Forest Cobra on Display

This very dead, vary deadly snake was splayed out for the photographer in the rain forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the former Zaire) in the mid-eighties. There was not much that the villagers feared more than snakes and all snakes of all species were killed whenever they were encountered.

The western form of the forest cobra is a relatively timid creature that is not known for aggression when encountered by humans. It may flair a narrow hood, but does its best to avoid contact. However, if cornered, or trod upon, a forest cobra's bite packs a venomous punch that can quickly kill an adult human within hours.

This cobra is adapted to wet forests and is known to eat fish, as well as small mammals. It hunts on the ground, but may climb up to 30 feet in trees in search of prey.

Photo by D. Messinger

Red Katydid

This bright red katydid had fallen out of the trees overhead in a forested area near Lodja, in the center of Zaire, now the Democratic of the Congo. I was awed by the brilliant, deep, solid red of the insect, and snapped a picture. I never saw another one.

Katydids are relatives of crickets, and can be distinguished from grasshoppers by their antennae that are as long or longer then their body. Their ovipositors (egg-laying tube) are also very long. They sing at night, with a raspy sound that is created from rubbing the forewings together. The name may come from "katy-did, katy-didn't."

It is not a surprise that I have never identified this insect. The Amazon is the home to 2,000 different species of katydids, so the tropical rainforest of the Congo could have at as many species as well. Various colors have been described for tropical katydids, including green, brown, white, pink, and yellow. Not red.

A Prickle of a Porcupine

This photo is of a young brush-tailed African porcupine. Newborns are precocial, being well-developed, but of small size. They are born with soft hair that hardens over a week or two. This animal weighed about a pound, and already had the quill development of an adult. The brush-tailed porcupine is not well known outside of west and central Africa where it ranges, because it is rarely seen in captivity. An adult weighs six to eight pounds, while the better known black and white African crested porcupine is much larger, at 40 to 60 pounds.

Unlike its name "porcupine" which means "quill pig," porcupines are not pigs, but rodents. Due to their taste for roots and tubers, they have a light, sweet meat that is favored by local populations, and they are frequently hunted. In Zaire, porcupines were flushed by dogs, to be captured by small hoop nets on the trails that the animals would use as escape routes.

The meat is so favored that one project in Gabon has tried farm raising brush-tailed porcupines, with limited success. The fact that they only produce one or two offspring, with a relatively long gestation of 100 or more days is not promising for efficient production (compared to rabbits, for example, that can produce 6 to 10 young after only a one month gestation).

The brush-tailed porcupine has short quills and a tuft of flattened, pale quills at the end of its tail. Like all porcupines, its defensive behavior is to turn around, stamp its front feet and raise and shake the quills to produce a menacing rattle and increase its body "size." The animal will also hiss, and growl. Finally, if the aggressor is not convinced, the porcupine will back up rapidly and ram the offender, leaving some quills behind.

The brush-tailed porcupine lives in burrows, and is strictly nocturnal. It travels in small family groups and is mostly terrestrial, but can climb, or swim, with webbed feet. In researching the natural history of the species, the most interesting fact I uncovered was that a group of porcupines is called a "prickle," an apropos description for such an unusual evolutionary survival tactic.

Photo by D. Messinger

Dwarf Galago Baby

This little animal is a young Demodoffs galago, a primitive primate, photographed in the deep rainforest of the Equateur region in Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo). Galagos, of a dozen species, are also known as bushbabies, due to their cries that sound like human babies.

With a 5 inch body and 7 inch tail, the tiny Demodoffs is one of the world's smallest primates. Its enormous eyes are adapted to see at night, where it forages for fruit, bark, tree gums, leaves, and bird eggs. Its independently mobile ears can catch the sound of insects, a favorite food.

In Africa, I mostly knew galagos from hearing them at night, and seeing the bright glint from their eye shine. Galago eyes have a reflecting surface called a tapetum, that is designed to capture light. During the day, the pupils become a vertical slit, like a cat's. They and have a moist nose that has a groove communicating with the brain's Jacobson's organ, which is specialized for the sense of smell.

Another unusual characteristic is the incisors that have grooves, like a comb, along with a similar structure at the front of the tongue. These two -- along with a long nail on the second toe of the foot, work together to clean the fur during self-grooming.

