brown Bat. AUDIO record. NP.
Great Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus literatus). PH.
Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata). NP. @ Sadiri Lodge.
Lowland Paca (Cuniculus paca). AKA Spotted Paca. Two seen on the Nogal North Trail.
Bolivian Squirrel (Hadrosciurus ignitus / Sciurus ignitus). Seen on the Nogal South trail.
Ferreira’s Spiny Tree Rat (Mesomys hispidus). PH. @ Marimona and Nogal Trails. These sightings are at the extreme southern end of the range as shown in INat. There are no other Bolivian records posted in iNat but there are posts 150 km to the northwest in Peru. MoL shows records in Bolivia and that it is present in Madidi NP. Emmons (1997) described the species as generally uncommon but common in a few localities. I would describe it as common at Sadiri (it is possible to find a few each night). Records on iNat: 2023 June 2 @ 1912 (link), 2023 June 2 @ 1940 (link), 2023 June 3 @ 2121 (link), 2023 June 4 (link).
Simon’s Spiny Rat (Proechimys simonsi). PH, June 3 @ 2131. Pure white below; distinctly bicoloured tail. iNat post.
Vargas Llosa’s Bristly Mouse (Neacomys vargasllosai). PH. Recorded at the lodge.
Tufted Capuchin (Sapajus apella). PH.
Azara’s Night Monkey (Otus azarae). PH. One group seen on the Nogal South trail.
C. List of Mammals seen on side trips from Sadiri Lodge
- Southern Amazon Red Squirrel (Hadrosciurus spadiceus / Sciurus spadiceus). PH. Seen in lowland west of Sadiri Lodge.
- Madiri Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus aureipalatii). PH. Seen both west and east of Sadiri Lodge in lowland secondary forest.
D. Reptile Sightings at Sadiri Lodge and nearby Lowlands
Black-necked Amazonian Coralsnake (Micrurus obscurus). @ Nogal South Trail. iNat post.
Southern Turniptail Gecko (Thecadactylus solimoensis). @Nogal South trail and at the lodge.
Black Lava Lizard (Tropidurid melanopleurus). @ Madidi NP; at the viewpoint on road from Sadiri west to lowland forest.
E. Trip Information and Logistics
Dates visited: 2-6 June 2023 (4 nights).
Guide: I visited alone and was the only guest at the lodge. My lodge guide was Raul Navi. He commented that nobody focused on mammals had visited before.
Site information: Sadiri Lodge is a non-profit community project of the Indigenous Community San José de Uchupiamonas, apparently preserving 34 thousand hectares of forest. It is about 2.5 hours drive north of Rurrenebaque (aka Rurre) and on the edge of Madidi NP. The lodge is on a ridge above the rainforest river systems. Sadiri Lodge coordinates: -14.170370° -67.915560°.
Tour and Transport Info: I booked a 5d/4n tour including all meals. Tours are normally run on a minimum 2-person basis. Being alone I was charged 50% on top of the per person rate. The sales manager Valeria Kiesekamp (SADIRILODGE@gmail.com) provided excellent service. I was the only guest for my five days there and my guide (Raul Navi, a bird guide) met me at the Rurrenabaque airport. The drive to the lodge was a three-hour trip to Tumupasa and then half an hour uphill to the lodge. Raul was happy to focus on night walks and after some late nights we gave up on the morning walks. We walked trails in the immediate vicinity of the lodge and also did two drives to the nearby lowlands (west and east of the lodge) to look for Madidi Titi Monkey.
Trail Info: The trail map below is oriented east up. We walked up the Marimona Trail the first evening and returned in the dark. We then focused on the Nogal Trails after that. I refer to the two portions of the Nogal Trail as Nogal North and Nogal South (the latter leading to a camping site which we never quite reached). The Nogal Trail was the most productive on my visit.
Flights to Rurrenebaque: Ecojet (https://www.ecojet.com.bo/) has a poor online booking/payment service so Valeria helped with booking my ticket. They were the only airline offering flights to/from La Paz, and not everyday. My exit flight was delayed two days because of heavy rains; such delays are apparently not uncommon.
Accommodation in Rurrenabaque: I stayed at Caso de Campo (great food).
F. REFERENCES
- de Abreu EF, Pavan SE, Tsuchiya MT, Wilson DE, Percequillo AR, Maldonado JE (2020). Spatiotemporal diversification of tree squirrels: is the South American invasion and speciation really that recent and fast? Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8:230.
- Emmons L (1997). Neotropical rainforest mammals: a field guide (Second edition). Text by LH Emmons, Illustrations by F Feer. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ISBN 0-226-20721-8 (paperback).
- Lynx Edicions (2020 Feb / 2020c). Lynx Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
- MDD-1/10: Mammal Diversity Database (2022 Dec 3). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.10) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published 3 Dec 2022.
- MDD-1/12: Mammal Diversity Database (2024 Jan 5). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.12) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published 2024 Jan 5.
- MoL: Map of Life: Mesomys hispidus – https://mol.org/species/map/Mesomys-hispidus.
- Voss RS, Gutiérrez EE, Solari S, Rossi RV, Jansa SA (2014). Phylogenetic Relationships of Mouse Opossums (Didelphidae, Marmosa) with a Revised Subgeneric Classification and Notes on Sympatric Diversity. American Museum Novitates 3817:1-27. American Museum of Natural History.