We never tire of the rich wildlife which surrounds us in our little house on the Southern coast of the island of Sri Lanka.
After returning from travel in India, we are reminded by several animal kingdom visitors that our home is on the edge of the jungle, i.e. their neighborhood. Sometimes we feel as though we live in a luxury tent. Hermetic our home is not. We never close our windows.
We appreciate the fact that we are having a rare opportunity to be immersed in nature. We have accepted that there might be an occasional bug and/or critter in our midst.
Throughout the day we get different animal visitors at different times. Because we just returned from a trip and are spending time chilling at home, we have more opportunities to see more wildlife activity in our bathroom and “backyard”.
Once it gets dark in the evenings, it is quiet where we live inland of the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka. Quiet, yet very alive with crickets, frogs and wild peacocks. Only the sounds of nature.
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Meet the friendly green forest lizard (calotes calotes in the family of dragons/agamidae) who has taken up residence in our bathroom garden… He blends in so well due to his green scale camouflage, that it is only the deep orange circles around his eyes that show up at first.
Enjoying the morning sun in our garden. He seems un-phased by our curiosity and close proximity.
The green forest lizard looks just like a miniature dragon.
On another day, we find him perched on the ceramic lantern that Ben sculpted in Hoi An. Here you can see what a long tail he has.
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An albino (?) frog seems to have joined the forest lizard in our garden, no doubt due to the rains we had last week, almost every day. We have on occasion in the monsoon season, had a few small frogs come into the house ~ rather unpredictable jumpers. (Ben not phased, Peta not thrilled “get them out, but don’t hurt them in the process”). There are apparently over 65 different species of frogs in Sri Lanka. Who ever saw a white frog before?
We were trimming leaves off the huge elephant ear plant in the corner of the garden, when we saw this little guy hanging out at the base of one of the leaves where water had accumulated, making it a wet and happy home for him. Per Jet Eliot, this little guy is an Indian Tree Frog.
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Wild peacocks are endemic to Sri Lanka. We are lucky to see them almost every day when we walk to yoga or take a stroll at dusk to the rice paddies around the corner. Seeing them in flight is quite surprising, as they are so large, it is a wonder they can lift off. They fly high up onto the tree tops and their cat like call is quite distinctive and can be loud. On this day we were treated to a male doing the mating dance, strutting his stuff. The females did not seem overly interested, but we certainly were!
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Whether we have Purple Faced Langur monkeys outside our house is dependent on which trees have fruit for them to eat. The jackfruit trees are full of young fruit which has not yet matured. The monkeys are clearly checking the fruit out to determine if it is ready to eat yet. We are waiting too. They will get the fruit that is high up and hopefully we get there in time for the low hanging ones. Jackfruit is the largest fruit in the world that grows on a tree ~ they get pretty large and have a taste that is a combination of strawberries and lemon and are used in Sri Lanka to make delicious curry.
A few days after our return, the monkeys appear to welcome us back and put on one of the best “performances” we have seen yet! Typically they move in groups, jumping from branch to branch but never come down onto the ground. We know they are visiting, when we hear a loud swishing sound in the trees around our house . Occasionally they scamper over the roof from one end to the other. And sometimes it seems like they will fall or break branches, but mostly the branches bend to accommodate their antics.
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Many monitor lizards roam our area… from small baby ones to very large ones. Ben loves seeing these, Peta, not so much. Recently a smallish one fell into our bathroom garden area from the trees above. First time this has ever happened. He was clearly scared when he realized he could not scale the large walls. Once the gate opened, he ran for cover in the safety of the jungle.
This 3-4 foot long “monitor lizard” is the junior version of the way more menacing water monitor, which can reach 8-10 feet long. This large lizard in the genus Varanus, has 79 species currently recognized. Most monitor species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semi aquatic monitors are also found in Sri Lanka.
Ben took this video of a monitor lizard he saw while driving his motorbike to get his morning cappuccino. We usually see one of these every few days, mostly while driving back and forth from our house on the little roads next to the rice paddies.
