Komba Island Lemurs, Chaps and Chapesses
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sat 7 Sep 2019 23:57
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The Fauna We Met on Our Komba Island
Bimble
 Twenty-seven minutes ashore and we
see our first chap. All males here are black and are
slightly smaller than the females who run the show......they live in a troop,
peacefully, but will defend their territory against outsiders. Males are in
charge of scenting the boundary with tail rubbing and scent glands on their
inner wrists.
   Our guide
told us to stand a few metres from the settled lemur, hold a little piece of
banana and within seconds Trevor was visited.
Offering eaten the little chap was ready to move
on.
   I stood,
my chap leapt and then he was ready to seek. Light as a feather but
he did smell like the inside of a hamster cage. So very gentle, no claws, no
teeth, a joy.
 Bear was licked
clean.
  Hands and
feet. Allen’s wanted to use him as a lookout.
  Although black
they seem to blend in. Chap ready to
leap.
  Poised and
landed.
   I sat on a boulder to listen to our
guide and was joined by a chap. I had no banana but
he was quite happy.
 Our first
female could not be coaxed from her branch.
  The tortoise
whisperer ready with trigger
finger.
 This chap hung
like a bat whilst licking some smeared banana.
   Females
began to show some interest.
 One took a shine to
Allen.
  Then we saw a gorgeous little chameleon but in Madagascar they are seen as a harbinger of
bad luck.
  Small
tortoise. Our guide showed us that the male has a concave ridge under his
shell, shaped for mucky business....
  A hawk
circled high above us. A different sort of big
tortoise.
  This colourful
little chap (because he has red spots on his back) was happy to enjoy a
smear of banana. Note female on the right of the tree too shy to come any
closer. A close up of the chap.
   Allen held this
female boa constrictor, handed her to me and
after some persuasion Bear took her. She is wild and
will stay in a huge pit for a few days then she will be released. I took a short
video of Bear...........
  ..........the after picture, but they really did get
on.
 The real treat of the day was when
a female came down for a piece of banana. Her baby
was just three days old, such big eyes. Lemur
comes from the Latin Lemures meaning ghosts or spirits. Although
protected, many face extinction within the next twenty-five years. Less than ten
per cent of the hundred species of lemur are on the Least Concern
List.
 Eyes closed, hands
clinging and tail curled around mum like a belt.
   Such a joy to spend time with this
mum.
 Such pretty girls. Back to the
village very, very happy.
ALL IN ALL HEART
MELTING
TALK ABOUT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL –
WONDERFUL
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