Barro Colorado Island Biological Station (BCI)
“The James Zetek Island made out of red clay that he turned in to Gold”
Who would have thought that an infamous creature like the mosquito was going to draw a group of nature lovers to the Canal area during its construction? In 1911, a 25 year-old entomologist from the University of Illinois, James Zetek, arrived to Panama with the difficult task of studying the mosquito that transmitted yellow fever.
Barro Colorado was formed after filling Gatun Lake during the construction of the Canal and it consists of an island of about 6 square miles that was the laboratory site of Mr. Zetek. His love for nature went beyond the bugs and he proposed to leave this island untouched so it could be a site “where man of science can come to work.” This island was declared a reserve in 1923 and it was finally transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1946.
This morning we woke up to the sound of the howler monkey in front of Barro Colorado Island and we were very anxious to verify if Mr. Zetek’s dream came true. Zodiac riders went around the island encountering a number of birds and monkeys, including the white throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys and spider monkeys. The rest of the group had to decide between a medium and longer hike through the Jungle.
As we hiked through the trails of the island of “red clay” discovering the secrets of plants, we came upon towers, nets, baskets, tree marks, cages, infrared cameras and a complex network of trails that helped us understand that we were in the “Wall Street” of scientists. All of us enjoyed, during this whole journey, the intricate secrets of nature in the tropics. It is now that we realized that without the effort of the incredible unknown heroes, “the researchers,” our trip would have being meaningless and the tropical rain forest would be just a place to get wood.
All the work of scientists, beginning with Mr. Zetek, amount to years of quiet work. The scientists don’t get wealthy, but knowledgeable. They don’t harvest the present, but plant the future. And, they don’t earn an Oscar, but they deserve a Nobel price. These scientists are this area’s heroes, keeping a low profile and producing information more valuable that gold. It is today, on our last walk of our trip in Barro Colorado, that everything we learned this week came together to make a lot of sense.
“The James Zetek Island made out of red clay that he turned in to Gold”
Who would have thought that an infamous creature like the mosquito was going to draw a group of nature lovers to the Canal area during its construction? In 1911, a 25 year-old entomologist from the University of Illinois, James Zetek, arrived to Panama with the difficult task of studying the mosquito that transmitted yellow fever.
Barro Colorado was formed after filling Gatun Lake during the construction of the Canal and it consists of an island of about 6 square miles that was the laboratory site of Mr. Zetek. His love for nature went beyond the bugs and he proposed to leave this island untouched so it could be a site “where man of science can come to work.” This island was declared a reserve in 1923 and it was finally transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1946.
This morning we woke up to the sound of the howler monkey in front of Barro Colorado Island and we were very anxious to verify if Mr. Zetek’s dream came true. Zodiac riders went around the island encountering a number of birds and monkeys, including the white throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys and spider monkeys. The rest of the group had to decide between a medium and longer hike through the Jungle.
As we hiked through the trails of the island of “red clay” discovering the secrets of plants, we came upon towers, nets, baskets, tree marks, cages, infrared cameras and a complex network of trails that helped us understand that we were in the “Wall Street” of scientists. All of us enjoyed, during this whole journey, the intricate secrets of nature in the tropics. It is now that we realized that without the effort of the incredible unknown heroes, “the researchers,” our trip would have being meaningless and the tropical rain forest would be just a place to get wood.
All the work of scientists, beginning with Mr. Zetek, amount to years of quiet work. The scientists don’t get wealthy, but knowledgeable. They don’t harvest the present, but plant the future. And, they don’t earn an Oscar, but they deserve a Nobel price. These scientists are this area’s heroes, keeping a low profile and producing information more valuable that gold. It is today, on our last walk of our trip in Barro Colorado, that everything we learned this week came together to make a lot of sense.
