by Loti | Mar 13, 2013 | Animals, Birds, Food, Thailand
Thailand. Here we are back in the Andaman Sea looking at one of the many caves appearing in the limestone karsts. The caves are home to a bird species, of the swallow family, who builds its nests high inside the dark caves. And somebody has to harvest the nests since they are highly prized by the Chinese for making bird nest soup. You can see one of the bird nest gatherers in the photo along with some of the bamboo scaffolding they use to climb up to the nests. This goes on my list of most unique jobs ever. The nests are only woven by the male birds and made of bird saliva so in essence, bird nest soup is the same as eating steamed bird spit (yummy). But don’t cringe as bird nest soup is one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The gatherers live in the caves for up to a month at a time and most are heavily guarded to prevent theft. Luckily this guy appeared friendly as he waved at us. And on an interesting note, a synonym for gatherer is magpie, another bird friend who we know recognizes him/herself in the mirror. So the world comes full circle. ...
by Loti | Mar 11, 2013 | Animals, Art, Thailand
Thailand. What are all these intricate patterns on the beach, I wonder? Where did they come from. Aliens? Reminds me of the mysterious corn maze circles. But on closer observation, there are tiny little sand colored crabs scurrying around. Every time I get near they descend into their burrows. It turns out, the sand balls shown in the photo, are made by sand bubbler crabs native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The crabs take sand into their mouths, sift thru it looking for organic materials washed in by the tide, and then spit the sand out into a ball. They can make 360 balls an hour (I am not sure who sat and counted) forming the most amazing patterns radiating from their burrow holes. At high tide, the balls are washed away and the crab starts all over at low tide. The longer the tide is out, the more detailed the pattern. Quite the little artists in nature....
by Loti | Mar 4, 2013 | Animals, Thailand
Thailand. With the opening of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) yesterday in Bangkok, Thailand has announced they will move to ban all ivory trade including domestic trade. (I like to think my signature on the petition last week really moved this along). This is potentially good news for the elephants depending on when and how it is enacted. So what is CITES? Having never heard of it until last week, it certainly has been in the news recently. Well it is a treaty signed by 197 countries (called parties) with a goal to ensure the international trade of plants and animals doesn’t threaten survival of the species in the wild. Over 34,000 species are covered. Wow. Plants and animals are categorized into 3 categories with Level I addressing plants and animals faced with the threat of extinction. Included in this list are Asian elephants, some populations of African elephants, jaguars, gorillas, red pandas, tigers and manatees. Woah. Manatees? Yep. Manatees are an endangered species. And even more interesting (to me) is DNA evidence suggests manatees are related to elephants. So that sweet manatee you see in the coastal waters of Florida may be related to the baby elephant I am feeding in Northern Thailand. Once again, the world comes around in a full circle. Absolutely amazing! ...
by Loti | Mar 1, 2013 | Africa, Animals, Thailand
Thailand. In 1989, a worldwide ban on the sale of elephant ivory was agreed to by 105 (out of 110) countries as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Although Thailand is part of the agreement, they have a unique law that allows for the sale of ivory from domesticated Asian elephants. Huh? This law has been used to launder illegal African ivory thru Thailand. Today it is estimated 2,500 elephants are slaughtered a month worldwide for their tusks which is a status symbol in many Asian countries. Poaching is the biggest threat to African elephants while habitat encroachment is the biggest threat to Asian elephants. Next week, Bangkok hosts the annual CITES meeting. Yesterday, a petition was delivered to the prime minister of Thailand from the World Wildlife Fund (it is free to join) calling on Thailand to ban the trade of all ivory in the country. The petition had over 500,000 signatures, including mine and Leo DiCaprio’s. Oh my. How very cool to feel like I am making a difference. By the way, you may be wondering why the photo today looks different than the previous elephant photos. The elephant’s ears are much larger and she has tusks. Asian elephants have smaller ears and the females do not have tusks, unlike the African ones. So this is a photo of an African elephant I took while on safari in Botswana. An entirely different life experience just waiting to be shared! ...
by Loti | Feb 19, 2013 | Animals, Sports, Thailand
Thailand. The Four Season’s Elephant Camp in Northern Thailand offers polo lessons on elephants as an activity. We didn’t have time to try it (I was too busy riding my elephant, Bounma and taking pictures from my perch on her head of the elephants in front of me), but I was fascinated with the concept. Turns out there is a World Elephant Polo Association. Last year 48 riders from over 15 countries participated in the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament. Not knowing anything about polo with horses, let alone elephants, I set out to learn the rules. There are 4 elephants per side with 2 people riding each elephant and elephants are strictly forbidden from lying down in front of the goals posts to prevent a goal. My favorite rule is “elephants are to be given sugar cane or vitamin enriched rice balls at the end of each match and players get a cold beer, but not vice versa. That is the actual rule! Money is raised thru the tournaments for the future care of elephants and their mahouts and conservation efforts. Of course not everyone is happy including the animal activist folks who contend polo is cruel to the animals. Seeing how well the elephants are cared for at The Four Seasons, I look forward to my first polo lesson....
by Loti | Feb 13, 2013 | Animals, Thailand
My elephant, Bounma, responded to my simple commands. The 2 most important being Pai, go forward, and the very most important (at least to me) How, meaning stop. The card around my neck has all the basic commands which I referred to often on our 2 hour jungle trek. But Bounma didn’t talk back. Other than to snort, trumpet and generally make elephant noises. Which made me even more nervous than I already was sitting on this huge, although, gentle animal. But Koshik, a 22 year old Asian elephant, has stunned researchers by imitating human words. And in Korean, no less, which is considered one of the hardest languages in the world to master. He can say hello, sit down, no, lie down and good. I wonder if he knows stop? He places his trunk in his mouth to make the words which has never been seen before as a method of vocal production by elephants or any other species. I am continually stunned by what I learn about these amazing creatures. Falling in love all over...