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A loud scrambling scratching noise came from way at the top of one of the walls inside the house, late one night, where there is a gap of a few inches before the ceiling starts (Sri Lankan houses are built this way to keep them cool.) We were surprised at the sight of a very long fluffy tail hanging down the wall, and had no idea whom that tail could possibly belong to. He looked similar to a big cat, with small round ears, but clearly not a cat, more in the rodent family. The next day we described the animal to a neighbor, and he nodded his head yes, he knew what it was but did not know the name in English. Our latest wildlife discovery: we have been host to a “Grizzled Giant Squirrel“.
The international union of conservation of nature lists this species as “near threatened” due to habitat loss and hunting. Who knew a squirrel could be so big and have such a long tail? Has anyone seen this animal before? They eat fruit, nuts, insects and bird eggs. This species is almost entirely arboreal, very rarely coming to the ground. (PC anon)
A face that only a momma giant squirrel could love (especially late at night!)
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One night the dogs outside would not stop barking. The kind of barking that is loud and excited and usually means there is a wildlife encounter underway. Ben armed with a flashlight and a broom, headed outside to see what the commotion was all about. The four dogs had cornered a huge, wild porcupine. Contrary to popular belief, porcupines do not project their quills, but they do raise them straight up in a menacing defensive wall when threatened. Ben took pity on the porcupine and shooed one out of the four dogs away, which created a pathway for the porcupine to escape into the forest. This was where the broom came in….
A photo off the internet of a wild porcupine. This one appears way smaller than the one that was at our front door in the dark of the night. (PC Anon)
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In the mornings we are always awoken by a symphony of bird calls. We now recognize about half a dozen different calls and the birds that correspond to them. We have had a surge of bird life activity in our garden lately. .
The black hooded Oriole has graced us with it’s beautiful bright yellow presence. It’s food is insects and fruit, especially figs, which do not grow here but there most be some fruit that is attracting them right now.
The Bird of Paradise with it’s swooping long tail is quite magical, like a white angel. We don’t see this beauty very often, but the other day while we were eating breakfast on our wooden platform, we were lucky to be graced with his long tailed brief visit. We stand corrected (by Jet Eliot, birder extraordinaire and blog reader: “This is a Indian paradise flycatcher subspecies called the Himalayan paradise flycatcher”.
This tiny bird is in the hummingbird family. There was a lively group of about five of them buzzing vertically one afternoon. (PC Anon). Per our blog reader Jet Eliot, this seems to be a “purple-rumped sunbird”.
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Less exotic perhaps, but ever ready to entertain us, “our” four dogs. Inhabitants at the house before us, they readily adopted us. It is now a symbiotic relationship. And that is the latest update from the animal kingdom in our slice of the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka.
Photos from our Green Global Trek can be seen on instagram. You can find us at: greenglobaltrek and greenglobalbites.
I love your house! It is so magical!
Andrea it was so much fun to have you visit us here!! Look forward to our next reunion wherever it may be.
Peta & Ben
What a wonderful informative post! I grew up in India and your post took me back! Love the photos. I cannot believe I didn’t visit our neighbor to the south when I was in India…maybe some day in the future.
Thanks Dhara, so glad you enjoyed this post and the photos and that we are prompting you to think of Sri Lanka as a travel destination. It is a frequent mistake that people make, whether from India or otherwise, to think of Sri Lanka as “India light”. While some parts of Northern Sri Lanka where predominantly Hindu/Tamil populations live, may indeed resonate very strongly with your Indian upbringing, the rest of the island is mostly Buddhist and therefore very different to most of India.
The scale of course is incomparable and the wildlife easily accessible.
Peta & Ben
What an amazing place you live! We’d have to go to our zoo to see those animals, and you have them in your surrounding area, and even in your shower! Your orioles are a little different from the ones that arrive in our area in the spring (ours don’t have the black hoods). And, of course, our birds of paradise grow out of the ground 🙂. Thank you for sharing your photos and videos!
