Rufio, one of the loris that is observed by Little Fireface Project is one of a kind. This article is written in the perspective of a volunteer named Zaldo who observed Rufio twice in his service time. This tale started in December 2019. Let’s get into the dramatic intro.
“One day, within the farm of Cipaganti, lived a chubby loris that loves eating by the name of Rufio…”
Rufio was found in a bamboo tree, quite far in the middle of it. He was a kind of loris that really like to live close to villages. Even the second observation happened right in front of a villager’s house, so close that we observed him from the house porch. The villagers of Cipaganti tend their farms for living, and they live in synergy with the nature. There are a large variety of trees that grow there, so lorises like to stay quite close to farms and villages.
Rufio actually didn’t do that much in terms of activities, but his speciality is in one particular behaviour: eating. Yes, Rufio really loves to eat. In two observations with him, he never hesitated to simply go and munch quite much of stuffs. Tree gum, insects, flowers, you name it. Everything that is called food for him will definitely get inside his stomach. No question that his behaviour is mainly feeding.
“He was observed by Little Fireface Project as a magnificent chubby loris he is, and his special ability of grand meal…”
The first of two observations was the definition of loris grand meal, even though he ate quite much too on the second observation. That night, Zaldo and Sophie was the observer of Rufio. It was Zaldo’s first shift that he has to write on his own, Sophie was training him. It was a normal night, and Rufio was just like a normal loris doing some loris business. Going around, climbing up and down, moving trees, stay still and looking at observers and thinking “you creepy humans”, stuff like that. Until at the time of around midnight, the true Rufio emerges from his mask. He started to eat like crazy on Kaliandra flowers. One by one, flower by flower munched with no mercy like it was a competition. He moved from one branch to another to eat flowers, and he finished one flower in very short time. He could eat three flowers in a minute or two, where other lorises usually finished them in five minutes. Such a grand meal. Not only that, he did eat them in full two hours. TWO HOURS OF ONE STOP FEAST. With basic math you can count how many flowers vanished to the realm of his belly. Even Zaldo had to increase the writing speed simply to count how many flowers Rufio has swallowed. Such a grand meal had been witnessed in the eye of two observers and one tracker, yet they both wondered how Rufio did that when other lorises don’t. Maybe that was the reason he is quite large compared to the other. Rufio the Chubby, The Grand Eater, The Grandmaster of the Arts of Eating, The Tree Finisher, he earned those names.
“One by one, bit by bit, gone to the realm of belly. Rufio, the Grand Eater, keeps going with no signs of mercy…”
He finished the entire tree’s worth of flowers in two hours. You can call it complete flower slaying. But no worries, as Rufio eats the flowers, the pollen attached to his fur and body so he pollinates the tree as he keep eating and moving.
“Rufio keeps eating, observers jaw dropping, and the flowers have all gathered again… in Rufio’s stomach.”
To be continued, trust me he will keep eating in the next observations…
