October 25 - Fort Dauphin: Part 2
Nov. 13th, 2007 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leaping_lemursPicking right up where I left off, still at Nampoina.
We also saw collared brown lemurs, who were side by side with the sifakas’ tree, and who look very doglike to me, with their pointy noses, though they have round primate eyes. Also, something I haven't mentioned yet about all the varieties of brown lemurs (the various eulemur species, to use the Latin that I've learned), is that the males and females always have different coloration, which isn't true of any of the other types of lemurs.
Blurry but sweet.
And then there were the ringtails, the lemur everyone seems to think of first. If only my house weren’t so full of breakable knick-knacks (and cats), I swear I’d try to keep one as a pet.
Lucky Frederic!
Later we went with the agency’s driver and guide to the Saidi Botanical Garden, owned by – you guessed it – the same family that owns Berenty. We saw more Nile crocs to start, then had a really pleasant – and non-taxing, yay! – walk through the grounds.
Cool bananas!
And chickens!
And when we got to the end...2 more ringtailed lemurs. These 2 are pretty much the pets of one of the workers there, so he called them down (in Lemurese) from their tree and put out cooked casava for them, so we could get right up close to take their pictures. It amazes me every time how gentle and delicate lemurs are with their hands as they eat, and how they never fight over food. I adore monkeys, but they’re sloppy savages compared to lemurs in that regard.
Scent marking:
And that was today. Hard to believe there are only two days left before we start the long journey home. In some ways I’m totally ready, only because I think I’ve reached my physical limit for long hikes in hot weather, and I sure do crave my own shower, but in others I wish I could stay and keep exploring, because there’s still so much to see and do – and so many more species of lemurs to see.
We also saw collared brown lemurs, who were side by side with the sifakas’ tree, and who look very doglike to me, with their pointy noses, though they have round primate eyes. Also, something I haven't mentioned yet about all the varieties of brown lemurs (the various eulemur species, to use the Latin that I've learned), is that the males and females always have different coloration, which isn't true of any of the other types of lemurs.
Blurry but sweet.
And then there were the ringtails, the lemur everyone seems to think of first. If only my house weren’t so full of breakable knick-knacks (and cats), I swear I’d try to keep one as a pet.
Lucky Frederic!
Later we went with the agency’s driver and guide to the Saidi Botanical Garden, owned by – you guessed it – the same family that owns Berenty. We saw more Nile crocs to start, then had a really pleasant – and non-taxing, yay! – walk through the grounds.
Cool bananas!
And chickens!
And when we got to the end...2 more ringtailed lemurs. These 2 are pretty much the pets of one of the workers there, so he called them down (in Lemurese) from their tree and put out cooked casava for them, so we could get right up close to take their pictures. It amazes me every time how gentle and delicate lemurs are with their hands as they eat, and how they never fight over food. I adore monkeys, but they’re sloppy savages compared to lemurs in that regard.
Scent marking:
And that was today. Hard to believe there are only two days left before we start the long journey home. In some ways I’m totally ready, only because I think I’ve reached my physical limit for long hikes in hot weather, and I sure do crave my own shower, but in others I wish I could stay and keep exploring, because there’s still so much to see and do – and so many more species of lemurs to see.