Thanks Janis, we are extremely conscious that we live in such an unusual place and that it is a rare life time opportunity.
The orioles are actually called “Black hooded Orioles”, and it is clear why. We have the birds of paradise plant here too. So glad you enjoyed this post, and our videos.
Peta & Ben
What amazing neighbours you have! Wonderful.
Anabel we are huge fans of most of our neighbors. They certainly keep us on our toes.The one place we lived before this, for an extended amount of time (1.5 years) was in the midst of the urban jungle of Chicago. After that, I was determined that the next place we would live in, would be surrounded by nature.
Peta & Ben
How lucky you are!
We are lucky indeed. (Although my mother in law and a few others that come to mind would probably beg to differ!) There are probably not that many places in the world today where one can have so many wildlife encounters right at one’s front door.
Peta
How amazing to live surrounded by such wonderful creatures! The lizards are gorgeous, but honestly I’m not sure I could handle that white frog 😀
Thanks Dee. I am not a huge fan of frogs either. As long as he stays on his side of the garden, he can stay. Ben on the other hand is very enamored of him and checks on him every day to make sure he is still there. I hope he is not making babies….
Peta
Loved seeing the exotic (to this Canadian) animals that inhabit your “backyard”!
I have to go to the zoo to see anything like them. Well, except for the dogs that adopted you. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Deb
Deb,they are rather exotic! I feel a bit like Gerald Durrell with his own private zoo. The thing is, I actually dislike zoos. I appreciate that they allow people to see exotic animals and to learn about them, but at the same time I cannot help but feel that zoos are like prisons for animals, for the most part. Seeing wildlife wild and free as it should be, is such a huge treat in today’s world.
Peta
I’m with you. I find zoos to be sad places mostly, now that I am an adult.
Wow. What a great place to live! Did I hear you are coming our way?
Yup we chose well!
You heard right. See you soon!
Peta
wow Peta! Such a lovely post thank you for sharing it! Loved the photos and the videos. I would have vrekked (hopefully you remember the word) had I seen the monitor lizard. The frog too … It is also my thing not to harm any creature even if my heart stops. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
Susan so glad you enjoyed the photos and the video. “Vrekked”.. haha, yes I do remember that South African slang (equivalent I guess of “freaked”). I do believe that all creatures have a right to life and it is not our right to kill them. I try to adhere to this philosophy as much as is possible. (Ahimsa). Thanks for reading us!
Peta
Love the lizard. Oh so handsome.
He is a handsome fellow isn’t he? My favorite guy. Sometimes he kind of hangs by his tail, and then it looks as though his body becomes like a hammock, slung in a C shape. Too funny.
Peta
I’m of two minds on your backyard menagerie. The green lizard is adorable, the birds are stunning, and I could probably tolerate the surprise of an erratically jumping frog or two. A bushy squirrel tail dangling into my room at night would likely cause some sleeplessness. But the monitor lizards?!?! No, thank you! I am sitting here with skin crawling and a freaked-out feeling building in my chest, and I’m thousands of miles away from that creature. They have always creeped me out, but knowing that one could drop into my house or bathroom would do me in, I’m afraid. You are brave souls!
Lex, haha, the first time I saw a water monitor (which is way bigger than the monitor lizard) we were merrily riding our motorbike on the little side roads here, and he ran in front of us, missing a head on collision by seconds! I am sure I screamed because he was SO large and SO ugly. They are still definitely not something I enjoy seeing, as Ben does, but at least now the smaller monitor lizard does not totally freak me out as it did initially. I love animals, but not a big fan of most of the reptilians (snakes, alligators, monitor lizards etc). Hopefully that little bathroom drop on the far side of the garden was a one time occurrence! (Hoping the same for the giant squirrel!)r
When we lived in Granada, Nicaragua, everyone hated the bats that would fly around our internal courtyards of our housea. They are pretty scary looking, and leave black ink poop marks on walls. But one day when our cat caught one and it died on the floor near the front door, my perspective changed. I started reading up about how smart they are and came to the conclusion that us humans love to hate certain animals, when in reality they are pretty harmless to us and or useful, as in the case of bats who eat mosquitoes! Sometimes it just takes seeing them a few times to get a bit more aclimitized to them.
