Untamed Land

Untamed Land
Untamed Land

Friday, May 29, 2015

Gibbons and Elephants etc

Finally I am getting back to Dan and friends in Thailand. They headed to northern Thailand where they climbed into the treetops in search of White-handed Gibbons.
They crossed from one tree to another on a zip line. It was certainly a highlight of the trip.
Their quarry was waiting for them in the tree canopy/ Younger gibbons like this individual tend to be lighter in color than adult gibbons.
Two adults swing effortlessly from the tree limbs in this photo.They seldom descend to the ground. Gibbons have a very loud call that can be heard echoing through the forests, especially in the early mornings.
I wonder what they think about humans joining them in their lofty home?
Once they made it back to terra firme they climbed up again, onto the backs of elephants. This is their friendly mahut whose name I do not know.
.They happily undertook their elephant trek through the tropical forest. I do not know whether the elephant enjoyed the excursion.
The whole group traveled across forested hillsides north of Chiang Mai.
The photo above makes me believe that this elephant is probably thinking, "just kill me now". Actually for all I know the elephant loves the whole experience. It's certainly better than standing around in a zoo compound somewhere.
Dan and co. enjoyed seeing some exotic butterflies.
I do not know the species, but I like the blue spots.
Thailand has Green Peacocks, a different species than the Blue Peacocks of India. Green Peafowl are a little bigger than Indian Peafowl.  They come in three different sub-species and all are endangered. The males have taller crests than blue peacocks and light brown rather than orange primaries. Female Green Peafowl are more brightly colored than female Indian Peafowl.
More to come from Thailand.

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