Last
night we had sundowners again out at the radio tower for
a little 4th of July celebration. We had more sambos than
we could eat and some cold beer and pop. On the way home,
it was already dark so we took advantage of observing some
nocturnal species. The moon had not risen yet, so it was
pretty dark. I was surprised to find that it is actually
easier to see the lemurs when it is dark out than during
the daylight. When the only light is from the flashlights
or headlamps, the lemurs’ eyes glow yellow or red by reflecting
the light. It makes it easy to find the lemurs because all
you can see are a couple of glowing eyes blinking back at
you through the dark. It reminds me of a cartoon, when the
lights go out and all that is left are the blinking eyes.
We saw several mouse lemurs (Microcebus sp.),
about 5 sportive lemurs (Lepilemur sp.), a small
owl, and a very cool looking chameleon. When I shined my
light on the leaves on the ground, I saw a bunch of tiny,
shiny dots that looked like little diamonds. They are actually
the eyes of the spiders on the ground reflecting the light.
By the time we got back to camp, the full moon had risen,
making it much lighter. At this point we really stopped
seeing many lemurs, so either it was because there were
less animals there or it was harder to see them with the
moonlight.
