Getting Ready
Beep…beep…beeeeeeep, the alarm of my phone wakes me up. It is 22:15, I have slept 30 minutes before going to observer Tereh on second shift. Working at night is always a time-space weird sensation. The rest of the village is going to bed when we are climbing a mountain and following nocturnal primates. It is only us in the magical night, with no sounds around except the adventurous crickets and nocturnal birds.
After drinking a big cup of strong black coffee, I feel awake enough to leave. I am a particular cold person, I put on a legging under my field trouser, a warm long-sleeves tee-shirt under my jumper. My bag is full of other jumpers, hat, gloves, hand-warmers, rain trousers, jacket and a thermos of coffee. I am ready to go through the cold to follow slow lorises. It is 22:59, Yiyi, my tracker for the night, has just arrived, as sleepy as me, he didn’t get a chance to have a nap!
Following Tereh
Walking up to find the first shift and switch with them, we just caught sign of a white ghostly shape flying above our heads – a barn owl. It is 23:10, the first shift guides us with their red light through chayote and crop fields. It is 23:15, we finally arrived at our objective. I exchange information on the loris’s current location with the first observer, Yiyi receives the equipment from the first tracker. We are ready to start our observation. Tereh is exploring at the crown of a tall Kayu putih tree. Tzatziki is 20m away, I can barely see his red eyes on a bamboo patch. Tereh moves up and down the tree searching for food.
Bats are flying around us, looking for insects as well. Tereh is sitting on a branch now, observing her environment. I grab my binoculars to look at her closely. She seems very calm…oh wait she just caught something flying to closely from her right hand… what is that… wahoo she has just gotten a bat. Slow lorises are very impressive. Walking slowly the majority of the time, they can be very fast to catch their prey. Tereh is savoring her meal, while Yiyi and I have already put on so many jumpers that our arms have less flexibility now. It is not very comfortable, but at least we are warm for a while!
Observing in Chayote
Tereh, repleted, rests on the same branch of Kayu putih. It is 00:15, the sky is very dark, moon and stars not visible. Yiyi checks the signal of the other family members, they have moved far away from Tereh during the night, she is by herself. It seems that she is sleeping now, in a sleeping ball posture, she hides her head between her knees. Yiyi and I just wait patiently for our focal to rest enough to continue her night. It is 01:45, Tereh just woke up.
It is slightly raining, and she starts to move slowly between branches, we follow her behind. She is heading to one of her favourite locations in the middle of her home range – a tall Jiengjen tree near her bamboo sleep site. But first, she has to walk bravely through chayote plantations. Very easy walk for slow lorises but for us it is always a challenge. 1 to 2m tall, we have to bow to not be blocked by liana branches and if we don’t look up, we are hit on the head sometimes by their hard fruits.
Observing slow lorises is very difficult as well. If they are on the top of the plantation, we have to make a hole between branches and pop up our heads to see the lorises. An uncomfortable situation for an arachnophobic person. It is 02:15, Tereh is still exploring in the chayote. Bowing, Yiyi and I walk slowly and cautiously to locate her. The signal gets stronger, we are very close to her. We finally locate her, she suspensory walking until the border of the plantation, she is ready to climb an Africa tree and head the Jiengjen tree.
Exciting Encounter
It is 03:05, Tereh is gouging the bark of the Jiengjen tree when we caught sign of two small red eyes in the dark. It is Tyrion, Tereh is back to the sleep site Tyrion was parked in for the night. Tyrion seems very relieved to finally have some company. Signal of the rest of the family gets stronger as well, they are coming back near Tereh and Tyrion. At 03:25, we can see two other red eyes coming through the trees. First thought it is another loris, Yiyi starts to check the collar frequencies to identify the individual. But getting closer to the individual, we realise that his eyes were to big and spaced to come from a loris.
Yiyi to me “it is an adult Asian palm civet”. Fascinating, we have an extra species interaction. The civet came closer to Tyrion and looked at him. Probably afraid, the young infant curls up in a ball and just waits. Tereh, feeling the danger, came quickly near Tyrion and just looked at the civet. The scene continued for 15 long minutes (for Tyrion), none of the three individuals moved an eyelash but just observing each other. Probably bored after a while, the adult civet decided to leave, he climbed down the tree and walked away on the ground. Relieved Tereh started to groom Tyrion.
Going to Sleep
It is 03:45, with Tyrion already reassured, Tereh starts to head to the sleep site, followed closely by her infant. Alomah and Tombol are eating gum in the tall Jiengjen tree and don’t seem distracted from their meal by her appearance. Tzatziki is waiting patiently in the next tree. It is 04:01, Tereh is entering her sleep site, carrying Tyrion to a safe hiding place to sleep. Alomah is still eating his last sweet gum parts while Tzatziki and Tombol have enough energy to squabble before bed.
It is 04:25, Tombol and Tzatziki finally decide to enter their bamboo sleep site (near Tereh’s), they will probably play a bit more then, but bamboos are too deep to be able to see them anymore. Alomah moved away, we can not see him anymore. It is 04:45, no sign of the family, the diurnal wildlife starts to wake up. It is 05:00, the sun rises and the follow is ending. Tereh hasn’t shown up again, she is probably huddling Tyrion and sleeping. It is time for us to go down the mountain, and to go sleep as well when the village start to wake up. HELENE BIROT
