The slots were living up in the trees around our house. They were so slow and so cute and they only came down to the ground once a week to poop.
Unfortunately many of them get killed by domestic dogs. The reason why they are so slow is not because they are lazy or sleepy but because they only have half of the muscle mass other mammals of the same size have. Feeding a slot is never easy since they are extreme discerning when it comes to food. They are herbivores and when they finally get something they like they will only eat this the rest of their lives.
The howler monkeys up in the trees were living together in groups. They live on fruits and leaves they find in the trees. My first night in the Jungle I woke up by their howl and I believed it were the dogs. When Manu the next day showed me the monkeys who had made all the noise I were suprised to see that these tiny animals could make such powerful howl.
Around the house there were a number of huge Golden Orb Spiders.
They are prolific web spinners and can construct a large web overnight. They are also excellent mosquito catchers!
The Golden Orb spider is rather special since these spiders spin the strongest net in the world!
The silk of their web is the strongest natural fibre known to man. If you take a few strands of silk from their web and twirl it into one strand with your fingers, it is very difficult to breake. According to Nasa the silk of the Golden Orb Spider could be used in all sorts of projects, even bridge building. My dear friend Sany, stop destroying their webs! 😜Furthermore these spiders are harmless and very relaxed so I could easily enjoy them at a close distance.
One day I did the laundry this long green snake passed me. This was a Green Vine Snake. It was very slender, roughly 2 cm thick and about 1,5-2 meter long. Usually they live up in the trees looking down for prey. When a mouse, lizard or nest is found, the snake follows the prey at a short distance and smells it carefully. If the snake is conten with it, it lifts the prey from the ground and bites the prey with its two large upper teeth at the back of its mouth. Then a toxid salvia will paralyze the prey before the snake swallows it. The snake is not dangerous to humans.
The Agouti is a mammal living in groups up to 100. They were crossing our backyard many times a day and for me sitting there for hours working with the mosaics I could watch them on a distance. They look like a huge guinea pig on long legs, about 60 cm long and up to 4-5 kilos. They live on fallen fruits, leaves and roots and when they eat they sit on their legs holding the food between their fore paws with their hands like a squirrel. They have very strong and exceptionally sharp teeth. They are not dangerous to humans since they are herbivores and very shy.
The Blue Butterfly in our garden had a wing span of about 15 cm . These butterflies drink juice from rotten fruits with its suckling tube.
There were many small and cute lizards in our jungle and I believe the one who one day sat on my toes must have been a young one because most of the lizards I saw were up to 15 cm long. These tiny reptiles live on insects wich is good for humans since there are plenty of insects and in general mosquitos in the jungle.
One day one of Manus workers found this little orphan squirrel in the jungle. This is a Red Tailed Squirrel and we fed her with porrige, bananas, papayas, avocados and mothermilk from one of our guests that was brestfeeding her baby. We made a nest for her in a wooden basked and kept her close to one of us in a scarf rapped around our body at daytime. We named her Lucy and in a short time she got very used to her human friends. She stayed with us two weeks before she was given to a center that knows how to bring lost wildlife back to the nature again. I wish her a long and happy life with new squirrel friends and loads of nuts. 🤗🤗🤗
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