Well, my twelve weeks spent in Jersey
is now over and what do I have to show for it? The answer is “Lots”! A massively increased knowledge of the
animals that are out there in need of our help; an understanding of what can be
done to save species from extinction; an experience of full-time animal care;
some new friends that share my enthusiasm for conservation; a toe that has been
dipped into the field of research and an ear that has been dipped into by a
moth and assorted surgical tools!
Without doubt the highlight of my stay has to be the Orang-utans.
Orangs are, as mentioned in my previous post, the greatest apes of all on so
many levels, all stemming from their high level of intelligence. They are able
to manufacture tools from the materials around them, they are kind and offer
gifts to keepers (half a stick of bamboo in my case) through the mesh, they can
produce rain rovers/sun screens from paper bags and blankets from hessian
sacks. The list goes on and on and serves to demonstrate just how similar they
are to humans and how important it is to help save them and their habitat. Their
homelands of Borneo and Sumatra are both
suffering from huge amounts of habitat loss due to the cash-crop of palm oil
being grown, harvested and sold to companies all around the world.
Jaya making his own bed
I had a fantastic time spending not one, but two days
working on orangs. It was incredible to be helping to look after them and spending
time learning from, and more-or-less shadowing Gordon, who is deputy head of
mammals. The tasks could be broadly grouped into either cleaning or feeding. Everything
was just on a much larger scale than for the small mammals that I was used to
looking after. I had gone from not leaning on any perching for fear of pulling
the enclosure apart to being able to put my full weight on the mesh hammocks
and feeding hoppers to get from one part of an enclosure to another. Similarly,
I had been used to closely monitoring how many slices of carrot each giant
jumping rat received to witnessing orang-utans insert whole apples into their
mouths.
Jaya 'interacting' with Gina
Jaya and Gina for drinks with additional sound effects from Dagu
Dagu, Dana and Kea for drinks
I have come away from Durrell with so much more than I went
with. So many questions asked and answered, opinions shared and discussions
had. Each of these has provided a learning opportunity that will stay with me for
a lifetime. In my opinion learning from someone that is an expert in their
field is ten times more valuable than learning the same thing from a book. The
reclusive aye-ayes played their part as well, as did the many visitors to
Durrell that I met. Their contribution in the form of raw data will over the
next 6 months or so, be studied, analysed, digested and presented in the form
of a dissertation report that will aid the conservation efforts of aye-ayes in
the future.
So many people have made the experience enjoyable and it
would be difficult to list everyone but you all know who you are and I owe you
all a big thank you! In particular I
would like to thank all the staff at Durrell for their patience with me during
the study, as well as their help and cooperation with regards to the many and
varied maintenance, feeding and cleaning roles undertaken in the six weeks that
preceded it.
(A reminder of the great nights, days, fun and laughter had with some really great people)
Since being back on the mainland I have had a lot of fun
spending time with the people (and dog) that I missed greatly over the twelve
week placement. I am now back in Northampton ready to commence my final year of
university. Last night was a good opportunity to catch up with my friends prior
to re-enrolment, have a nice meal and prove that we never come away from a
pub-quiz empty handed. Sadly, the prize of five chomp bars, which we gladly
accepted, was only available to the lowest scoring team!