We all have our burdens to bear.. we have monitor lizards and you have Trump supporters.
Peta
Now THAT certainly puts things in perspective! Bring on the monitor lizards!
Hahaha Lex that is too funny! Yup.
B&P
My favorite part of the videos is the sound. How wonderful. The monkeys look like they’re having the most fun. Love the little white frog. All spectacular, congratulations.
Sharon, thanks. So glad you enjoyed the sound of the videos which are so much more comprehensive than just seeing photos. The monkeys do have fun, we can tell that they are often just playing. Sometimes it seems as if the branches will break, because they are often not strong enough to hold the monkeys.. but by then, the monkey has moved on to the next tree!
xoxo
P
It’s like living in a zoo. Monkeys in your backyard, how delightful and the Bird of Paradise is magical. That is one huge squirrel. Love all the pictures and videos.
Thanks Darlene. Only thing is, a zoo is to me a form of prison for animals. Whereas here, they are wild and free and in their natural habitat. Although of course, wildlife all over the world is facing huge threats to their habitats and food sources making more and more species endangered and extinct. The large squirrel who paid us a visit, is very much on the list of those impacted by a disappearing habitat. As are the monkeys.
Peta & Ben
Very nice. Much more interesting than our house sparrows and run of the mill squirrels. Is the Water Monitor as dangerous as their cousin, the Komodo Dragon?
Dave, the water monitor is usually harmless but it does have the capability to be lethal. It has a tail that can smack down a cow, sharp claws and front teeth with venom. A delightful cocktail! Definitely NOT my favorite sight.
Peta
Well I for one can attest to the wonders of your jungle oasis as well as the bounty of wildlife in your yard and throughout Sri Lanka. I am particularly obsessed with the peacocks, flaunting, flying or residing in trees. And I love your canine crew. How lucky are you that they adopted you. Great monkey video 🙉. Thanks again for hosting me in your abode. My top Sri Lanka experience!
Lisa it was such a pleasure and so much fun to meet you and to host you here in our home. After reading about your global sailing adventures, it was great to hear first hand more of the details of what life is like at sea.
So glad that you are loving the wild peacocks and all the animals in Sri Lanka that have come your way. Happy to hear you liked the monkey video! Did you get to Dambulla?
Peta (& Ben)
The Grizzled Giant Squirrel, Lizard, Monkeys, Puppies, Peacock, ALL OF IT!! Magic.
My heart if overflowing.
Thank you for bringing us into your paradise & also, thank you for loving these God-Like creatures.
xxx from MN.
Thanks Kim for your lovely feedback, so glad you enjoyed this animal post so much!!
xoxo
Peta
Thanks so much, Peta, for this vicarious visit to your peaceable kingdom. So fortunate that these lovely animals co-exist with you…in many places the locals have wiped out species either for food or as pests. Every single one of them is a marvel, and your writing and photos and videos were such a pleasure.
I think, from googling, that the white frog is an Indian Tree Frog. Frogs often vary a lot in a color, because they have camouflage abilities.
I love watching monitor lizards walk, with their characteristic sway, and how fortunate that Ben could get such a wonderful capture. The peacock in breeding display is astounding. Loved seeing the monkeys dance the trees, and the porcupine and giant squirrel would make for adventurous evenings. The lizard is absolutely gorgeous, and the birds. Oh, what a birder would do to see what you have in your backyard, especially the bird of paradise (which is actually an Indian paradise flycatcher subspecies called the Himalayan paradise flycatcher). The last bird photograph looks to me like a purple-rumped sunbird.
Thanks so much not only for bringing these fine creatures to us, but for living in harmony and respect with them.
