The Weekly Recap
Hello and welcome back to the weekly recap! This recap will cover posts up until the 4th of January:)
Our first order of business is the Mammalwatching Community Meeting being held online tomorrow (Saturday) at 21:00 UTC+1, open to everyone! If one of your New Year’s Resolutions is to be unhappy, then why not join in? In all seriousness, it will probably be quite fun as mammal-related things go, because the main goal is to shortlist the reports for this year’s NUTTER awards. As I’m sure you’ll all be devastated to hear, I can’t make it. It would be much appreciated if someone could stand in for me to ensure my dad gets nominated for “worst mammalwatching moment”..
Anyway, the first trip report of the week was by Ingo Röhl from a 1StopBorneo Wildlife trip last autumn. Some highlights from the trip are Moon Rat, Marbled Cat, Sunda Pangolin and Bornean Orangutan.
He also shared his report from a month in Madagascar with Dodi’s Lemur Tours – aptly named, as they saw 30 lemur species! Aye-aye, Eastern Woolly Lemur and Fossa are some highlights. The report has many great photos, too, so definitely check it out.
Next was a report by “wildlifeship” of a short yet successful trip to Ecuador and Panama in search of the Spectacled Bear! They also saw a Kinkajou, Crab-eating Fox and have a new favourite monkey (Geoffroy’s Tamarin)!
This great report by Simon Greppler of his trip to Costa Rica a couple of years ago includes an amazing 101 species in 17 days! Definitely check it for Lowland Paca, Mexican Porcupine, Central American Silky Anteater and Northern Ghost Bat, to name just a few highlights.
Ashton Reiser has shared a trip report from Brazil, with 25 very charismatic species such as Jaguar, Maned Wolf, Tapir and Giant Anteater!
Next is this report from Demian Hiß combining two trips to Northwest Africa (Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania). Some highlights of these trips were the North African Elephant Shrew, Fennec Fox, and Saharan Striped Polecat.
Daan Drukker’s report from Palawan and Calamianes (Philippines) features what is probably the first ever photo of a Culion Tree Squirrel (well, technically the second, as the first didn’t make the cut)! It’s a great report in general, so definitely give it a read.
And the final trip report this week was Venkat Sankar’s from a groundbreaking mammal survey trip in Western Mexico: he recorded 51 species in just 8 days, including Carter’s Myotis, Northern Mouse Opossum and Ring-tailed Ground Squirrel!
A couple of new trips are being advertised: Bonobos in the DRC with Middle Africa this September, and Borneo in June with 1StopBorneo Wildlife and Marc Bozon, on an exciting mission to search for wild cats this year! Check out the posts if you’re interested in joining.
And Royle Safaris’ 2026-2027 newsletter is here – have a look to see what trips you might want to book! Although I must say I get a little touchy at the mention of other newsletters 😤
It’s that time of the month again… time for a new episode of the Mammalwatching Podcast! How exciting. This one is an interview with János Oláh, the founder of Sakertours, Eastern Europe’s legendary mammal tour company. I’ve not listened to the whole thing yet, but have been really enjoying it so far as it starts with a “live from the field” account of my dad, Charles, Janos and co’s failures in searching for a Sumatran Striped Rabbit. So have a listen if you’re craving a bit of Schadenfreude 😉
Charles has shared this very cool post about a bioluminescent squirrel – he managed to get a photo of a Northern Flying Squirrel’s tummy shining pink under a UV light!
Chad Johnson travelling to Sorong, Indonesia in March would like a recommendation for a mammal guide/tour company, and Miles Foster going to the Southern Pantanal later this year would love some general suggestions on the best time, areas and guides for species like Maned Wolf, Giant Anteater and cats.
Ben W. saw a mysterious whale off the coast of NSW and is asking for any species ID ideas you might have – see this post for the description.
Finally, Jean is considering buying a Thermal Master X2 and is wondering which countries he is allowed to travel to with it.
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Thanks for reading:)
Katy
Cover photo: Indri – Ingo Röhl
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