Category Archives: animals

‘Dedicated Naturalist’: Mary and the donkeys

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

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A snippet from my volunteer work on the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project, helping to decipher and digitise, record and publicise the life’s work of naturalist extraordinaire, Dr Mary Gillham.

Thanks in part to the slide-perusing efforts of one of our most fervent supporters and advisory board member, Catherine Duigan of Natural Resources Wales, we have come to realise that Mary Gillham was a sucker for donkeys.

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Catherine is Irish and has been blogging, on her own blog and for the Mary Gillham Archive Project website, about Mary’s adventures in Ireland, where the donkey still played a vital part in industry and transportation, especially in the more rural areas and on the Irish islands Mary visited.

In her book This Island Life: Discovering Britain’s Offshore Gems (Halsgrove, 2007, p.20), Mary writes about the use of horse- and donkey-power on Cape Clear Island, County Cork:

Most ploughing, and certainly harrowing, and lighter jobs, were dependent on horse power. Horse, donkey and mule might be teamed together to pull the heavier implements and we also encountered the less usual hinny, the sire a horse stallion and the dam a mare donkey, jennet or jenny. This is the opposite cross to the one producing a mule.

You’ll find some delightful reproductions of Mary’s donkey slides in Catherine’s blogs (here and here) but I couldn’t resist hunting out a few more. They capture a wonderful slice of local Irish life which, I imagine, has now mostly disappeared so Mary’s archival records are helping to preserve these important and thoroughly charming aspects of Irish cultural and social history. 

Revegetated plot from pierhead. Jaunting cart 2006
Mutual preening. Big northeast bay-> lagoon. Lotus, Aran
Old man comes out to mount ass. Aran
Plane landing on ungrazed airstrip, Inisheer
Great sandy inlet being cut off from sea. Kilronan
Donkeys help Nance James peel an apple, Aran
Fence preserves Inisheer’s cemetary 1979

For the full story about the Mary Gillham Archive Project, check out our website, https://marygillhamarchiveproject.wordpress.com/  and follow our progress on Facebook and on Twitter.

The Llama panorama

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Did you know:

The llama is sturdy and sure-footed, making it the ideal beast to carry heavy loads along the narrow mountain trails of South America.

The fine undercoat of wool on llamas is used to make clothing and handcrafts, and the more coarse outer wool is often made into rugs.

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Llamas mate lying down – it’s called a kush position (sounds cushy to me!) – which is rather unusual for such a big animal and, also unusual for their size, their mating is no quick fling. Instead, they’re at it for between 20 and 45 minutes, plus the sexually aroused male makes a gargling sound – called an orgle – before and during the mating process.

Female llamas have very short tongues, preventing them from licking their newly born babies (called crias) so, instead of bonding with their offspring through the licking process, the mummy llamas nuzzle their babies and hum to them.

Llamas are family animals, sharing a strong familial bond and looking out for each other. When threatened, a llama will emit a warning bray to alert the rest of the herd, and llamas often hum to each other as a way of communicating. As well as these sounds, they also make groaning noises or produce a ‘mwa’ noise when they’re afraid or angry. Strange then that humans use ‘mwa’ as an expression for sending someone a kiss.

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a large herd of llamas on the hills behind La Paz, in Bolivia

‘Dedicated Naturalist’: What is a cow?

03 Monday Oct 2016

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A snippet from my volunteer work on the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project, helping to decipher and digitise, record and publicise the life’s work of naturalist extraordinaire, Dr Mary Gillham. This piece is from Mary’s days as a Land Girl during the Second World War and is, it seems, ‘a dairying student’s concept of a cow’.

A cow is a completely automatic milk manufacturing machine. It is encased in untanned leather and mounted on four movable vertical supports, one on each corner.

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The front end contains the cutting and grinding machine, as well as headlights, air inlet and exhaust, and bumper and foghorn. At the rear is the dispensing apparatus and an automatic fly swatter.

