Welcome to the Jungle! Trivia Quiz

Answer: an electric eel

The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) isn't a true eel, but is actually a type of knifefish which can grow up to 6 feet 7 inches (2 meters) in length. It can generate electrical discharges of up to 650 volts when defending itself or stunning its prey, and uses smaller discharges in navigating, locating prey, and communicating with other eels.

During the dry season (June - October), my guide showed me one of these that lived in a shallow pool connected to a river. He used several small bait fish tied to a string to lure it to the water's edge, where we watched it writhe partially out of the water at one point as it noisily slurped down its meal.

Answer: a piranha

There are numerous species of piranha, only a few of which have occasionally been known to bite chunks out of people; Pygocentrus nattereri, the red-bellied piranha, is one of them.

My guide Orlando caught several of these saw-toothed characids while fishing from our little canoe; he said they're a common food fish, and quite tasty. As I'm a vegetarian, I just had to take his word on that.

Since any riverside settlement we passed invariably had a group of squealing children happily splashing about in the water (presumably with their digits mainly intact), and given the conspicuous lack of cow skeletons in the rivers, I'm guessing that the legendary bloodthirstiness of piranha has been somewhat exaggerated by the popular media.

Answer: a bullet ant

The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) can be found in lowland rainforests from Nicaragua to Paraguay, and has the distinction of being the insect with the most painful sting in the world, at least according to the Schmidt Pain Index of Insect Stings. The Satere-Mawe tribe of Brazil use the ant in a grueling initiation rite in which boys aspiring to become warriors must put their hand into a woven palm frond mitt containing numerous bullet ants (with their stingers pointing inwards) and stoically subject themselves to repeated stings for ten minutes. ("On second thought, doesn't the tribe really need a good tax accountant?", said the smartest boy in the tribe... :-D)

Answer: a Peruvian pinktoe tarantula

Female Peruvian pinktoe tarantulas (Avicularia urticans) can grow up to 6 inches (15.24 cm.) in length; males, up to 5.5 inches (13.97 cm.) They have a thick dark coat of urticating hairs that can cause localized skin irritation (in sensitive people) if touched, and as their common name implies, the adults have lovely pink furry "toes." This is an arboreal species and is commonly found at night on palm tree trunks (and also thatched hut roofs and walls).

The beautiful Amazon rainforest is an absolute arachnophobic's nightmare! I happen to like spiders, which is a good thing, because I encountered far more of them there than anywhere else I have ever been. I even stepped (barefoot) directly on a big huntsman spider while washing my hair in a dark shower stall on my first trip to the region - amazingly, both of us emerged from that encounter seemingly unscathed!

Answer: a wandering spider (Phoneutria sp.)

One of eight species of wandering spider, the so-called Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria fera) is also found in Peru, Ecuador, Surinam and Guyana, and is listed in the 2014 'Guinness World Records' as the world's most venomous spider. Bites from wandering spiders are not uncommon in populated areas, as the spider often hides in dark places (like inside shoes or a pile of clothing, or under a toilet seat) after a night spent roaming in search of food (mainly insects and other spiders). It bites readily in self-defense, and the agonizing pain that results reportedly lasts for 24 hours (just like the pain from a bullet ant sting).

("Gosh," you may be thinking at this point, "isn't there anything in the Amazon whose bite/sting only hurts for just a few hours?" Oh, yeah. Fire ants!)

Wandering spiders were routinely found during night hikes in the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Reserve, which further reinforced my daily ritual of vigorously shaking out my rubber boots every morning before putting them on (and also giving the shower curtain a good shake before stepping into the stall, wearing flip-flops in the shower, checking under the toilet seat before sitting down, etc.) Nothing like the possibility of an excruciatingly painful (if not fatal) ordeal to heighten one's mindfulness!

Answer: a common lancehead

The common lancehead (Bothrops atrox) is also known by many other names, including fer-de-lance and "equis" (Spanish for "X", which refers to the vaguely x-shaped patterning on its body). It reportedly attains a maximum length of approximately 6.5 feet (2 meters). Its venom is hemotoxic, and even in non-fatal bites can cause severe localized tissue destruction which sometimes necessitates amputation of the bitten limb.

