Help Hunter Help Honduran Herps
Hi, my name is Hunter and I have just accepted an eight-week position (June-July 2019) as a Herpetologist (amphibian and reptile biologist) with Operation Wallacea working in Cusuco National Park in northwestern Honduras!
My room, board, and on-site travel are taken care of, but I need some help paying for the international leg of my journey. It's a long and expensive journey from Australia to Honduras (~A$3000/US$2200).
Read on and I'll tell you a bit about the project and the incredible critters I'll be researching.
Operation Wallacea & Cusuco National Park:
Operation Wallacea (Opwall) is a conservation research organisation that is funded by, and relies on, teams of student volunteers who join expeditions for the opportunity to work on real-world research programmes alongside academic researchers.
Most science programmes abroad that deliver research outcomes are funded on a short-term basis by grants with typically tightly restricted aims. Long-term projects covering large bio-geographical scales that can incorporate more than one ecosystem are rare. By adopting a volunteer funded model, Opwall does not suffer from those restrictions and can draw upon researchers from a wide range of different disciplines and academic institutions, and create long-term research projects.
More specifically, the herpetological projects at the Opwall station in Cusuco National Park focus on long-term monitoring of amphibian disease as well as general amphibian and reptile diversity and abundance.
Operation Wallacea: Honduras
Amphibian Chytrid - Cusuco National Park - HARCC
My job:
I will be one of a team of herpetologists working for Opwall at Cusuco National Park this summer. Part of my job will be to collect data to contribute to a more than 10-year dataset tracking the prevalence of amphibian chytrid fungus (also known as Bd). The disease caused by this fungus is responsible for global declines and even extinctions of amphibian populations. Watch the YouTube video from the folks at Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center (link above) for more information about Bd and its impacts on the amphibians of Cusuco National Park.
I will also be conducting visual and trapping surveys targeting amphibian and reptile species. Cusuco National Park is part of the Meso-American biodiversity hotspot and a Key Biodiversity Area. It's home to approximately 100 species of herps, 18 of which are endemic to Honduras (11 of the 18 are found only in Cusuco National Park).
The National Park also has nearly 270 bird species, 35 species of bat, and several species of larger mammals, including Howler Monkeys and Baird's Tapir...if you're into that sort of thing.
One of the great things about Operation Wallacea is the important role that student volunteers play in the research. A big part of my job will be teaching students about the project, how to identify amphibian and reptile species, and how to perform herpetological surveys.
What you get:
I will be taking my camera gear with me and should get a chance to photograph some of the unique and beautiful wildlife of Cusuco.
Donate $20 and you will receive a signed, 8x12 printed photograph of one of the animals I come across while in Honduras.
Donate $25-$50 and you will receive two 8x12 prints or one 12x18 printed photograph.
Donate $50+ and you will receive a 2020 calendar featuring 13 of my photos of Honduran wildlife or two 12x18 printed photographs.
You can get a taste of my photography by visiting my website McCall Wildlife Photography.
Thank you for your generosity,
Hunter