The central portion houses a hydrochemical conversion plant. This consists of four fermentation and storage tanks connected in series by an intricate network of flexible plumbing. This section also contains the heating plant complete with automatic temperature controls, pumping station and main ventilating system. The waste processing and disposal apparatus is located at the rear of this central section.

In brief, the external visible features are: two lookers, two hookers, four stander-uppers, four hanger-downers and a swishy-wishy.

There is a similar machine known as a bull which should not be confused with a cow. It produces no milk but has other interesting features. 

For the full story about the Mary Gillham Archive Project, check out our website, and follow our progress on Facebook and on Twitter.

El culpeo

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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For world wildlife Wednesday we head back to Bolivia for a closer look at this character, the Culpeo, Lycalopex culpaeus, also known as the Andean fox or wolf. True to the characterisation of foxes as wily, this one knew a tourist vehicle when it saw it and, though its normal diet would include rabbits, birds, rodents and whatever other small beasties it could hunt down, this fox obviously equated tourists with food. And it was not disappointed. On our Red Planet Expedition, in 4-wheel-drive vehicles deep in the remote regions of the Bolivian Altiplano, we carried food with us and our drivers prepared our lunches each day. El culpeo dined on chicken bones as we drove slowly off to our next destination.

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The Andean fox can be found in many South American countries, ranging from parts of Ecuador, Peru and Colombia in the north down to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in the south, though is mostly found on the western side of the mighty Andes mountain range. Just as today’s domesticated dogs all have a common ancestor in the wild wolf, there was once a breed of domesticated dog (the Fuegian dog) that was derived from this fox, but it became extinct some time in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Viscacha

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

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The impending arrival of yet another World Wildlife Wednesday sent me trawling through my photos to see what other examples of international wildlife I had in my archives, which resulted in a wonderful hour or more of reminiscing about past travel experiences. I love how photos bring back such amazing memories.

But I digress. I first met this furry little creature in November 2011 in Bolivia, on the edge of the highest desert in the world, the Siloli. Looking a bit like a cross between a hare and a squirrel, the Northern Viscacha (Lagidium peruanum) is actually part of the Chinchilla family. It lives in large colonies that are split into family groups, and it eats a wide range of plant matter, settling for almost anything it can find growing in such a harsh, rocky environment. It also eats bread – probably not the best thing to feed a wild animal but that was all the members of my group had to entice the beasties down from their rocky hideaways for some photos.

I next met the Viscacha in May 2012 in Peru, at Macchu Pichu, sleepily lazing away the afternoon in a nice sunny spot amongst the rocks. We were mutually surprised to see each other but, after rapidly firing off a few quick shots, I backed off and the two little Vissies quickly went back to sleep. They were very cute!

Meeting the Maasai cattle

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

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Herding cattle, sheep and goats, sleeping in a boma, getting blessed by the chief, making bead jewellery and dancing – all in a day’s work when you spend time with the Maasai!

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After writing about Cambodia cattle for last Wednesday’s world wildlife post, I just had to show you some Maasai cattle (and people) images this week. In October 2014 I was privileged to spend 3 days and a night in a Maasai village in Tanzania, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

In this and the surrounding villages controlled by chief Meshuku Mappi, the Maasai own approximately 170,000 cattle, sheep and goats. That number seems almost incredible but, after watching huge herds of beasts being driven home to their overnight corrals by the men of the tribe, I can definitely believe it.

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It was the perfect photo opportunity – cloven hooves churned up dust from the bone dry ground, statuesque baobob trees punctuated the landscape like frozen giants, and the bright reds and blues of the men’s clothing popped against the browns of the landscape and the animals.

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And, after an overnight stay in one of the village bomas (mud huts), we were up early next morning to catch the sun rise over the nearby hills and to watch the men driving the animals out for the day’s grazing. Life for the Maasai revolves around their animals – their cows are their primary source of food, and their wealth and status are measured in cattle. The Maasai are very special people and it was a huge privilege to spend time with them and get a glimpse of their daily lives.