Jet thank you for your thoughtful and informative comments. I knew we could count on you for accuracy with regard to the birds, but thanks too for the information regarding the frog. Here too of course people are removing and reducing forest habitat to create dwellings and agriculture. It is sadly the reality for wildlife almost everywhere on the globe. We are lucky in that right next to our house is a property that has “forest” that has not been removed (yet) and so this is the reason we probably get a lot of birds and for sure a place that the monkeys hang out in.
We will update the blog with the accurate names you provided, thanks so much! We are definitely neophytes when it comes to birds. We love sighting them and watching them, but we need to do one of those guided birdwatching activities (such as you write about in your most recent blog post) to learn more about the birds in our area. Sri Lanka is definitely one of those places that birdwatchers come to specifically to see the birds here as there is such a large variety.
Peta
This is such a great “tour” of the animals in your backyard and your photos are stunning. My favourites are the bird of paradise and the green lizard. I’m intrigued by the grizzled giant squirrel (makes me think of a Dr. Dolittle kind of character). Those monitor lizards do look a bit menacing and remind me too much of the Komodo Dragons that still give me occasional nightmares. What a fun post!
Caroline thanks for the enthusiastic comment. That giant squirrel is indeed unusual ~ the sheer size, it was surprising to find out that it was in the squirrel family. It was even larger than a mongoose! Now that you mention it, it does look a bit like a Dr. Dolittle character, or could be a Dr. Seuss character too! The monitor lizard is related to the Komodo Dragon.
Peta
This was almost as good as being there with the videos!! I liked the little bum shaking going on with the peacock – turning around so you could get a better look at the action😉
… but oh my – the giant squirrel in the wall at night be would a little much for me (anything trying to break into my house at night would not be a good thing!), but the bird of paradise!!! I didn’t even know there was actually such a thing!! It’s stunning! I, for one, am hoping you get a lot more sightings of that one 🙂
As Andrea said at the very beginning, your house is magical 💕
Thanks Joanne, so glad you enjoyed the videos. There is no way to capture something like the breeding dance that peacocks do, in photographs. We were spellbound watching this one, not only showing his brightly colored feathers but actively doing his “thing”.
With regard to creatures coming into our house, I guess that is why it feels like we are camping. Because it is inevitable with our windows open all the time, and the space between the wall and the roof. This was the largest creature yet to come inside and in my mind I have put it in the category of “only once!” (May be wishful thinking, but this way I don’t worry about it too much, unless Ben is not here haha that would be a different story.)
One of our readers Jet Eliot, a serious birdwatcher, was kind enough to give us the correct name for the “bird of paradise”. We found out that it is actually am “Indian paradise flycatcher, subspecies called the Himalayan paradise flycatcher”.
It IS magical yes and such a treat to be so immersed in nature on a daily basis.
Peta & Ben
You might never get anything done for observing the wildlife, Peta! Not sure how good chums I’d be with those big lizards but the little guys are ok. 🙂 🙂
We try to take advantage of this unusual environment as much as possible. When we hear the rustling of branches, we are outside in a flash to watch the monkeys.
One day while taking I shower, I had the feeling I was being watched. There was a curious monkey sitting on one of the branches right next to our bathroom garden, sitting very still, watching me. So sometimes its a two way thing 🙂
Peta
Your neighborhood is so totally magical and this post is sure to be one of my all time favorites of your blog. I’m thinking I would go around with my mouth wide-open in wonder at some of the animals in your backyard and can only imagine what a thrill it must be to see wild peacocks almost every day and monkeys nimbly jumping from tree to tree.
The videos brought the incredible animal activity to life (oh that peacock mating dance was stately) although I’m with Peta in being a bit freaked by the monitor lizards. And OMG -the bird life is another bonus. The bird of paradise is unbelievably beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing the animal kingdom in your garden.
Anita so glad that you so enjoyed the videos and this post in general. We know that we will not always live here and so we try to take as much advantage of the opportunities to observe the wildlife around us.
