Day2Day @ pangolin.li

Aliza and myself just undertook a sentimentality trip today, to overcome our longing for small mammals of the furry kind.

I mean, Aliza has spent the past 3 or 4 years in the Kalahari observing Yellow Mongooses (or Mongeese? well, “Fuchsmangusten” in German), following their every step and listening to whatever sounds they uttered.

So Aliza’s probably THE expert on yellow mongooses. Worldwide. But now she’s fighting a lone battle with statistics to finish her PhD, in cold Zurich, far away from the sounds and smells of the Kalahari. And far away from furry sweeties like Choc Chip or Mickey… Doesn’t this sound dramatic? It does to me - I’ve only spent 2 weeks in the Kalahari Meerkat Project, but still miss the scurries.
It goes without saying that the birth of three meerkat pups in a combined meerkat/mongoose exhibition in the Rapperswil KinderZoo was reason enough to board the old steam boat on Lake of Zurich for a ride to Rapperswil, to visit the kats n’yellows. Here are our observations (mostly Aliza’s):

• The three yellows where more active than the kats, but still sedated compared to their cousins in the wild. Obvious to the expert eye was that the yellows were much more nervous than their wild counterparts. Poor thingies…
• A hot-air balloon is a strange kind of bird. Being a yellow, you can strain your ears and watch it for 10 minutes - but still no signs of attack. Hot-air ballons don’t seem to live on small mammals (contrary to rat creatures).
• And the meerkats? The kats were L.A.Z.Y., worse than during the Kalahari midday heat. Mama plus 3 pups formed a ball with an indiscriminate number of legs and tails sticking out. Papa watched us, his boredom indicating that we’re about as scary as a january bush. But they were SWEET!!!

And the world goes crazy about meerkats!!!

Just spent some time reading through the Billnighy Meerkat Manor forum - it virtually exploded in the past 2 weeks. Hopes are repeatedly searing up and crashing down regarding the fates of Shakespeare and Tosca - as finally PROFESSOR Tom Flower, the project leader of the meerkat project, secunded by Professor Alex Thornton, has given a statement that Shakespeare just disappeared (just before, or really after the fight with Big Cy? - that one is still under discussion).

Okay, here a few links:

Bill Nighy page (read Post 384 by Deidre, for the Statement of Professor Tom Flower, and Post 394 with Alex’s letter)

A recent show on Today, about the fate of Shakespeare (it really made me feel homesick to see the little scurries again on screen…)

Sciencetoday article about an upcoming PNAS publication by Andrew Young (another upcoming Professor?) with latest research on eviction of meerkat females by the dominant female

Another Meerkat Manor forum, which had the decency to link to my meerkat page
Anyway, it’s great news to read that Tom got promoted to Professor, in the past year - at least in this forum!

Good news is also that our zoo in Rapperswil recently announced the birth of meerkat babies - even though it is a single couple instead of a family… Most probably they just felt so happy because of their new neighbours, the yellow mongooses!

The question had been on since months: Did Shakespeare survive the battle in which he saved the pups from being killed by archrivals Lazuli??? And where did Tosca go?

No clue what I’m talking about? Well, you haven’t met the dearest movie stars ever: the meerkats of Meerkat Manor. They are the only movie stars I ever met in person (on my 2005 SA trip), but I haven’t seen the movie yet .

But I found this fan page about them, telling me that there will be a 2nd series, and that a DVD of the first series will come out.

AND NOW AMAZON POSTPONES THE DVD, after the actual release date!!!

It’s a cruel crazy beautiful world. Like Flower’s, Shakespeare’s, Youssarian’s or Tosca’s world. And I’ll have to wait for another month to see the meerkats again But I wonder what meerkat tales Cyndi will tell - she’s in an Earthwatch meerkat team in June 2007.

I do envy her.

“As I watched Goblin shift his hold on Sprite’s throat, and the pair twisted over in a spray of sand, I knew Goblin was most likely to win… if the practice theory was correct. Goblin had devoted more time to play than Sprite, and so had had more opportunity to practise his fighting manoeuvres. He was also more skilled at these combat moves, winning play fights more often than Sprite. And when the pair had played together, it was Goblin who’d won two-thirds of their wrestling matches. As the battling meerkats disappeared below ground, the group gathered excitedly in the burrow’s entrance, jostling to peer down the hole, their arms thrown around each others’ shoulders as they craned to see. Their tension was palpable, and so was mine. Would Goblin win?

