| I saw my first annaconda recently. She was long and fat, swimming slowly across my trail. I was excited to finally see one up close after spending so many weeks imagining them...... and their methods of killing. They throw a couple coils of muscle around you and one around a tree or root so they can upend you into the water. They crack ribs and dislocate joints while biting you repeatedly. They also constrict your chest so that you will have difficulty breathing in the event you manage to get your face above the water. They refrain from breaking bones lest they harm themselves whilst swallowing you whole. Yes these thoughts run through my head now and then (read "daily") as I am wading along my trail. Alone. In the dark. The other day while walking with Chantel and her jaguar Amira (I feel like I´m cheating on Ru when I spend time with her, as she is so amazing) we bumped into a branch and onto Chantel´s shoulder plopped a yellowish snake. This caused a little bit of anxiety as she brushed it to the ground. "What kind of snake is it?" I asked in voice pitched slightly higher than normal. "I didn´t get a good look at it", she said. "And stay calm, if Amira senses you are panicky she will get agrivated. Nice one I thought, as the snake slid under the leaves, on the trail at our feet. There are somewhere between 1 and several venemous snakes down here, depending on whom you ask. I´ve seen as many as 7 different snakes on a good day and they all inspire different reactions depending on their size, colouring, and how confidently they seem as they wriggle towards you. We have had several in camp including some in the dorms where we sleep, happily hunting rats which is a mixed blessing. All in all its there is probably more danger hitching a ride to town to use the computer than from all the jungle animals put together, save the disease carrying mosquitoes. After 5 weeks helping my jaguar I have grown quite fond. I can read his disposition by his walk and his eyes, most of the time, and he has shown a lot of patience with me. One of my best days was spent with my cat Yaguaru in the morning and then with Yaguarupini in the afternoon. I took him for a walk with Mike, one of the longer term volunteers, and I was so captivated that I didn´t really even want to chat with Mike. He walked us very fast, with purpose and confidence, hunting along the trails that he decided on, for about 3 hours. He and my cat are the 2 biggest in the park. Ru is a mountain variety with a bigger head and heavier frame and Rupi is a jungle variety with longer legs and a more lithe build. Rupi took me for a bit of a sprint and also gave me a few friendly jumps. He did manage to throw me down but I swear it was only because my legs were wrapped up in his rope, in other words he cheated. Unlike my cat, Rupì does not use his teeth or claws, however, and despite being forwarned that he will jump me near this tree or that other one, and despite seeing his eyes and demeanor change while 3 metres away in the foliage, there is such a surge of adrenalin, at least on my part, and afterwards a grateful humility that he can play with so much control. I confess, I may be adicted to this. As I said, I´ve been fortunate to walk with a jaguar named Amira 8 or 10 times, and her volunteer Chantel, whose opinions and suggestions I respect greatly. Amira is 40 or 50 kg lighter, yet gets walked with two ropes for better control due to her being less predictable and being more inlined to jump. I´ve been jumped by her many times and taken to the ground as well. However, I compare this to walking with Rupi or working with my jaguar Ru and I can safely say to you that Size Does Matter. I have met many, many amazing volunteers in my time here. People who go hard for 60 to 80 hours a week and who contribute such a great energy to the work down here. I am constantly reminded of many of the great volunteers I work with at home and am grateful for the chance to know them all. Still a couple weeks to go. All the best from the Bolivian jungle, Roy |
Monday, April 5, 2010
After 5 weeks in the jungle
Thursday, March 25, 2010
more jungle critters
Female Spider Monkey
My back up Jaguar, Amira who loves swimming, sometimes completely underwater and you can see her eyes as she swims towards you like a fish. I love walking with her
Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail
jungle animals
Yaguaru, giving a little bit of affection
Ru´s eyes turn green before he jumps you as his pupils enlarge so much before the pounce.
Eyes turn green, shorts to clean
The new Internet Explorer® 8 - Faster, safer, easier. Optimized for Yahoo! Get it Now for Free!
Bolivian Amazon Feb - March 2010
I arrived 1 month ago in the belly of the Bolivian Amazon jungle, where I put up with biting insects, clothes that are never dry - let alone clean, mud and foot fungus so that I might help care for rescued wildlife. By the way it´s worth it 20 times over.
I start each day with my share of camp chores and then a solo 45 min walk along a trail flooded ankle to waist deep. My charge and I then greet each other with enthusiastic scratching and licking, I the former and he the latter. Yaguaru is a 120 kg male jaguar, rescued from a family basement a few years ago, to come here for a better life. He is playful, beautiful and can stop your heart with one significant look.
My goal here is to get him excercising more, and today marks the completion of 2 new runners or zip lines allowing him access to the river where he loves to swim. The project took much of the last 3 weeks and so a few big wigs came out today to see him swim for the first time in 6 months, buuuuuuut he decided not to swim. I suspect he was a bit excited by all the attention. He has not been "walked" outside his enclosure these past 6 months as he put a few extra holes in a previous volunteer. It´s okay though, he was French.