That video was the first time we had the pleasure of witnessing the peacock mating dance. It was amazing to see. Yesterday we saw a mommy peacock with three little ones following her into the rice paddy. Super cute!
Peta & Ben
No way. I can’t tolerate lizards of any kind, the sight of any one of those would send me packing. I have to assume that snakes, rats and other undesirables might occasionally find their way into your house as well.
Love your lifestyle and admire you immensely for simply accepting that you are the intruder, not them.
Hahaha Suzanne, good comments. We have had no snakes in the house (please please let this be the status quo, as I am NOT a fan of snakes), and we have had no rats. Mice yes, many of them and we do have humane mouse traps, so that when we get one, Ben takes it on his motorbike for a drive and then lets it free in a rice field far from our house. Not sure that they are like dogs and can find their way home, but just in case they are… Ben does not mind reptiles and I am fine with the little green lizard living in our bathroom, as long as the big ones stay away. So I guess you won’t be visiting huh!
Peta
I love frogs so would love having a few albino frogs hopping around my property. The green lizard is adorable so I would tolerate him, but the giant squirrel inside my house or monitor lizards would push me over the edge. I do love the thought of living on the edge of a jungle. You two live a charmed life. 🙂
LuAnn we discovered thanks to Jet Eliot (blog reader and wildlife enthusiast) that the albino frog is actually called a Indian Tree Frog and is not albino after all.
Of course it is not actually a “jungle”, although that is how it is referred to here. There are not many areas of true jungle left in the world. Even the indigenous forests here were at some point replaced with “useful to human” type trees. Luckily some wildlife still prevails.
Peta
What a bonus that you get to see so many unusual animals, even though some are downright scary! (Lizard, for one.) But that albino frog — oh, my. Your home is amazing, and you are living a life that many of us dream about. Thanks for sharing.
Rusha I think many animals are scary at first, but with enough exposure, we as humans can get over the fear part quite easily. For example, I used to be scared of and had an intense dislike for bats when we lived in Nicaragua. (They came into our open courtyard quite frequently.) Then I met someone who loves bats and was able to change my perspective and to view them for the intelligent and amazing creatures that they are. I no longer react with fear and distaste when we see the monitor lizard, although I am still scared of them. As long as they keep their distance I can “handle” sharing our neighborhood with them.
Peta
You do have some amazing wildlife in your area! The giant lizard scared me, I admit. But what makes me the most happy is that the previous owners’ dogs have adopted you!!!
Ann, at first sighting the monitor lizard is scary to almost everyone. But after continuous exposure, I am no longer scared of them. Not my favorite wildlife, but as long as they don’t bother me and keep their distance, I have no issue with them.
Of the 4 dogs that adopted us, 2 of them have clearly never had owners and were street/stray dogs. The other two have “owners” (nearby neighbors) but they hang out at our house because they get good food and attention here.
Peta
“We all have our burdens to bear.. we have monitor lizards and you have Trump supporters.”
Peta
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Your statement is priceless, Peta, and so spot on. Brilliant in every way.
I am living vicariously through your photos and videos as I could never live like you do. I have a wicked fear of reptiles and generally all things that slither, crawl, hiss, buzz, etc. etc. From where I sit you’re super brave and lucky to have the experiences.
Patti, glad you approve of my quote. I like it too! I will take monitor lizards over Trump supporters any day. (Neither of them IN my house, mind you).
Glad to provide you with vicarious wildlife thrills 🙂 Reptiles are definitely not my favorite, but I work towards accepting them without recoil and respecting their right to live. I am reminded of a great quote:
“Life is life’s greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life’s scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest.” Lloyd Biggle Junior.
Peta
This post certainly put a smile on my face, Peta and Ben! It actually is still there! What an amazing place to live. Wildlife encounters are my all-time favorite to induce happiness. I love the lizards. The one in your yard looks spectacular, especially that tail. And, I’d love to meet a monitor lizard one day. We had geckos on our boat (after a haulout project in Panama, they joined us across the Pacific!) and enjoyed the company of lizards ashore, especially in the Galapagos. But, having this array of wild animals in your garden is quite something else. And, of course, I love the pups as well. Happy creatures. Do they all have names, or did you name them? Is there any way to spay/neuter them so they can’t reproduce?
