The Weekly Recap
Hello everyone, welcome back to another weekly recap:)
This week’s first trip report was from Sichuan and Qinghai, China. There are yet again some adorable red panda pictures – I love this new tradition. It also has an incredible picture of a Tibetan Macaque looking like it’s found the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything (and yes, it is 42) – as well as many more cool mammals.
There were two reports from West Africa: Ghana – with 37 species including a new species of tree hyrax – and Senegal and Gambia, the highlight of which was African Manatee!
Next up is a trip to West Papua and Sulawesi – a trip born from a 12 year old’s dream of exotic fruit bats (sounds like someone I know…). Lowland Ringtail Possum, Whitish and Northern Dwarf Squirrels and Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus are just some of the many mammals included.
The next trip report is from Cat Tien NP, Vietnam. Check it out for many squirrel species, Northern Smooth-tailed Treeshrew, Woolly Horseshoe Bat and more.
This trip to Ladakh saw an incredibly close and extremely long Snow Leopard encounter: over 4 hours at 50m! They also saw Pallas’ Cats, Tibetan Sand Fox and Wolves and more – despite this being a “family trip”… Hmm. But I must admit even I would not be complaining (for once) with sightings like that.
Next is a report from 5 days in West Coast NP, South Africa, including several Caracal!
The last trip report of the week is this Royle Safaris Vancouver Island Trip! 24 species including Dall’s Porpoise, Vancouver Island Marmot and some very mischievous Common Raccoons caught mid parkour, bandit masks and all (definitely plotting a heist).
If all this wasn’t enough to put you off joining a future mammal trip, there are several planned for the new year. Vietnam in April with Royle Safaris (for Douc Langurs, Southern Yellow-cheeked Gibbon, Pygmy Slow Loris…) or Namibia in May with Namibia Mammal Safari (Ground Pangolin, Spot-necked Otter, Elephant Shrew and more). I need not remind of the reasons why simply typing the word “Namibia” makes my hands shake and the likelihood of me putting my dad in a… modest care home skyrocket (or maybe it is too simply too soon for me to handle the trauma again), but seeing Dora still feels like a knife to the heart. I can picture her flying out of that car window so clearly…
If you have any advice on nocturnal photography, be it gear or technique, please share here!
Additionally, a dead rat found in Harare, Zimbabwe is in need of identification.
Finally, exciting news: the Global Mammal List has been updated, so check it out and comment any other suggestions! And can I just add, if a “man cold” involves crying at 2am over how beautiful the world is and what a mess we’ve made of it and waking me up to watch a David Attenborough video (this has been known to happen), then yes, they are dramatic.
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Thanks for reading:)
Katy
Cover photo: Jan Ebr
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