Demodofs galagos are social, and travel in groups of a dozen or more by climbing, hopping, and leaping in the deep forest in which they live. They build leaf-nests or bed down in leaf tangles for sleeping during the day. Galagos breed once a year and have one or two babies, that are carried by the mother for two weeks. After that, the babies become more independent, and are weaned in four months. They live ten years.

Photo by D. Messinger

A Baby in the Bush; Better Than One in the Hand

This is a bushbaby, or galago, given to me by a Belgian businessman. I kept her at my apartment for a time, in a large cage on the porch. She had a peculiar sweet odor that may have come from the fact that she marked the branches with a brownish secretion from her genitals. Books describe the odor of the urine as "maple syrup."

I didn't mind the bushbaby's smell; what led her to be banished from my abode was her over-exuberant playful habits, which occurred at night, because bushbabies are nocturnal. When I would let her out to exercise in the evening, she would jump on my head, and then land on my hands, and nip my fingers. She was never aggressive and the bites would stop short of breaking the skin, but they were painful pinches.

The bushbaby quickly wore out her welcome; she never tired of biting my hands, and her cage was soon relegated to the animal facility. Eventually, I found a good home for her with an expatriate who had a male of the same species.

The Senegalese Bushbaby is a wide-ranging African animal that lives is social groups of up to twenty individuals. They build nests in branches, but also seek shelter in the hollows of trees, such as the baobab. They consume a wide variety of foods such as insects, fruits, nectar, flowers, gums, shoots, seeds, nestlings, and lizards.

Bushbabies use their long and flexible ears that actually fold down (pleated ear seen in photo), to orient themselves to the sound of insects. Africans will sometimes fashion a grass string harness to imprison a beetle, grasshopper, or cicada to flutter, buzz, and vibrate. This will attract bushbabies who will approach to investigate the possibility of a meal.

Photo by D. Messinger

Wild Bonobos at Lukuru

This amazing photograph, taken at the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project field site, shows bonobos in the wild, wading in a perennial pool. One animal has already climbed up the bank, and her ischial callosities shine ghostlike in the darkness of the forest gloom. (Perhaps the shiny rears serve as beacons for others to follow?)

Two bonobos are caught, still in the water. The shimmer on the image comes from this picture being taken from a lens peeking out through a screen of foliage. These animals were habituated by Dr. Jo Thompson, and they were going about their day without being upset by her presence.

The regional villagers have a nonchalant, anthropomorphic viewpoint of bonobos, "Oh yeah, they go in the water, to wash themselves. They 'soap' up and then they rinse, just like people. And they fish in the water." (There is no evidence that bonobos eat fish, although they consume subaquatic vegetation.)

Photo by J. Thompson, all rights reserved

African Genet Babies

While still in the Peace Corps, I was on the road for six months doing research on monkeypox. During that time, I was given two genet babies, which I raised on powdered milk dripped from a plastic pipette. These babies were a pleasure to raise, although they had a peculiar musky odor.

Genets are in the carnivorous family called "vivirid", which includes mongooses, genets, and civets. They weigh around two pounds and are mostly nocturnal, although they will forage during the day. One unusual thing about genets is that they are omnivorous, having evolved to take fruit opportunistically in game-poor forests. My genets showed a preference for ripe banana over meat.

Locally common, genets will raid village hen houses to take chickens. Hand-reared genets become imprinted on humans and are almost cat-like in their behavior. They have an unusual "chuff" which I learned to imitate in the back of my throat. This guttural sound would always bring a chuff response from my genet kittens, even when they became adults.

Photo by D. Messinger

African Pine Cone

When giving presentations, I like to share this slide, and call it an "African Pine Cone". I challenge the audience to guess what species it is. They can't figure it out, so I give them a hint, saying the animal is toothless, has a long, sticky tongue, and eats ants and termites. People often try "armadillo", but there are no armadillos in Africa.

This is a long-tailed pangolin, or scaly anteater. Pangolins are found in Africa and Asia and they are persecuted for their scales, which are used in traditional medicine. In Africa, they are eaten. Most species are nocturnal, and they are easy to hunt, having little defense other than curling up in a protective ball, as seen here.

Pangolins stress easily and they do not tolerate captivity well, due to their specialized diet. Most of the pangolins I saw were heavily parasitized with ticks.

Photo by D. Messinger