Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Deere, H.
1984
16 July
(continued)
faces slightly up from horizontal, measures ~
50 x 21.5 cm, and is shaped like this: [diagram].
W/ a light we could see that the den is a large,
more or less round chamber ~ 2m in all
dimensions, w/ the roof slightly higher than the
entrance hole. It is clean - no feces, bones, etc,
and only a leaf or two; no obvious bed. There
was a distinct furred cat track a few
cm in front of the entrance on the upslope
between entrance and dirt mound, w/ well
spread toes and ~ 1/2 an across. Couldn't
find any hair or other sign, but a distinct
game trail traversed the slope from below
to the west, just above the entrance, to
the ridge to the east. We tried to imagine any
other animal at Ja Selva constructing that
room and couldn't, and the entrance seems
large enough for an adult jaguar (or
a person) to slip into. It seemed recently
used, as there were no spider webs and the
edges of the entrance were very distinct. The
room drops off just inside the entrance,
such that one couldn't just crawl in or
out. Maybe a nursery? We (Fayner and
the Foydens) agreed to keep the location
secret for a few days and not revisit the
site immediately, in case the cat is