Racing to Play Catch-up

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been keeping this updated. I have been quite busy, the internet has been iffy and I just generally haven't got around to doing it. It's been 4 months today since I have updated it, so I head to the end of my 5th month of stay here in beautiful North Sulawesi I think I should update on the past months. The first month here was jam packed, so hopefully I can summarise the past 4 months whilst doing them justice.

Whilst sitting in this place almost designed for musing I shall find somewhere to start.



Well to begin with, since arriving here I have seen many people come and go. All have been great people and I have learnt so much from them, they will all be remembered and I wish them luck with everything they do, and we will hopefully meet again in the future.

Many things have happened, I am back as the enrichment coordindator again which is great, I have almost sorted all the work frameworks I needed to do which means I can get back to designing and making. Working great with the new Primate Husbandry Coordinator, a macaque enclosure has been redesigned, and many other enclosures made, and almost complete. We are slowly building up a great team of coordinators to support different areas of the centre.

Very many more excursions and trips since November, seeing baby Green and Hawksbill turtles at the Turtle project supported by Tasikoki. Many trips to Tangkoko National Park to see the Spectral Tarsiers (Tarsius tarsier) (lots of them), the Crested Macaques (Macaca nigra) (likewise lots), Bear Cuscus (Ailurops ursinus), Hornbill (Aceros cassidix). Also encountered the BBC on several occasions now, whilst filming a documentary on the Yaki (Crested Macaques) due to air in October (in the UK) so make sure to check it out.

I visited Vietnam for a week, to see the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Project in Cuc Phoung National Park, and to see the return of a pair of Owston's Palm Civets (Chrotogale owstoni) back to their native country of Vietnam to join a breeding program of these rare civets. Perhaps in the following days I write individual posts of some of these events in more detail like Vietnam. It was a great trip, nice to see the place and see these civets I have had some work with head "home" as it were.

A little bit about how I have been doing... great! Not much has changed about me... except maybe my hair. I still have the same mentality on animals and the life here as I arrived, I love it and it won't change. Not many new experiences outside of work as most of it here is work, and that's great. To add to my list of illnesses here I got a strange skin infection over Christmas and New Years, I think from using dirty gloves, but that is all sorted and was nothing major. Christmas and New Year were great here. I was still working but just a great atmosphere with the people here, a few parties a local's houses and such. I went for a run a long the beach at midday on Christmas Day, can't say that very often. It wasn't supposed to be a run, I wanted to collect a large clam shell I found for enrichment purposes, and the sand was so bloody hot I had to run! New Years was great to, a nice calm little party with the few volunteers left here, and then up to the top of the tower at the Guest House for midnight, when the horizon exploded into fireworks! Great to see. 

Many of my days off now, have been involving snorkelling instead of work now, so much so, to include a day off when I was snorkelling for three and a half hours about 500 metres off the coast. You see so many fish and so much stuff; otherwise I would have been out there so long. Many beautiful things out there to see, Parrotfish, Pufferfish, 3 species of Clown fish and many other miscellaneous reef fauna, and not to mention Banded Sea Kraits (Laticauda colubrina). I must get a photo of one of those Sea Krates before I leave. Many beautiful wildlife spotting opportunities on site too. I have seen many beautiful snake species, Asian Vine Snakes (Ahaetulla prasina), Sulawesi Black Racer (Ptyas dipsas), Coconut Snakes (Chrysopelea ornata), Celebes Black-tailed Rat Snakes (Gonyosoma jansenii) and many more. Not to mention gorgeous spiders, many Orb Web (Nephila pilipes spp.) species and Sulawesi Black Tarantulas (Cyriopagopus spp.), the former being simply stunning, but not as plushy as their South American cousins.

