Did you know that there is a World Lemur Day? No, nor did I, until we happened to find ourselves in Madagascar on the last Fridy of October which is when it is celebrated. It was wonderful in any case to be able to view these beautiful animals in their natural setting, but especially so to do so on their special day!
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There are a lot of reasons to visit Madagascar, but for most people the biggest draw is lemurs. These cute animals are endemic to the country, having evolved there separately to apes and monkeys, their closest relatives. And of all the lemurs the one I most wanted to see, and hear, was the Indri.
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I photographed this black and white ruffed lemur on Lemur Island, a private reserve in the grounds of one of the Andisibe lodges.
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These tiny creatures are Brookesia Minima chameleons. Our guide found them for us on a walk in the Montaigne d'Ambre national park, by rifling through leaf litter at the base of a tree.
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This is a tenrec, specifically I believe a lowland streaked tenrec. We saw him on a night walk in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park area. Tenrecs are endemic to Madagascar and this particular species lives in the eastern part of the country.
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September has been a lovely month, in several ways. The weather improved considerably compared to July and August, with a mini heatwave at the start of the month. I had two fantastic trips abroad and some fun activities closer to home too.
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Spiders are pretty persistent. Remember the tale of Robert the Bruce? Legend has it that when he was struggling in his fight against the English he hid out in a cave. While there he watched a spider try time and again to spin its web. Every time the spider fell, it got up and began again. Bruce was inspired by the spider to continue his campaign against the English, culminating in victory at Bannockburn.
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Given that few of us are blessed with the language skills of Doctor Dolittle, probably the best way to ‘listen’ to animals is to observe them. And for many of us that often means a visit to a (hopefully) ethically-run wildlife sanctuary. There we can really take our time to watch animal behaviour, and listen to the experts who’ve made it their job to get to know and understand the needs of these creatures.
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I’ve been fortunate to travel and photograph wildlife in many wonderful places. The Galápagos Islands, Botswana, Costa Rica, to name just three. But it’s easy to forget that we have some fantastic wildlife here at home too. That’s due in part to the animals’ relative small size and the consequent challenges in finding them.
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If it is the case that crows eat slugs and snails, then surely I should be glad we have so many in our neighbourhood. Our garden is plagued by snails in particular. But on the other hand, if crows do eat snails, why then that plague?!
