{"id":1079,"date":"2014-03-10T14:59:09","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T18:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nybg.org\/science-talk\/?p=1079"},"modified":"2014-03-11T09:28:13","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T13:28:13","slug":"hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott A. Mori, Ph.D.<\/a>, is the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>. His research interests are the ecology, classification, and conservation of tropical rain forest trees.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The author after sunset with nowhere to go but to his comfortable hammock. Photo by Carol Gracie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This winter’s\u00a0severe cold and abundant snow\u00a0have led me to recall the hundreds of comfortable nights I have spent sleeping in a hammock in a rain forest as part of my expeditions to collect plant specimens for the NYBG’s William and Lynda Steere Herbarium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hammock, an invention of Amazonian Indians, is the most practical way to sleep in the rain forest. Although it took me a while to get used\u00a0to sleeping in a hammock, I now look forward to climbing into one\u00a0after a long day of collecting and preparing plant specimens. The most comfortable hammocks are the traditional ones made of cotton, but the lightest are called garimpeiro<\/em> hammocks,\u00a0using the Portuguese word\u00a0for\u00a0prospectors or miners because Brazilian gold miners favor them. Made of synthetic fiber, they\u00a0weigh less than a pound. In combination with a mosquito net and a large\u00a0backpacking tarp, the garimpeiro<\/em> hammock is ideal for trips requiring long hikes in the forest.
\n
\nIf weight is not a concern, then a larger and more comfortable cotton hammock weighing\u00a0about three pounds\u00a0can be used. Some first-time visitors to rain forests anticipate that it will be so hot that they won’t need blankets at night. They are unpleasantly surprised when the temperature drops in the early morning hours and it becomes difficult to sleep because of the\u00a0cold. A summer sleeping bag that can be unzipped as needed\u00a0guarantees a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

The first rule in hammock-sleeping is to take a shower (or a dip in a nearby river or pond) and scrub vigorously to remove insects and arachnids, especially ticks, which could turn a comfortable night\u2019s sleep into a nightmare. A cardinal sin is to recline in another person\u2019s hammock in dirty field cloths,\u00a0introducing insects into\u00a0a clean hammock.<\/p>\n

This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>

<\/div>\n

Inexperienced hammock-sleepers sometimes turn over and flip out when they first try to\u00a0lie\u00a0down on\u00a0the hammock, or they\u00a0crash to the ground due to improperly tied knots.\u00a0Thus, rule two is to get into\u00a0the hammock by slowly adding your weight to make sure the hammock ropes are properly tied.<\/p>\n

The third rule is to position oneself at an angle rather than parallel to the length of the hammock. That\u00a0makes your body\u00a0more or less flat and not arched. I also find that a small camping pillow adds a lot to my comfort.<\/p>\n

Finally, a fine-meshed mosquito net is essential to keep out insects and stop vampire bats from sucking blood from exposed body parts (see accompanying illustration).<\/p>\n

Clean, warm, dry, and protected from insects, one can enjoy the sights and sounds of the forest\u2014the approaching green and yellow lights of different fireflies, the hauntingly beautiful middle-of-the night song of the common potoo<\/a>, the early morning roaring of howler monkeys<\/a>, the dawn whooping of the blue-crowned motmot<\/a>, and the raucous early morning chatter of chachalacas<\/a>. Forest sounds, however, can make it almost impossible for some neophytes to sleep.\u00a0One of my expedition participants was so irritated by the croaking of frogs that he left his hammock in the middle of the night and made a futile attempt to silence a frog\u00a0in the gutter of the shelter he was sleeping under. Another, who had chosen to sleep in the forest away from the main camp, was terrified by the calls of howler monkeys because he mistakenly believed they were the roars of jaguars.<\/p>\n

\"Hammock<\/a>
An illustration by Bobbi Angell<\/a> that shows how to make a mosquito net, tie the knots needed for attaching the hammock to its support, and the knots used to spread the mosquito net away from the hammock edges. The hammock knot holds weight when under tension but can easily be released when it is time to take the hammock down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether you are an aspiring tropical botanist or just plan on taking an ecotour to the tropics, I hope\u00a0these tips\u00a0add to\u00a0your rain forest adventure and help you sleep as comfortably as I have for the many nights I have been fortunate to spend there.<\/p>\n

For more tips about visiting rain forests, see Chapter Three of\u00a0Dr. Mori’s\u00a0book <\/em>Tropical Plant Collecting: From the Field to the Internet<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Mori explains the best way to catch a night’s rest in a rain forest replete with bloodsucking bats, howling monkeys, and countless insects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[69],"tags":[280,184,71,61,281,282],"yoast_head":"\nHanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scott Mori explains the best way to catch a night's rest in a rain forest replete with bloodsucking bats, howling monkeys, and countless insects.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-10T18:59:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-03-11T13:28:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Mori\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Science Talk Archive\",\"description\":\"Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":556,\"caption\":\"No matter how rustic the accommodations, the hammocks are always first class. John Wenger and Jackie Kallunki. Photo by Scott Mori.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/\",\"name\":\"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-10T18:59:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-11T13:28:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#\/schema\/person\/ac85d9afa4551d6f831a2aec70e99eb0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#\/schema\/person\/ac85d9afa4551d6f831a2aec70e99eb0\",\"name\":\"Scott Mori\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23d225e6bc8aef7e815a775eb1fa7d1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23d225e6bc8aef7e815a775eb1fa7d1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott Mori\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/author\/smori\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive","og_description":"Scott Mori explains the best way to catch a night's rest in a rain forest replete with bloodsucking bats, howling monkeys, and countless insects.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/","og_site_name":"Science Talk Archive","article_published_time":"2014-03-10T18:59:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-03-11T13:28:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":556,"url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott Mori","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/","name":"Science Talk Archive","description":"Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg","width":800,"height":556,"caption":"No matter how rustic the accommodations, the hammocks are always first class. John Wenger and Jackie Kallunki. Photo by Scott Mori."},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/","name":"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest - Science Talk Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2014-03-10T18:59:09+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-11T13:28:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#\/schema\/person\/ac85d9afa4551d6f831a2aec70e99eb0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/03\/hanging-out-in-the-rain-forest\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hanging Out in the Rain Forest"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#\/schema\/person\/ac85d9afa4551d6f831a2aec70e99eb0","name":"Scott Mori","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23d225e6bc8aef7e815a775eb1fa7d1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23d225e6bc8aef7e815a775eb1fa7d1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scott Mori"},"url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/author\/smori\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Fig5_HammockBlogCampDarien.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9OgoC-hp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1079"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}