Thursday, February 7, 2008

Toby's Cloud Forest Page











Dear Class,
I was just in Monteverde Costa Rica for the last month. I climbed inside a strangler fig. A strangler fig is a fig that strangles a tree and the tree dies and the strangler fig becomes the tree that is hollow. Strangler figs start as a vine in the top of a tree and it goes down. The vines hit the ground and sends out roots. I am going to talk about epiphytes now. Epiphytes are plants that never touch the ground. They collect water and are good places for poisonous tree frogs. And their nickname is tree frog hotel, funny nickname!! Their other nickname is airplant but I like tree frog hotel best because they hold tiny tree frogs inside. I saw lots of epiphytes. I saw an epiphyte that had landed on the ground it was so big and heavy. Can I talk about seeing some ferns? I saw some very very big ferns, they were bigger than me if I was lying down. The fiddle heads look like clubs. Do you know what a fiddle head is? A fiddle head is a baby fern they call it that because it looks like the head of the fiddle if you dont know what that is.

We went into the rainforest that we have been sending our pennies in for. Please send other money that costs more such as dollars. Because then they can buy more rainforest quicker. It is called the Children's Eternal Rainforest. Here is a picture of my sister and I in the Childrens Eternal Rainforest.
The animals that I saw were mono congos which means howler monkeys - they howl really loud, you can hear them three miles away. Monocariblancas means white faced monkeys, we saw perizosas dos dedos y perizosas tres dedos that means three toed and two toed sloths. This is a picture of a coati mundi. Coati mundis are very silly animals they hang around where there alot of people and they are very shy. This coati mundi has more pictures taken than a model! We saw an Olingo that is nocturnal and endangered we saw it near the entrance and running around in the daytime! Isnt that very amazing? We saw lots of birds too. My favorite was the emerald toucanet.
Hope you are having a good year! See you next year!
Bye
Toby

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Toby - You are wise beyond your years. Thank you for the rainforest update and pictures. I learned a lot. I hope you and Cassidy are still having lots of fun and we look forward to hearing more about your adventures. Porchie says 'meow and have fun and bring me some meat from Argentina'.
Lots of love, Heather and Matt

Tao Smith said...

Toby,
Hannah Smith says "hi." She really likes the pictures that you posted and wants to know if the water is warm. Addie says "hi" too, although I don't think that she remembers you and Cassidy because she is too young.

Hannah wants to know when you and Cassidy are going to be back in Vermont so that you can press cider and play "snowstorm" ?

Give our best to your mom and dad too.

Hannah, Addie, and Tao

Unknown said...

Dear Cassidy and Toby,
I hope you are having a good time.I loved the pictures especially the animals/. I hope you have a happy Valentines. It keeps on snowing here.
Love Lucia

Darryl Fuller and Susan Jordan said...

Dear Toby,
Wow, I can't believe all you are learning and seeing on your trip! You are seeing many things that I have never seen before, so it is very special for me and Darryl to read and learn about all of your experiences. We also love to look at all the pictures! We look forward to hearing more about your next adventure. We miss you all!
Love, Susan and Darryl