Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Now that we've spent over two weeks in Cambodia, we've been exposed to the country's common and not-so-common animals. Here are some thoughts on a few of them:

Dogs: Dogs are perhaps the most common animal here. Most of them are small and lean , with intelligent brown eyes and long tails held curled over their backs. Others are small and fluffy. One dog we saw resembled nothing so much as an adorable but disgruntled rag mop sitting on top of a motorcycle. One can often find dogs riding around on top of motorcycles like this, or curled up in the shade in avoidance of Cambodia's intense afternoon heat.
Cats: Cats are most commonly found prowling around the tables of outdoor restaurants. Without exaggeration, every single cat here as a kink in its tail, a chunk of its tail missing, or
-occasionally- the tail is absent entirely. This is due to a terrible disease called necrotizing tailremovablitis. This is the same disease responsible for the human species' own disappointing lack of awesome prehensile tails.
Chickens: Chickens here are about as free-range as they can get. It's not uncommon to see them wandering around people's yards, tied upside-down to motorcycles, or taking a stroll around a gas station. Attempting to catch one of these wandering chickens is frowned upon.

Cows: Most cows here are quite exotic-looking, sporting humped backs and narrow, sloping faces. And while it may seem that Cambodian cows are just as slow and dim-witted as American cows, our friends Samnang and Vireak insist that the cows here speak English, constantly repeating the phrases "one moooore!" and "no moooore!" Cambodian cows are also delicious and much less fatty than their American counterparts.

Lizards: Lizards are primarily active at night, and it's not uncommon to see a dozen or so crawling around near ceiling lights and lamps, waiting to pounce upon insects who stray too near. The lizards will also pounce upon people's faces if approached from underneath with a camera (I learned this the hard way).

Monkeys: Monkeys are most commonly seen at temples. Here, they spend their time stealing and eating the food offerings left at Buddhist shrines, grooming each other, and intimidating visitors. We also saw some monkeys at the volcanic lake we visited in Rattanakiri province, though none of them appeared to enjoy swimming.

Irrawaddy dolphins: These freshwater dolphins are rare in Cambodia, and only live in certain parts of the Mekong river. The dolphins have round faces and very small dorsal fins. They have a habit of taunting camera-wielding tourists by only offering brief glimpses of their backs and dorsal fins. This only seems fair, however, since the tourists insist upon chasing them around in loud motor boats while the dolphins are trying to finish their morning fishing.

-Kat Prince

1 comment:

  1. I did a Google search for "necrotizing tailremovablitis." Your page is the only one in the whole World Wide Web upon which it appears.

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