It's great being here for so long, you get to learn the animals and know their behaviours, know what they like and don't like (in the case of Is and Bento), and gain the trust (or at least tolerance) of many of the individuals. All the animals here are just characters, many of which you will gain the trust of simply by being here for a few weeks, others you really have to work on and you a get a sense of accomplishment when it happens. I have had several of these such accomplishments. First of all with Is and Bento, so much so that I begin to understand their actions a little more, such as Is' spitting either wanting something you have, wanting you attention or getting annoyed at you when you are "winning" a game such as trying to retrieve the hose when someone accidentally got to close with it. Bento more of begin his house keeping service, whenever I got to the enclosure there is always something he wants cleaned and returned such as his bag he likes to sleep in, or his cloth he likes to clean the enclosure with. This desire is often indicated by throwing said cloth at my face. Hey, if I was taken from the wild by poachers as a baby and been put into captivity would throw my dirty cloths at people with some kind of indignance even though they are feeding me and giving me things I enjoy doing. Other such trust I enjoyed working towards was that of Beckham, the alpha male of the release group. He is one handsome monkey, all Crested Macaques have an obvious Mohawk/crest - hence the name - at least that is what I believed until I saw Beckham... Beckham, unlike the others, has a Mullet, and it works, it is almost as if he woke up one morning and thought "I'm too tired to do anything with my hair today" caught he reflection in a pond and thought "Hmmm, who is this handsome monkey" and never looked backed. I didn't do this by any extra effort on my part or spending large amounts of time in the primate centre, we try to limit time people spend down there as some macaques find it stressful and others we want to release we don't want to associate anything good with. Whenever I walk past the groups many macaques ignore my presence, a bit step from being a new volunteer when they actively try to grab and scare you. However in recent months whenever I walk past a few, including Beckham occasionally lip-smack towards me (a friendly greeting in macaque terms, at least of many Southeast Asian Species). Another of these lip-smacking indicators of approval came from a Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) called Freddie after I gave him the mother of all hermit crabs (a least 8cm long), whilst handing out hermit crabs to the other Long-tails. These Long-tailed Macaques I was unsure as to whether they did the lip-smacking, and in fact they do! The next macaque to gain my trust will be Stare (another Long-tail) even if it kills me... or he does. He is a very angry macaque and I understand why and respect him for it... and I always like a challenge.

Hopefully I can update soon on specifics of events, but here is a brief overview. If no update then next will be Singapore to renew my visa and visit various aspects of their supposedly magnificent zoo.

Ta Ta

Scott

Newquay Zoo: One of a kind

So I went Newquay Zoo yesterday to talk to the Head of Animal Collections and meet the keepers, as I will be starting a week of “Work Experience” on Tuesday to get some experience with their macaques and small carnivores before I head out to Tasikoki. I also got to talk to the Director again which is always good.

I always love visiting Newquay Zoo, it is truly a one-of-a-kind place. It may be small, only covering 13 acres, but it certainly breaks the mould for a traditional zoological collection. Zoos are almost becoming identical, to quote the film Fierce Creatures “…Zoos popping up everywhere, all exactly the same. Leopards on the left, rhinos on the right, monkeys in the middle, sea lions in the centre, ferrets in the front”. Newquay Zoo does have the animals which draw in the crowds like the big cats, the primates, the carnivores. But there are subtle differences, for example; Their big cat collection consists of Lions (Panthera leo) and Carpathian Lynx (Lynx lynx carpathica)… wait a minute Carpathian Lynx, who keeps these? Newquay Zoo, that’s who! They keep the rare and obscure species. Why? Because they are interesting, they need our help, and because they can. One of the better examples of this are their Owston’s Palm Civets (Chrotogale owstoni), ever heard of them? Probably not. There are 18 of these amazing creatures worldwide; Newquay Zoo has 7 of them and none have been seen in the wild in the past 3 years! Newquay saw that they needed our help, and have successfully bred them regularly since they got them. The Director even helped set up a Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, to help these animals.

Newquay Zoo has many of these species not usually seen in Zoological Collections such as; Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), Six-banded Armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus), Kinkajou (Potos flavus), Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou), and Hoffman’s Sloths (Leopus hoffmanni). On top of this, they are very successful with their husbandry and their breeding.

More Zoos around the world should take a page out of Newquay Zoo’s book and take in more of the animals that need our help more urgently than many of the “people pleasers”. And if you haven’t managed to visit Newquay Zoo, it is definitely worth a trip.

Ta Ta!