Kibale Wildlife

Ronan trying to get a reaction from the tea plantation workers by holding "Cleo". We ended up chatting with these guys for about 10 minutes about Chameleons. it was great!

Ronan is a great photographer and is as curious about bugs (we like to call them invertebrates) as I am.  He took in a small chameleon, the one whose eyes move independently from each other, and they turn color based on camouflage, stress and mostly body temperature.  I may be 30 years old, but I still love catching bugs to feed to animals, like I did as a child in the backyard, and at the zoo feeding golden orb spiders for 8 years.  This chameleon loves grasshoppers. So every day we catch at least 5 grasshoppers for it to eat. Today was a large kaydid which it took 20 minutes to swallow. The most fascinating part is watching the tongue slowly come out of its mouth, and then in a flash, it sticks to the insect, and is in the mouth.  But even more interesting is the cultural significance of chameleons.  Ugandans are terrified of them, some say it's because they possess weird powers, like moving eyes independently, and changing color.  Me, Caroline and Ronan took a walk with "Cleo" to the village and enjoyed everyone's reactions after they became a little desensitized to it -- those who were brave enough.

We have had two snakes come through our front yard/field. One was a green snake that slithered quickly through the grass.  Ronan picked it by the tip of its tail and identified it. A slender green snake – not venomous, so he handled it carefully, because they are aggressive by nature, and then let it go. This was the first non-captive snake I had seen in Uganda.  Today someone found a powdered tree snake – it’ a beautiful “powdered” purple and can climb up a vertical post using its fancy scales adapted for climbing vertically. But when Ronan handled it, it left scratches on his arm, due to the inverted scales.  In the local language near Kibale, Rutooro, “snake” is called “enjoka”.

It’s raining butterflies here, they are all over the place! All different species – at least 350 in this forest alone, and since our living quarters are in a grassy area, we can see them in the hundreds.

               Then a preying mantis landed on the porch.  It is 4 inches long and nocturnal, so we let him out at night so he can catch insects, and in the morning he is still near the light on the porch.

               Then Ronan found a ginormous worm type thing in the swamps while he was coming back from photographing chimps.  It really does look like a ginormous earthworm! And it was iridescent, so cool.

               I can't forget about the baboons, because every time I leave my duplex, I look around for those crazy monkeys and make sure my doors are closed so they don't come in and steal my food, or soap for that  matter. Last week they ate, I repeat, ate, my hotel soap from the shower. They are notorious for that.

Baboons sitting at our bathrooms during a rainstorm

Chameleon, "Cleo" experiencing a cultural exchange, a BIG deal for a Ugandan to hold one!

Powdered tree snake

Giganto worm, from the swamps

It was NOT my idea to put the slender green snake in with the chameleon. The latter was very stressed!

Tree Pangolin, in defense mode, curled in a ball

Preying Mantis

Two butterflies mating

               The biggest excitement happened last night when a researcher studying nocturnal cats found a pangolin, supposedly the hardest to see/find animal.  It is a nocturnal mammal in the scaly ant-eater family, Pholidota.  David saw it climbing a tree and grabbed it to show everyone, then released it after some pictures were taken. What a cool animal (but bad picture sorry)!

To see more exciting and amazing pictures of these animals, and many more, especially birds, google: Ronan Donovan Photography.