Category: Americas and Eurasia and Africa

Word power: (un)common sense on cats as pets, in Australia (with cat-connected Namibian & Tunisian bonus content)

Published November 15, 2023 by Pelidoug

Word power: (un)common sense on cats as pets, in Australia (with cat-connected Namibian & Tunisian bonus content)

“Our” world is so oversaturated with sensationalism, misrepresentation, haranguing, intolerance, name-calling, “cancelling”, “virtue signalling” and the “100% this versus 100% that” school of argumentation.

It has become an increasingly rare pleasure to read a measured and sensible newspaper article, devoted to a highly contentious topic.

The relevant piece was published this week in the Australian edition of The Guardian.

Fully cognisant of cats’ devastating impact on Australian wildlife, it addresses this question:

can we have cats (as pets) in a sustainable and ethical way?

You may be surprised to know that the answer is yes, albeit yes, if…

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“Hunting” tigers (#3 in 3 part series: close encounter)

Published November 13, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#3 in 3 part series: close encounter)

It was late afternoon, on our final “full” day in and around Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.

We were midway through the eighth of our nine Nagarhole wildlife “drives”.

Tiger-wise, time was running out.

We had enjoyed many “close encounters of the wildlife kind”, including one with a very healthy leopard.

On two occasions we had seen a tiger…just, fleetingly.

On more than two other occasions our ears had provided unmistakable evidence that a leopard or tiger was “on the prowl”, nearby.

However, at 4.52 pm on 07 March it appeared likely that we were not going to experience any 2023-vintage, visual “close encounter of the tiger kind”.

I took the featured photo – above – at 4.58 pm.

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“Hunting” tigers (#2 in 3 part series: use your ears)

Published November 11, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#2 in 3 part series: use your ears)

Imagine an English-speaking tiger, asked to describe the deer in this post’s featured image.

”Delicious”, might be the tiger’s reply.

You are looking at #1 and #2 on the list of species most preyed on by India’s tigers – respectively, sambar and chital/spotted deer.

As you can see, all five deer are definitely not relaxed.

Drinking and having “a good look around” are not simultaneously-possible; the pictured chital are in “eyes down” mode.

The sambar calf is looking at its mother.

However, you can see that the ears of all five deer are open, alert.

If you wish to see tigers (or leopards) in the wild, your ears are your most useful organs.

Big cats’ hunting success is stealth-dependent; they are highly unlikely to make sounds that betray their presence.

Your very quiet self should be focused on hearing the alarm calls which “prey” animals make whenever they notice a predator.

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“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

Published November 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

If you wish to see tigers “in the wild”, India is your best destination.

It contains circa 25% of the world’s remaining tiger habitat, but India is currently home to around 75% of “our” globe’s wild tigers.

There is no such thing as a reliable estimate of India’s wild tiger population, let alone the world’s.

The likely-best available figures come from the Global Tiger Forum.

On 10 September 2023, Global Tiger Forum published its latest global estimate: 5,574.

That is 74% higher than their 2010 figure. (click here for more detail)

It is impossible to know how much of the apparent increase reflects better monitoring rather than actual increase.

That said, there are grounds for believing that in some nations – India, especially – wild tiger numbers really are rising, after many years of steep decline towards seemingly-inevitable extinction.

This little series looks at Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, south India.

The featured image and the one immediately below show what the local tiger habitat looks like.

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European surprises (#20 & final in single-image teaser series: “not a museum”)

Published November 6, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#20 & final in single-image teaser series: “not a museum”)

On Sicily’s northwestern corner, Erice sits atop a very steep hill, 750 metres above the Mediterranean.

Highly picturesque and spectacularly-located, it is essentially-medieval, but this village’s history extends very much further – Erice was conquered rather than created by ancient Greeks.

As the photo illustrates, some 21st century visitors to Erice find it difficult to recognise exactly what they are looking at…

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European surprises (#19 in single-image teaser series: wayang, far from Indonesia)

Published November 4, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#19 in single-image teaser series: wayang, far from Indonesia)

As will be more clear if you zoom in on/enlarge the featured image, it shows a very fine set of Indonesian “shadow” puppets, of the Wayang Kulit kind.

Italy abounds with museums and galleries.

Not a few of them are excellent.

Some are truly singular, albeit highly likely to be crowded.

Often, they are an “embarrassment of riches” – altogether too much to be comprehended/appreciated properly in the space of a single visit.

Our nicest museum surprise in 2023 was Palermo’s Antonio Pasqualino International Puppet Museum.

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European surprises (#18 in single-image teaser series: great, Greek, not Greece)

Published November 3, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#18 in single-image teaser series: great, Greek, not Greece)

You wish to visit one country only, in order to see the world’s best-preserved Doric temples?

They are located in what – 2,500 years ago – was one of the major Greek cities.

You won’t be going to Greece…and if you time your visit carefully, you are likely to be pleasantly amazed by how uncrowded is this very special site.

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European surprises (#17 in single-image series: toxic “nuttery” reaches Sicilian nutfest)

Published November 1, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#17 in single-image series: toxic “nuttery” reaches Sicilian nutfest)

#16 in this series celebrated a happy surprise; this episode documents a nasty one.

Italy has many attractive, spectacularly located, historically rich hilltop villages.

Sicily’s Motta Camastra is one such; it feels quite “remote”, but is in fact not far from Messina, and even closer to Taormina.

Taormina overlooks the Ionian Sea and is gorgeous…but hugely over-touristed/touristy, and chock with “luxe” boutiques et al. (all those aspects will be evident in future, multi-image posts)

Inland, and closer to Mt Etna, Motta Camastra is still resolutely real, rural.

It is noted for the excellence of its local produce, most especially nuts.

Our day trip coincided with its annual festa della noce, which proved good clean tasty fun.

The nut festival attracted many welcome/d visitors…plus one “toxic nut”/ conman.

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European surprises (#16 in single-image teaser series: healthy German forest)

Published October 31, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#16 in single-image teaser series: healthy German forest)

As a newcomer to another nation and/or to a different kind of society or ecosystem, the surprises that await, almost inevitably, will prove a very “mixed bag”.

This post celebrates a very happy, beautiful surprise, recently experienced in Germany’s only alpine national park.

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European surprises (#15 in single-image teaser series: ape-man in Sicily?)

Published October 29, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#15 in single-image teaser series: ape-man in Sicily?)

As the featured image “clearly shows”, when in Palermo, ape-men enjoy exclusive use of special, clearly-signposted, simian-friendly taxis.

The photo (copyright Doug Spencer, taken in Sicily’s capital city at 12.32 pm on 23 September 2023) has not been “doctored” – it contains no “fake news”.

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