strombus gigas

When you're travel across the Yucatan aside from the road kill on the Cancun highway you might not be aware of the many protected species in our seas and forrest. I first became aware of Pronatura through the owners of the Hacienda Santo Domingo de Yunku who come each year to study the spider monkeys in Punta Laguna. They work to preserve the flora and fauna of the Yucatan from the whale sharks who come to Holbox each fall to the Hawksbill sea turtles that lay their eggs each summer on our beaches. Whether you're going to see the Flamingo's of Celestun and Ria Lagartos or just to the zoo at Centenario chances are you owe a debt of gratitude to Pronatura for their work to preserve the coast wetlands and the Mayan Forests.

Pronatura's gallery of photos of protected species in the Yucatan can be seen here

They are solitary animals that communicate by hissing sounds and a very potent odor produced from the anal gland. As a result, they are sometimes referred to as "stinker of the forest."

Good to know!

While googling for whale sharks I came upon Yucatan Wild Life, a website that documents all the mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish with lots of links and articles and lists of what fish your likely to see when diving in cozumel or eating in Progresso.

Or you can swim with the whale sharks each spring in Holbox or Cozumel

You'll find these guys wandering around the ruins and in the soup if you're invited to lunch in a Mayan home.

Coqui Coqui has a great new guest house in Coba. Nearby in Punta Laguna there is a spider monkey refuge. We'd heard about it for years because one of the owners of the hacienda Yunku is an anthropologist who volunteers there several weeks a year. It was only recently that we visited and it was absolutely magical. We huffed and puffed along a slippery root covered trail down to the lagoon without having seen a single monkey. Our guide was a 12 year old with little patience or compassion for my aging lungs or feet. Once at waters edge he was easily persuaded to canoe us across the lagoon in hopes of seeing or hearing the small colony of howler monkeys he said lived on the opposite shore. I'm not convinced they do. On the strait and narrow (and paved) road back to the entrance we encountered a group of 50 or so monkeys. It was absolutely heavenly. see I'm not so cynical after all.