Monkey Magic!

So apart from the elephants we saw on the first day, the last week and a half has been full of all sorts of creatures! Never a dull moment at and around the site. A couple days into the stay, I was heading back to the hostel for a nap (we had an early morning!!! Lol) and I heard all this noise outside, so I went back outside and there was a male orang-utan! Not a phalanged male, looked more sub-adult, but he was just wandering along from tree to tree with not a care in the world. It is so entertaining to watch them move because a lot of the time they will climb into a small-ish tree (relative to their size) and basically “ride the branch” – sitting on the tree until it bends enough to reach the next tree. And despite all the noise they make when they are moving, as soon as they stop moving they can instantly disappear. And again on Saturday there were 2 orangs (male and female) just outside the main building and mating! How exciting!!

There have also been plenty o’ crocodilia! Same as last year, not too many at the beginning, but the river is a lot lower now than it was when we arrived so there is a lot more beach for them to beach on! And to be honest I would much rather all the croc’s beach on the beaches so I know exactly where they are! The most that I have seen in a day this year has been 8, but that was counting 5 that we just saw the eye shine in the morning when it was still dark, and then 3 in the daylight but one of them was the largest croc I ever did see! First thought was that it was a tree, then that it was two crocs kind of laying in a row, but then realised it was one massive croc! I would say just under 5m (but I also over estimate quite a lot…).

Pigs and monitor lizards have also been plentiful, but are not playing as big of a role as they were last year. But I have to say, one of my favourite things to see is a monitor lizard running frantically. They just don’t seem built for it, and although they really can take off, they make such a ruckus and that their legs are too far out from their body. I love it and it makes me giggle every time, and then impersonate them! And the pigs are occasionally making their way through the site but have seen them more in the forest this year than out (although I am going into the forest more this year).

I have seen a giant squirrel which was fun! And I wish you all could hear the call of a giant squirrel, but basically just think of a laser gun firing repeatedly, and that is it! It’s amazing! The other squirrels which have made an appearance are all pretty neat as well: the pygmy squirrel which is just a couple of inches long is everywhere this year, and I’ve also seen a horse-tail squirrel which is apparently quite rare to see!

I have been spending most of my time this trip with the long tail macaques instead of the proboscis monkeys, mainly because they are less skittish and so it is easier for the students to practice their behaviour data collection methods on the macaques. Apart from forest follows (or attempted forest follows), we have been spending most late afternoons on the boat finding macaques and staying with them as long as they will let us! And we have been getting some great observations of them! The lack of social interaction from the macaques in Buton has certainly been made up for here. They have been so fun to watch! Each group we have found has at least one tiny baby (still black) but most groups will have around 3 or 4 that we can actually see (probably more) and a TON of juveniles and sub adults that just play around like crazy – falling out of trees, pushing their buddies out of trees, hanging off of each others’ tails, and rolling down hills. And they just climb all over everyone – there was one juvenile that kept walking on the heads of a bunch of adults that were sitting on a branch. So he just walked back and forth on top of their heads until they paid attention! There is also one group in particular we have been able to watch for a couple days and they always come to the river bank and drink out of the river. We may have seen it once or twice in other groups, but it is very common in this one among all the individuals!

I wish I knew the birds here as well – maybe one day I will actually remember what I saw for more than 5 minutes so I can look it up when I get back, and maybe actually learn my colours better because for some reason I just can’t seem to remember my colours when it comes to birds. How frustrating! So basically, unless it is a kingfisher, hornbill, white belly sea eagle or brahminy kite, I’m useless! Oh, or an egret! The only species I can guarantee to see on the boat is a great egret!

That is all for now! Actually going to the bat caves on Thursday which I am so exciting about – one of the big Borneo caves with the swift bird nests (that are popular for harvesting) and huge piles of guano! I can’t wait!