by Mason

Leaves fall from a tree.  A Langur monkey is throwing down treats to its friend the spotted deer.  The Langur live in trees and love to travel in a troop of 20-30 individuals. Their tails are longer than their bodies, giving them good balance and good movement through the branches. They are sometimes called the Hanuman Langur, named after the Hindu monkey god of devotion.  Langurs have been seen hanging out with another species of monkey named the Rhesus Macaque (photo below).  Even though they share the same niche, the langur and rhesus get along well. They have even been seen grooming each other. 

The Indian Flying Fox Bat

We see a creature climbing up a tree using claws on its wings like a climber using an ice axe on a wall of ice.  With a body two feet long and a four foot wingspan, the Indian flying foxes are roosting in a bunch of trees above us.  We had heard about these creatures from our guide on the jungle walk the day before and we wanted to come see them.  They weigh around 1 kilogram and have leathery, black wings.  Fox bats can live for up to 20 years in the wild.  Dusk is their most active time of day and they can consume almost half of their body weight in fruit and nectar. 

The Magic of Elephants

by Celia

Through the mist comes a big, gray shape.  If it was still, it could almost be mistaken for a large, lumpy rock. We quiet down and watch as this giant, magical creature  appears.  It walks across the dirt path, pauses, and turns towards us.  Then it turns away and disappears into the mist once more.  We stare in awe after it, the endangered Asian Elephant, largest land mammal in Asia.  We walk back to where we started our journey, passing the stables where the domestic elephants live.  Here these beautiful beings are chained, unable to move except for when they are ridden out into the jungle by humans to graze.  Such a sad reality for an animal that, like all animals, deserves to be wild and free.  Elephants are intelligent creatures that would be perfectly fine without us.

Beautiful Buffalo

Silhouetted by the setting sun, a herd of water buffalo splash through the river, going home after a day of grazing. These giant, domestic, ungulates are an essential part of Nepali life.  They are used mainly for their milk and meat, as cows are considered sacred by Hindus and cannot be killed.  Buffalo dung is mixed with mud to make the houses and to fertilize the crops.  The buffalos also sometimes pull the carts and plow the fields.  And then there is, of course, the beautiful symbiotic relationship between the buffalo and the egrets.