Ru and I struggle daily with the Alpha Male thing. He seems to think that having all those pointy bits, while being slightly quicker and larger trumps my larger brain and oposable thumbs.....I´ll keep you posted on how it all unfolds.
He has jumped me a couple times and has gnawed on the hand that feeds him fresh meat, but always playfully. I can make him yawn, he lets me pick ticks from his head(but nowhere near his abdomen), he eats grass from my hand ever so delicately which aids in digestion or make him vomit and he is quite afraid of lizards. He will never be released but maybe, just maybe, if he can learn to be outside with people without jumping on them too much, he will be "walked" again. Maybe.
I also spent 10 very excellent days "walking" with an 80 kg female jaguar named Amira, but that is a story for another day. It was really cool though.
Some of the things I am expected to do in an average day include;
Motivating a jaguar to run and jump.
Discourage a jaguar from running and jumping.
Anticipating when they are likely to pounce on you or to go running off down the trail, dragging you after a lizard or wild pig in the bushes.
Understanding how their behaviour will likely change given the change in wind, rain or temperature.
Finding new places to hide their food to encourage them to "hunt".
Finding new ways to make their day more interesting.
Finding crickets that one of our sick monkeys would like to eat.
Going out at night to retrieve a stuborn and "in heat" puma and her two handlers.
There is very little training and no literature to peruse but luckily these sort of things come quite naturally to someone who has spent time working with salmon such as I have.
Alas I have spent most of this month with two jaguars but also a bit of time with a puma and two ocelots. In all that time I have received two wounds and both of them from a miserable Macaw that I feed in the ealy morning. I am secretly hoping for a better scar which I can share with people as I get older. "Yep", I would say, pointing at the scar across my chest and neck. " That was a jaguar what got me back in 2010". Then I could retell the story over a pint of ale.
I have about 3 more weeks that I plan to help here before moving on. There is lots to do and volunteers have dropped from over 70 to about 30 in the last 4 weeks. More work but more rewards.
Until next time. Cheers from Ambue Ari, Bolivia, Roy
I start each day with my share of camp chores and then a solo 45 min walk along a trail flooded ankle to waist deep. My charge and I then greet each other with enthusiastic scratching and licking, I the former and he the latter. Yaguaru is a 120 kg male jaguar, rescued from a family basement a few years ago, to come here for a better life. He is playful, beautiful and can stop your heart with one significant look.
My goal here is to get him excercising more, and today marks the completion of 2 new runners or zip lines allowing him access to the river where he loves to swim. The project took much of the last 3 weeks and so a few big wigs came out today to see him swim for the first time in 6 months, buuuuuuut he decided not to swim. I suspect he was a bit excited by all the attention. He has not been "walked" outside his enclosure these past 6 months as he put a few extra holes in a previous volunteer. It´s okay though, he was French.
Ru and I struggle daily with the Alpha Male thing. He seems to think that having all those pointy bits, while being slightly quicker and larger trumps my larger brain and oposable thumbs.....I´ll keep you posted on how it all unfolds.
He has jumped me a couple times and has gnawed on the hand that feeds him fresh meat, but always playfully. I can make him yawn, he lets me pick ticks from his head(but nowhere near his abdomen), he eats grass from my hand ever so delicately which aids in digestion or make him vomit and he is quite afraid of lizards. He will never be released but maybe, just maybe, if he can learn to be outside with people without jumping on them too much, he will be "walked" again. Maybe.
I also spent 10 very excellent days "walking" with an 80 kg female jaguar named Amira, but that is a story for another day. It was really cool though.
Some of the things I am expected to do in an average day include;
Motivating a jaguar to run and jump.
Discourage a jaguar from running and jumping.
Anticipating when they are likely to pounce on you or to go running off down the trail, dragging you after a lizard or wild pig in the bushes.
Understanding how their behaviour will likely change given the change in wind, rain or temperature.
Finding new places to hide their food to encourage them to "hunt".
Finding new ways to make their day more interesting.
Finding crickets that one of our sick monkeys would like to eat.
Going out at night to retrieve a stuborn and "in heat" puma and her two handlers.
There is very little training and no literature to peruse but luckily these sort of things come quite naturally to someone who has spent time working with salmon such as I have.
Alas I have spent most of this month with two jaguars but also a bit of time with a puma and two ocelots. In all that time I have received two wounds and both of them from a miserable Macaw that I feed in the ealy morning. I am secretly hoping for a better scar which I can share with people as I get older. "Yep", I would say, pointing at the scar across my chest and neck. " That was a jaguar what got me back in 2010". Then I could retell the story over a pint of ale.
I have about 3 more weeks that I plan to help here before moving on. There is lots to do and volunteers have dropped from over 70 to about 30 in the last 4 weeks. More work but more rewards.
Until next time. Cheers from Ambue Ari, Bolivia, Roy
jjj
Yaguaru´s first day on his new "runner" which allows him access to the river for swimming and playing.....he chose not to swim this day
Ru unsure of whether to come out of his enclosure, or else he is feigning apathy so that I will come closer in order to teach me that I really don´t know anything about jaguars at all.
Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