In the Peruvian Amazon, this snake is called jergon (pronounced "hair-GOAN"); my guide and I found a few while trekking the forest at night (the best time to find them, as they're primarily nocturnal hunters). Their vertical pupils reflect back a greenish eyeshine in the light of a headlamp or flashlight. Juveniles have a bright yellow tail-tip, reportedly used to lure prey (like the small toads and lizards that they favor) into striking range.

For hiking in the jungle, sturdy knee-high rubber boots are highly recommended for keeping your feet dry, and your legs fang-free. (Or for just keeping your feet and legs, period.)

Answer: a spectacled caiman

The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodylus) is a small to medium-sized crocodilian that rarely exceeds 6 feet (1.82 meters) in length (although the record is reportedly a respectable 8.2 feet (2.5 meters). It is capable of estivation (the hot-weather equivalent of hibernation) in periods of drought, burrowing down into the mud and becoming dormant until the return of the rains.

Caiman are sometimes hunted for food by people living along the rivers; one night, my guide pointed out a 4-footer who had apparently made a lucky escape (but still had the broken-off shafts of two primitive wooden 'arrows' protruding from the right side of its head). In a wonderfully compassionate gesture, Orlando proceeded to lasso the understandably cranky (and very powerful) reptile with our boat's mooring line and towed it a short distance to the dock. There, with a bit of assistance from two other intrepid guides who were enlisted to help restrain the thrashing animal, he deftly removed both shafts before releasing the caiman from the ropes, whereupon it turned tail and ran back into the river with an enormous splash. I was able to get a few good photos of what we later referred to as "the arrowectomy".

Answer: an Amazon river dolphin

The Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) can reportedly grow to over 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length, with a maximum recorded weight of 217 pounds (98.5 kg). They have a highly mobile neck, and are able to turn their heads 90 degrees (which helps them both with navigation and in hunting prey hidden in the flooded forests).

It was thrilling to be able to see these beautiful and elusive animals on various occasions in the Tahuayo River in Peru. They often traveled in pairs, and would make high-pitched squeaky whistles and audible clicking sounds while hunting for the fish and bottom-dwelling crustaceans that make up the bulk of their diet.

Answer: a jaguar

Surprisingly, despite the fact that an adult could easily kill a human being, the jaguar (Panthera onca) has only very rarely been implicated in human fatalities, and those isolated instances reportedly nearly always involved an animal who was debilitated due to old age or injury. In addition to large mammals such as tapir and capybara (and domestic cattle, in areas where ranching encroaches on its territory), "el tigre" preys on a wide variety of creatures, including caiman, fish, snakes, and rodents, as well as turtles and tortoises (cracking through their shells with those powerful jaws).

While I've not yet actually seen a jaguar in the wild, I did have a close encounter with one in the dark after getting myself lost overnight on a research trail grid in a forest in the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Reserve in Peru several years ago. What was amazing to me was how silently such a large animal was able to move, because the night was so still that I could literally hear the occasional insect or spider walking in the fallen leaves in the dark, but I never heard the big cat until it made its presence known by way of a snorting sort of growl from what I would estimate was no more than 25 feet behind me. (When I imitated the sound for my guide the following morning, he confirmed that it was indeed a jaguar that I'd heard.) I later learned that this particular type of calling, known as "chuffing," is apparently used by several species of big cat (including jaguars, tigers and snow leopards) as a form of greeting.

Answer: a loose long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and an effective insect repellent reapplied frequently to any exposed skin

As you may have surmised, the greatest risk to human life and limb in the tropics is actually posed by biting insects (especially mosquitos and sandflies), due to the diseases they can transmit (such as yellow fever, malaria, and leishmaniasis); therefore, preventing bites should be the savvy traveler's top priority.

While it may seem unappealing to wear long sleeves and pants in the oppressive heat and humidity of the jungle, it would be even more unappealing to come down with a case of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (which can leave victims looking like zombie extras from the set of "The Walking Dead"). Light-colored clothing is preferable to dark (which is more attractive to mosquitos and biting flies), and sleeping under fine-gauge mosquito netting is also strongly recommended.