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Cattle in Cambodia

16 Tuesday Aug 2016

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World wildlife Wednesday has rolled around again, and I was stuck for an idea this week until my friend Viv, who lives in Thailand, posted a photo of one of her local water buffalo.

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My photos, however, were not taken in Thailand but in Cambodia, where I lived and worked for seven months back in 2013. Both water buffalo and the local cattle are common sights there, pulling wagons and ploughs, and wallowing in muddy watering holes. These valuable, well-tended beasts of burden are also farmed for their dairy products, and cow dung has long been used both as fertiliser and as fuel in impoverished countries like Cambodia. Cattle also feature in their ancient religions, and representations can be seen in the stone statues and sculptured reliefs that adorn the world-famous temples of Angkor Wat and the local pagodas. So, today we have a celebration of ‘bovinity’!

‘Dedicated Naturalist’: Crafty grey squirrels

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

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A snippet from my volunteer work on the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project, helping to decipher and digitise, record and publicise the life’s work of naturalist extraordinaire, Dr Mary Gillham. This is an extract from a piece called ‘Oak trees and rabbits helped by those crafty grey squirrels’, written by Mary for the Cardiff Naturalists’ Society newsletter, June 1997:

We hear a lot about the squirrels’ intelligence in overcoming man’s best efforts to deter them from appropriating victuals put out for others. Recent work … has revealed their native wisdom in dealing with more natural foods.

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Many acorns are invaded by weevils, which are as acceptable as squirrel food as is the surrounding nut, but which shorten the life and viability of the fruit. Acorns collected are assessed for longevity by the squirrels, the infected ones eaten and the sound ones buried for another day. This guarantees them a surer food supply for winter and benefits the oak population by giving a higher than average viability of the acorns left to germinate and provide tender shoots for rabbits, rodents and sheep.

The squirrels’ ability … [is] from a high level of intellect evolved to better their own lot and – as part of the general wider plan governing the complex web of nature – to benefit others. Natural mechanisms of behaviour have more repercussions than are at first apparent!

For the full story about the Mary Gillham Archive Project, check out our website,  and follow our progress on Facebook and on Twitter.

World wildlife Wednesday: Antelopes anonymous

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

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I used the word anonymous in my title because I’m not entirely sure what all of these animals are. And I use the word ‘antelopes’ in the broadest possible sense, as my photos may well include creatures that are not strictly speaking members of the antelope family. The trouble is that when you go on safari in a country like Tanzania, it’s far too easy to be overwhelmed by and enraptured with the less common, more sensational animals (the lions and leopards and cheetahs), so the ‘antelopes’, though no less interesting in themselves, tend to get ignored just a little.

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Having said that I did have to sort through more than a hundred ‘antelope’ photos when choosing which to include in this post. And, because I knew I would forget them, I did ask our guides the names of what we were seeing and made a list – I’m just not sure now which is which on that list. So, these photos may or may not include: impala, topi, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, dik-dik, waterbuck, bushbuck, Cape eland, and Coke’s hartebeest.

Welsh cats

19 Sunday Jun 2016

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I’m a cat person. I know many people who are besotted with their dogs – about 90% of all Britons, judging by the numbers of dogs everywhere – but I just don’t get it. In fact, I get positively annoyed by dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs or who seem to think it’s funny when their wet and muddy little rats jump up on strangers leaving wet and muddy footprints on what was clean clothing. Grrrrrr!

On the other hand, I love cats – though, I admit, these days I am frequently torn between my love of cats and my love of birds, the former being frequently the killers of the latter. Still, I love cats and would love to have one but my living arrangements prevent that. So, when I’m out walking I often spend time talking to the cats I meet along the way – lurking in long grass, keeping look-out from rooftops, guarding the wheelies, controlling the traffic, sunning on window sills, communing with spirits in the graveyard, and that battered and bruised old Tom patrolling the local patch.