I’m impressed and pleasantly surprised at your mention of the “occasional bug”. I have spent short amounts of time in an “open house” in the tropics, and the bugs arrived more than occasionally. 🙂
Liesbet glad to bring you critter happiness. It is funny the difference in reactions by readers. So many recoil at the photos of the monitor lizard and then there are those like yourself who would love to meet one! 🙂
The dogs all have names that we gave them based mostly on their personalities. We have Teddy, Bully, Shy and then lately Spot, the pup that has joined the gang. We took both the males to be neutered at the local dog clinic which does an amazing job doing low cost services for dogs in the area. Teddy, the oldest female we took for a big surgery when we first arrived, as she had a large mammary growth hanging down from her belly. Shy is true to her name and will not let humans touch her. She must have been badly abused at one time, but we could never catch her to take her in for surgery.
We do get a LOT of ants, which is a constant battle, but actually the bugs are not a big issue. Definitely occasional, although there are some large flying black beetles, which we call “helicopters” due to their size and noise, but also only occasional.
Ben & Peta
Your backyard does sound and look like every bit the animal kingdom. How lovely the animals can come and go as they please, and most of them even returning. You all must be great neighbours and friends now 🙂 What a lovely shot of the green forest lizard. He looks like he is enjoying the sun heaps. And what a long tail it has.
Do you ever feed the monkeys, and have you seen them fight over food? They sound very energetic and I’m guessing, also very cheeky. That monitor lizard on video looks massive. From the sounds of it, it seems that if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone and let you go on your way 🙂
Mabel thanks for your interesting comments and questions. We do not feed the monkeys or any other wild animal as we would not want to interfere with nature nor get them accustomed to humans offering food. (It could cost them their lives ultimately.)
We have never seen them fight over food, on the contrary they seem to work as a team, taking turns eating scoops of jackfruit or whatever else is in season on the trees. They are not cheeky, they are more on the shy side when it comes to humans. Very different to monkeys found at many of the temples here, who are given food by tourists and or pick it up off the ground and from the garbage and can be occasionally aggressive.
The monitor lizard is smaller than the water monitor. They too are shy and avoid contact. Yes, leave wildlife alone and usually they will not bother you.
Peta & Ben
Love this post, always love to see what animals people have in the backyards (especially in the tropics). I’m especially fascinated by lizards in all their forms and colours.
Frank it is refreshing to have someone be fascinated by lizards, as it seems most readers were rather put off by our local monitor lizard. Since we posted, we now have an additional green forest lizard in our bathroom garden. This one a bit larger. Not sure if they are related to each other or not… but we certainly enjoy these.
Peta
Such a lot of interesting wildlife in your garden, Peta. The Green Forest Lizard looks very like our Iguanas.
Sylvia, at first we thought it might be a baby iguana or chameleon. This seems to be a species endemic to Sri Lanka.
Peta
I’d been wondering about the critters that must inhabit Sri Lanka. Thanks for showing us your zoo – love nearly all of them, but that giant monitor lizard – not so much. Peacocks are the same the world over – strutters struck with their self-importance. Never saw a white frog before, not even a photo – handsome dude, basking in a leaf hammock. Local supermarket sold two gigantic jackfruit a week ago – they were the size of a king sized pillow but didn’t look comfy to lay on – all that prickled skin. I couldn’t even lift the thing so I knew I couldn’t afford it. Fun post today, thank you.
Shari so glad you enjoyed this post so much on our animal kingdom. I have grown to tolerate the monitor lizard and it no longer scares the shit out of me, but is still not my favorite creature around! That was our first white frog sighting too.
Shortly after we wrote that post, we found a salamander peeking out of our toilet!!
Peta