Friday, March 24, 2006
The Leech And The Scorpion!
The route took us through the Outdoor Nursery area, where it was fantastic to see the 6 youngsters (Kimball, Toby, Susanna, Brock, Annalisa and Tompong - the ones who moved up there from Indoor Nursery last Monday) wandering around outside while the girls of Group 2 cleaned their temporary holding cage. The new arrivals are reportedly adjusting well to the extra freedom up there, although they still hug each other for support when some of the bigger ones try to muscle in on their food. Since being orphaned they would only have mixed with orangutans of their own age and size, so suddenly seeing Mr.G or Guramboi approaching must be absolutely terrifying to them!
So on with the trek and within 20 minutes we had spotted 5 nests. All quite old. It's much harder to see a new nest because the leaves are still green and matching the rest of the tree, whereas the old ones have turned dark brown. Surprisingly few leeches today. But as i'll explain later it only takes one to inflict some serious damage...!
At the end of the trek we watched some of the orangutans start to assemble at Platform A. I didn't have my camera with me which was a real shame because Mr.G, one of the big males, casually walked up and across the platform among all the tourists. At least one woman had a real shock when she turned round to see him standing right next to her!
After lunch Vicky and I went in to help out with the Indoor Nursery (Becky and Elle had gone to Turtle Island). It was great to be back in there with all the little ones, although after all the recent transfers to Outdoor it was a lot less hectic.The rains stopped and we were able to take Naru and Gangi out for some exercise.
On the way up to the trees we passed Nick. He was looking a bit flustered and no wonder - as he'd lifted up an old cement bag a big scorpion had run out and was now hiding in a crack in the ground - lucky escape! See below for more about the scorpion...
So into the woods we went with the orangutans. Naru had mostly been ill when we did our stint in Indoor so it was good to spend some quality time with him. He is the other orangutan that can be adopted (like Sogo Sogo) via the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK scheme. Hint Hint!He is not as confident in the trees as Gangi but he still managed to do plenty of climbing. Up there in the woods must be where i picked up a "special forces" leech too, although i didn't know it until much later (explicit photo ahead, be warned...)
After returning them both to their cages I wandered up to help Nick with painting some wood roof panels for the new play area. They are going to go underneath the coconut palm leaf thatching, to stop the orangutans from ripping a hole.
Rosali was there with him and by now they had managed to coax the scorpion out into the open. By now it was putting on quite a show of agression for us!
When i got back to the resthouse and peeled off my shirt i had another shock - there was dried blood smeared all around my left nipple. My first thought was leech, but there was no sign of it now. So i looked at my shirt and saw a big patch of blood on there too.
One of the little b*ggers had obviously sneaked under my shirt while i was playing with Naru, climbed up my chest and then been gently suckling on my nice warm nip until it was full, then just dropped off onto the ground for a well satisfied nap! As soon as i washed off the dried blood it started bleeding again of course. Yukky yuk yuk, but I know you'll still want to see the bloodfest...
After about 15 minutes of dabbing with tissues the bleeding had stopped again and i could get changed for Kristina, Kirsty and Sheena's housewarming party. They all work for the Sepilok Appeal and Sheena (the primatologist) and Kirsty will be tracking the new releases once they are let out of the Outdoor Nursey holding cage, hopefully early next week.
After all that drama today i certainly deserved a drink... :-)
