Lumen 21-10

Tame Wildlife, 1 of 2

 

Posted – October 2, 2021

 

Irrelevant tid bit – Don’t worry about avoiding temptation.  As you grow older, it will avoid you.

            Winston Churchill

 

 

Anyone who has worked with wild animals for any length of time has one or more stories of wild, unrestrained animals that were very tame and comfortable around people.  This is very entertaining for the people and is frequently a source of food for the animals, but it can lead to dangerous human-wildlife interactions when the people do not recognize that the animals are wild and do not understand, “No, you can’t have any more marshmallows”. 

 

The classic dangerous wildlife feeding problem was at Yellowstone National Park where for many years tourists were feeding grizzly bears from their cars or in campgrounds.  The bears quickly learned that humans mean food and routinely raided camps and buildings looking for an easy, tasty meal.  Of course, grizzly management in Yellowstone has resulted in years of research and controversy, which I will not go into, but some actions that were effective included  closing dumps where grizzlies congregated to dig for food, stopping tourists from feeding the bears, and educating the public about bear safety behavior.  Bear-human interactions have not stopped, but have been greatly reduced by these actions.  Tame Wildlife.

 

Nile Crocodile

In northern Kenya, just before the serious African desert starts, lies Lake Baringo where we stayed at a

African Fish Eagle

lodge that had an African Fish Eagle nest at the top of a large tree in the yard.  Our first day in the area we took a boat trip on the lake to search for waterbirds, Nile crocodiles, and other wildlife, but our first stop was an on-the-water meeting with local fisherman to buy fish.  I figured we were having fish for lunch, and I was way off.  Before long we could see the eagle nest at our lodge with an adult eagle prominently perched on top.  The boat driver says, “That is a trained eagle”, and I said to myself, “What a load of crap.”  Wrong again, tourist dude.  The boat driver stands up, whistles, and waves one of the fish he had just bought.  The eagle immediately takes off on a long slow glide toward us and free fish, and the driver throws the fish into the water.  We were all anticipating an exciting swoop of the eagle to capture the fish just a few feet from the boat, but that was not to be.  It seems that African Fish Eagles are not the only fish-eaters in Lake Baringo, as a Nile crocodile was also gliding in

Lake Baringo Fisherman

its own way toward the fish, and the race is on.    Croc 1, eagle 0.  The boat driver apologized and threw more fish out for the eagle, which performed as expected with repeated talon-grabs for the fish.  Meanwhile, we thought the croc vs eagle competition was a highlight of the trip.  Tame Wildlife.

 

Belize is a beautiful, small country just south of Mexico that accommodates the needs of tourists with guided trips and activities of all kinds.  While staying on Ambergris Caye I took a scuba diving trip to Hoi Chan Marine Reserve, a popular tourist destination just inside the protective reef.  The clear, shallow

Green Sea Turtles

(30 feet) water attracted nurse sharks, green sea turtles, rays, and a wide variety of other tropical sea life, and tourist boats.  We quickly put on our scuba gear and went under water with an unexpected twist, divers could not wear gloves to protect their hands.  This was designed to prevent divers from damaging the coral and other sea life by touching them, an effective conservation measure.  While we were diving, other boats of non-diving tourists were throwing food into the water for the nurse sharks.  So, we were diving with feeding sharks, but the sharks completely ignored us, in fact at one point my diving weight was too heavy and I was sinking to the bottom.  Just as I was reaching down with my hand to push off the bottom, a nurse shark swam directly below me.  We missed each other, but I’m sure I took more notice of this event than the shark did.  Tame Wildlife.

 

On a second Belize trip I left Caye Caulker for a boat trip to a snorkel site, but our first stop was at a

Nurse Shark

shallow spot in the bay.  We all jumped into the waist deep water as the boat staff threw fish and other bait into the water.  Immediately, we were surrounded by nurse sharks and rays.  However, surrounded is not exactly the right word, they swam all around us, between us, and between our legs rubbing human skin to sea skin.  When the boat ran out of food, the water visitors were gone in a flash.  These sharks and rays were so well trained/habituated that they knew precisely when to come and when to leave.  Tame Wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 Belize also has interesting terrestrial wildlife.  Howler monkeys are famous for, well, howling, especially early in the morning when us humans like to sleep.  They sound especially wild with a raucous group calling from the trees above your room in the wee hours.  However, in at least one spot in Belize, they come calmly to food handed to them by people: this includes howlers of all types - adult males, adult females, and females carrying young.  Tame Wildlife.

Howler Monkey with young

Feeding Howler Monkey