There is a nile crocodile that
lives here, he’s about 9 ft long and pretty intimidating looking. To clean his
enclosure involves going into his cage and poking him with a big stick until he
moves far enough away where the keeper feels comfortable with the two of us
going in to clean his pool. Once you’re in you have to turn your back to him at
points to clean the pool of all the algae growing in it, it isn’t a good
feeling. If he decided that he was hungry and I looked like a good meal, there
would be no hope for me. But he never seems to care once the initial poking and
gnashing of teeth and jaws are done. He just goes to the corner and waits for
the pool to fill back up. I will never
be comfortable with this process, and the keeper , Killi, finds the combination
of my hesitance and my willingness intensely amusing. There is a lot of me
saying “Ok… If you say its safe…” followed by his laughter. I do the same thing anytime I’m told to go
into an enclosure with any animal bigger than a putty-nosed guenon.
The
escapee ninja drills continue to plague me when I feed that section. I feel
like there was a generally call to all the free ranging drills that was
something like “That light skinned girl who isn’t intimidating at all is here,
rush the food truck and take all the bananas!” They were getting increasingly
brazen, one using me as a midway point to bound off of to get to the food. All
the other keepers throw rocks at them, over them really, but the drills don’t
know the difference. My aim is pretty terrible most days so I have never, will
never, throw rocks at the animals here. Instead I have gone to the less harmful
option of pelting them with the food they were going to steal anyway. I will
bean them with bananas and “plums” (kind of like an avocado hiding in the skin
of a plum) or mango. It has had the desired effect of getting them to leave me
alone. They still all gather when I approach, but they keep their distance
until I am gone. I’ll take it.
I
continue to gain comfort with this place and insights into it. I’m never sure
what to write, because everything seems interesting to me, but I’ve seen that
glazed over bored look in too many peoples’ eyes to think you all feel the
same. I remain an anomaly and a huge dork. I got excited over a mantid today
and Killi thought I saw a snake since I yelled in excitement when I saw it. Though he humored me and let me
take pictures of it, holding the leaf it was on so I could get close to it. He
did later feed it to the adult mona monkey (who is finally my friend and rarely
shows his teeth to me anymore), which I yelled at him for. I’ll feed the rats
to the hawk, but don’t feed my bug to the monkeys.
I'm still in awe of the relationships I've been able to forge in the short time I've been here.
The nature of relationships has always seemed to me to be
the decision that no matter the outcome, someone is beneficial and worthy
enough to warrant the risk. Having a pet means that at some point in the future
you will endure a great amount of pain when they die. Making friends, finding a
significant other both run the risk of the deep pain associated only with those who
know you well. But we all run those risks because primates are social
creatures.
As I bond more with certain animals here, I worry about
their well being when I suddenly stop coming by. When I no longer come to groom
or play chase, when I no longer tickle bellies or bring them food will they
notice? The keepers say that they do, but they also encourage me to keep coming
until I leave. Their lives have had so much negative, mostly associated with
humans, that these interactions with people help them. I am one more person
that did not starve them, throw things at them (with few deserved exceptions)
or lock them in a cage.They have given me much already and I hope I leave having been as beneficial to them.
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