Poachers and Police

So, the other day, the police came out to help on a patrol. We were a bit pessimistic since it was daytime and poachers usually work in the night. But somehow, the day worked and they came across a hunting camp and took possession of this little stash here. The air rifles are home made using bicycle pumps.. ingenious eh?

Gibbons this Time

We can finally add gibbons to the list of sighted animals.  While we have heard them hooting (a very distinctive hoot), we haven't been able to spot them till today.

While out on patrol (he calls it patrolling but really he is just hiking), Ben heard a pair not too far away - heading in that direction, he then heard another pair hooting from the other direction.  Soon he was in the midst of them and less than 10 metres away, they came pretty low to the ground and were just really mad at him for invading their territory.  He saw a mother, father and two youngsters up higher swinging.  He was able to watch them for about 20 minutes.  Then he decided to hoot back - that scared them off right away.  He then walked for about 200 metres and right in front of him a little above eye level in the trail was another female - not sure if she was part of the family or from another group.

Also today, he saw another group of languars and more hornbills who were flushed out of their fruit tree.  Not a bad wildlife day.  It will be interesting to see what protection can do for these animals.  If we can keep the place safe enough from hunters and poachers, the wildlife which is obviously there, should start to feel safer and be more willing to come out.  It is really quite a balancing act because we want them safe and to feel safe but maintaining their wariness of humans is also not a bad thing for their own good if we cannot keep the place safe.  It would be ideal if they realised that a certain area was safe and they worked out where the boundaries were.  We really need to get some development and training going on in the village to educate about the impact of hunting and also find other livelihoods for them that can directly come out of their non-hunting. We need some development activities which impact them directly which is also contingent on their non-hunting.

No cameras today either.  I have his little compact here in Phnom Penh trying to get cleaned up - it is foggy and we were guessing that there was mould build up inside but no repair shop wants to attempt to open it up since it is not broken.  I did manage to find a guy who has repaired camera traps before - I hope he can fix ours - both will not power on.  It will be fun to see what what we can catch in these traps.

This wasn't taken by us but this is a female gibbon contemplating something... see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pileated_Gibbon_(Hylobates_pileatus).jpg for credit

Jumping Caterpillars

It has been a long time since we made any installments on this blog.  Ben went to Nepal so all work stopped out at the Forest.  It was a very unfortunate time to go as it was a lovely dry July and the rice farmers did not have enough rain to start planting.  Naturally as soon as he returned, the rains started and all his potential helpers were no longer available.  So instead he got to stay home with us which we all enjoyed.  Last week he went to the mountain and camped for two nights.  The river and mud hole outside the village were too much of an obstacle to traverse with a loaded pickup so he parked that in the village and hiked out.

With no tools and only one man he couldn’t do much work so he traipsed around the forest and had a fun time.  The forest is beautiful this time of year, everything so green and pretty.  I want him to write about it but who knows if he’ll get to it but he spotted two troops (??) of leaf monkeys – silver langurs.  He was able to watch them in the trees for quite a time.  The male and leader was most alarmed and annoyed.  Making loud grunting sounds.  They were way up in the trees and photo attempts were not successful.  He does have a recording of the males agitated scolding.  He also came across a herd (now that is the wrong word) of wild pigs.  They were running away luckily and there must not have been a very angry one there otherwise Ben would have had to run up a tree. 

Well, finally the weather cleared up properly and on Monday, he was able to actually drive the pickup out there loaded with all sorts of equipment and materials.  Today I believe he got another post up on the building.  The most interesting thing however was the spotting of these giant caterpillars.   He has about five workers out there with him.  He noticed them jumping away in fright at something.  On investigation, they had found a large caterpillar, about seven inches long the fatness of a thumb (maybe Ben’s thumb which is pretty large as thumbs go).  The workers were terrified of them.  Ben was told that they jump on you and that they can jump about a metre!   But when they tried to make them jump, they refused to perform.  They are the furry kind that usually sting so it wouldn’t be nice to have one jump on you out of the blue!  Being so big as a caterpillar, they must turn into a pretty big butterfly!  They found about three of four of them and they eat leaves from the Chleat tree so maybe he can keep them till they become chrysalises and see what they grow into.  They might just escape in the meantime. 

And that is the story of the jumping caterpillars.