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Published: December 9th 2006
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Yesterday we met up with Doug and Mr. Kwa and headed up to Cuc Phuong National Park to see the Turtle Conservation Project, Small Carnivore Project, Endangered Primate Rescue Center and whatever wildlife might be left in the park. On the way there, we were diverted but Mr. Kwa went around. When we got to the other end of the road, the lady guarding the makeshift gate told him he needed to go back (instead of her lifting the gate open). Nice, smiley Mr. Kwa said something and Doug told us it was something along the lines of "I hear if you drink the water here, it makes you STUPID!" We had a good laugh about that since he was smiling the entire time he said it.
Seeing the
Turtle Conservation Center with Doug was a real treat since he was the one who founded the program. While we saw a variety of turtles, perhaps the most fun thing was going in to one of the turtle enclosures to search for "the most photographed turtle in Asia" as Doug referred to it. We climbed over the fence and started picking up brush and leaves, looking for this allegedly gorgeous turtle. "Is it
this one?" Wendy said. "Is it the most beautiful turtle you've ever seen?" responded Doug. "Um, it's pretty..." said Wendy. And it went like this for a while as we tore the enclosure apart until Doug called in Phuong, the current head of the program, who walked in and picked up the turtle. It was truly gorgeous - an Indochinese Box Turtle, and quite a beauty. Yes, it is absolutely the most beautiful turtle I've ever seen. Then he took us to the quarantine building where sick and injured turtles recuperate until then can go in to the rescue center. Some of the turtles have trap injuries. One in particular, a vicious water turtle of some sort, was one Doug wanted us to see. There was just a lump under the sand and he reached in to pick it up, right as he told us how mean they are and how hard they bite. The process of watching him determine which end is head and which is tail was kind of scary!
Following that, we headed over to the Small Carnivore Project (previously just a civet project) to meet Leanne, the Australian volunteer vet who is working on the
project for the next two years. She showed us around the civet enclosures, although most of them were sleeping. And then the big moment of anticipation - a real, live pangolin! We went into the area where they live and she opened the nest box door, but all we saw was the hind end. They look like a giant hairy pinecone with a prehensile tail from the back. (But wait! There's more...)
We headed off to lunch, then went down to the
Endangered Primate Rescue Center which is operated by a German zoo. The animals there were rescued from the wildlife trade or seized by customs. They have a beautiful array of animals including the very, very rare Cat Ba langur and the Delacours langur, another very rare animal that lives in a small population near the park. It was fun to see white-cheeked gibbons since we have them at the zoo - the male was grunting and making all sorts of menacing noises I haven't heard our gibbon make. We also saw a few babies and teenagers. They're born white, but eventually the males turn black and the females remain white.
We went on a small hike in the park
Owsten's Civet
Isn't she a beauty? to the Cave of Prehistoric Man, an ancient cave, then we came back to see the civets being fed at the Small Primate Center. Leanne showed us around and we got a good look at them. They're truly beautiful and delicate looking little animals, but between their musk, beautiful coat and apparently delicious flesh, they are under great threat from the wildlife trade in the area. We then returned to the park for dinner.
We were the only ones dining besides a couple a few tables away, and as bizarre circumstances would have it, Leanne looked up and the man at the other table looked up and they realized they'd been classmates in Australia! He's a spider expert at the Taronga Zoo in Australia, so he and his wife came over and joined us and we had fun zoo chats.
Then it was time for pangolin dinner time! Two keepers spend 2 hours a day collecting live ant nests for the pangolins. The reason few of us have heard of these guys is because virtually none of them have survived in captivity. Taipei Zoo exhibits them, but no one in the US has exhibited them successfully. Karen and
Wendy were virtually skipping in anticipation. We went back into their enclosure area and Leanne opened the nest box. No pangolin - where are P1 and P3? And then I looked up and there he was, clinging to the chain link over our heads. He scurried around, climbing up and down branches, dangling from limbs from his prehensile tail. Amazing. Leanne went to get the ant nests - red fire ants tonight...yummy! The door to the enclosure was open and P3 was heading towards us, about to escape, and Waz (Taronga Zoo) leaned over and scooped him up to put him back inside. I thought Karen might have a heart attack right then and there...he's touching a pangolin!!
The ant pile was tossed in his dish and he went crazy, scarfing down ants and greens. The ants were covering him, but when he sat up all of the ants on his stomach were dead - pretty cool defense mechanism, isn't it? We took many photos (and yes, we got to touch him) and went to bed happy and ant-bitten.
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Judy Pell
non-member comment
same here
I told you to boil EVERYTHING. LOve, Grammie and Grampie