Growls and squeals drifted up from below. We waited patiently. Only Morgause seemed unaffected by the excitement, calmly grooming her fur. Suddenly a meerkat shot out of the burrow. It streaked away, crossing the wide, shrubby flats at a hard gallop. But who was it? Tension in the group intensified; all eyes were fixed on the burrow - even Morgause’s. Then, swaggering thriumphantly despite a noticeable limp, XXX strutted out. He approached Morgause warily, sinking down beside her as she leant across and nonchalantly began to groom the blood from his fur.”

This account of the final battle about Morgause’s (the widowed dominant female of the Young Ones mob) paw, between littermates Goblin and Sprite (of Elveera mob) is probably as exciting as research gets - and Lynda Sharpe may still think about a second career in writing thrillers should research get more boring after this. During her 4-year PhD studies in the Kalahari Meerkat Project, Lynda documented 27000 playfights and a mere 18 dominance fights trying to answer a seemingly simple question: Do playfights train meerkats for the real fights, or are they just fun? Why should youngsters waste engergy on play when they could use it to grow?

The question whether playfighting is just honing skills for the final dominance fights is also the subject of an article by Lynda in Africa Geographic (Sept 2006, p. 35-39) - and a good read for anyone who can’t get enough of exciting meerkat stories
The answer to Lynda’s practise theory was a simple “no”. Hard players are not automatically dominance winners. So the question about the innermost meaning of play remains.
But anyway - did you ever think about why humans play?

Seti@home paved the way for volunteer computing, searching for extraterrestrial life signals. Thanks to Ben’s comment on my Stardust@home entry, my good old iBook does now scientific research on malaria while I sleep…

The malariacontrol.net project is an application that makes use of network computing for stochastic modelling of the clinical epidemiology and natural history of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. - or, easily put: the project uses volunteer computer power to predict how malaria spreads and what can be done against this. It is part of the Africa@home initiative, a website for volunteer computing projects which allow your computer to contribute to African humanitarian causes.

Registration for participants is now open at malariacontrol.net. Make your computer work while you sleep!

I started to write my travel diary because I liked reading similar pages. But now I like it because I get in contact with complete strangers who share similar passions - like travelling. Dori Caspi is one of them. Being a passionate photographer AND being in love with a Himba family in Northwestern Namibia, he created a beautiful page with even more beautiful photograps. Check out himba.co.il!

I just learnt that there will be a second episode of Meerkat Manor, an Animal Planet soap starring the Whiskers meerkats of Kuruman River Reserve! I missed the first episode in September 2005 since I was still in Namibia - so keep fingers crossed that they bring it out on DVD… Episode 2 will probably be released in Sept 2006. I wonder how the film crew succeeds in bringing the main characters of episode 1 back into to episode 2 - because the meerkat gangs are not that stable…
Constant updates are to be found on narrator Bill Nighy’s fanpage.

Just got the information from Annette in Naries, that a major renovation is underway at Naries! Not only are the current buildings refurbished, but there are also three new Luxury Mountain cabins, conference facilities and 4 new rooms near the farmhouse planned - raising the number of beds from 13 to 30! Naries will awake from this beauty sleep in April 2006 - in time of course for the flower season in Jul-Oct.

What a pity that Naries is so far away from here!

There seems to be a beautiful addition to the lodges near Namib-Naukluft NP, Solitaire and Sossusvlei: Kuangu Kuango. It’s not a lodge, but rather a self-catering luxury cabin with real privacy. The landscape around there is stunning, and their website is mouth-watering. Will be on my to-go-list.

The Pitchers from Oranjemund sent me more information about this utterly remote place between Aussenkehr and Rosh Pinah I tried to visit on my 2005 trip to Namibia (as part of the degree confluence project):”We tried to visit this confluence about six months ago and followed the track through the old mining camp. The track followed the dry river bed and one was able to get within 3 km of the confluence. It appears that the confluence is in a very rugged area and some climbing would be required.”