Animal Encounters

So I am back in the city after another month of hard field work in the forest. This past month I have completed density transects. Density transects can be used to determine approximate population densities of mammals in the forest. Typically, researchers walk transects and while doing so they are looking or listening for any animals. Accordingly, Helen and myself walked every transect twice (60 transects in total = 30 km transect distance), once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and we looked for any primate species and upon a sighting we recorded a bunch of data, such as height above ground and distance to primate. This sounds fairly simple and easy to do; however we finished with little data as the primates fled upon hearing us approaching. Furthermore, both of our focal primate species, the Thomas langur and gibbon and siamangs, are highly arboreal species and consequently they behave cryptically in response to human presence. So even if they were close to our transects they made it impossible for us to spot them. After finishing our transects, our bodies are sore and we are completely exhausted, since on average we walked about 10-15 km a day in rough terrain, mainly hills and steep slopes.  All I can say is that I felt my buns burning while climbing the hills and the only way I got through to completing the transects was thinking about the thighs of steel I must be getting!! The lack of success on our density transects dampened our mood at times, however, we bit the bullet and finished them.  On the bright side, we strengthened our friendship even more (if that’s even possible since we are practically attached at the hip 24/7) and also gained some incredible memories with some close animal encounters!

Enjoying the torrential downpour 

Helen and myself experienced one particular animal encounter that was both fantastic and terrifying. We were returning from a density transect that was particularly difficult and we had no luck in finding any primates. We walked in silence back to camp, as we were annoyed and frustrated with our fieldwork. As we were walking, we heard a loud crashing nearby. We stopped dead in our tracks and took a look around. To our surprise, there was a herd of WILD elephants only 10 METERS away from us. The herd of elephants included about 4-5 adults and 2-3 young. The presence of the young elephants made this situation much more dangerous as the mothers can become aggressive. Without thinking properly, we remained silent (you should make noise to alert the elephants of your presence) and watched the elephants eat. However, in the midst of eating a plant, the elephant closest to us turns its head and stares straight at us. Next thing we know, the elephant is trumpeting and within seconds the entire herd charges. It is by the grace of god that the elephants charged in the opposite direction of us or else we would have been trampled and possibly not alive. Our hearts were beating wickedly fast as we ran for our lives away from the elephants and once we stopped running we both looked at each other in disbelief and laughed nervously. 

This experience was an important reminder for Helen and myself – we are working in a forest with many wild animals and we must remain informed as to how to behave if and when we encounter any kind of animal. Putting the element of danger aside, I must say that this experience was life changing and will be a story I tell for many years to come. What strikes me the most is the simple fact that it is possible to encounter wild animals, such as elephants, in this forest. This makes me tingle with excitement from head to toe and gives me hope for the future towards conserving forest habitats for all animals.

An orangutan casually passing by camp!

 After being in the forest for so long, we sometimes forget all the magic that the forest has to offer us, as well as how lucky we are to be surrounded by the wonderful works of mother nature. Living in the forest isn’t always a breeze -- compromises have to be made to survive, such as having cold showers, eating a monotonous diet of rice, being sweaty 24/7 or best of all being revolted by your own smell. On the other hand, what the forest gives back to you is much much more rewarding and the drawbacks of forest life become negated. One particular morning I woke up on the ground, my body aching after a rough night sleep. My bed (air mattress) had broken for the second time within 3 days of purchasing it, whilst all the mattresses’ of everyone else were perfectly fine. The mattress breaking AGAIN makes me infuriated for some reason and I decide I need to be by myself for a little while. I gather all my dirty clothes and go down to the river to wash them by hand. After an hour of scrubbing and rinsing my clothes I am finally done...that is until a bunch of butterflies come over and decide to poo all over my clean clothes. My day off has not started on a good note. I decide to just rinse them and let them be. I go back to camp and begin organizing my field bag for the next day and while doing so I drop my Swiss-army knife on my big toe. I moan in pain and decide to sit still by the camp kitchen for a while. After a few minutes, I begin to calm down and soon I hear a rustling in the trees. I immediately think it’s just a squirrel and pay no particular attention to it. It is only until I notice the branches moving wildly that I notice it is a wild orangutan, approximate 5 feet above me!!! WTF, how can this be happening!?!?! The wild orangutan moves from tree to tree, directly in front of me in clear view, like its no big deal. It even decides to rest in a tree and look directly at me. As the orangutan looks at me, I realize how silly I was acting for being angry over little non-important things. I decided to embrace this orangutan encounter as a reminder that life could be worse. I am incredibly blessed to be in such an enchanting place and I have been offered an opportunity of a lifetime. I am also so thankful for having such a supportive family that encourages me to follow my wild dreams of working with primates. 

Another, but similar encounter I have experienced relates to a siamang, which is one of two primate species I am researching. Siamangs are highly arboreal primates and are typically found in the higher canopies of forests, which can reach heights up to 60 or more meters. Siamangs use brachiation as their method of locomotion, and accordingly move swiftly between trees with gracefulness and ease. 

photo credit: Thomas Geissmann Gibbon Research Lab, www.gibbons.de/

The siamang ready for its photo shoot!

This primate encounter starts off once again with Helen and myself walking towards one of our transects for a morning walk through. As we are walking, I hear a very faint rustling above my head. I look up and it is a bloody siamang hanging right above my head. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!! This primate encounter is very special for me, as I have only seen siamangs on few occasions in the forest and for only brief seconds before they brachiate away. This siamang is hanging by its obscenely long-arms (an important anatomical adaptation for this species related to brachiation) and looks at us like it is ready for its photo shoot. I continue to take pictures for 10 minutes or so until Helen has to pull me away so that we can continue going towards our transect. I am unable to put it in words how heart-touching this moment was for me. In a way, this encounter validated all my hard work thus far and gave me a new wave of energy and motivation for the next phases of my fieldwork.

All in all, this past month has been incredibly difficult for Helen and myself; however, these numerous animal encounters have made every moment in the forest special and memorable.