Anoles, like many other animals on Guam, are an introduced species. This is a green anole (Anolis carolinensis), which is native to the southeastern U.S.
Green anoles are often confused with chameleons because they can change color and their eye, although not as protrusive, has a shape similar to chameleons. However, anoles are in a different family. For more information on herps found on Guam, check out this link: http://www.mesc.usgs.gov/resources/education/bts/impacts/herps.asp
Ritidian Beach, next to the building where I work.
I was taking some sunset photos on the beach when this CH-60S (I think) helicopter flew right above the sun. It looked like a scene out of Apocalypse Now. One of my friends flies these beasts here on Guam. I'm pretty sure this wasn't her flying since she's often away on deployment, but I think she would like the photo. She's an officer in the Navy with the HC-5 squandron: https://www.andersen.af.mil/HC5/
Anna and I woke up really early the other morning to go take some photos. We really lucked out with an awesome sunrise and a beautiful morning overall. Unfortunately, the battery died on my camera and I didn't have spares with me. Whoops! Well, next time I'll be sure to stock up with spares.
Another introduced species, the mangrove monitor lizard. This guy is actually very young. He was about 14'' long, but they can get very large. We currently have one at the lab that's probably around 5 pounds. It's a large and seasoned adult, rife with scars.
Check out that Gene Simmons tongue!
I think this is a species of ghost crab, but I'm not sure. These guys are all over the place on Ritidian Beach. I've seen them mainly in the late afternoon once everyone has gone for the day. They hang out along the wet sand and they go tearing into the water at full speed if approached.
A congregation of crabs.
This is a young female Mariana fruit bat (Petropus m. marianus), an endangered species being held in a temporary outdoor pen at the Guam National Wildlife Refuge where I work. She's going to be released back into the wild by a method called soft release. It's basically a way of slowly getting her acclimated to the wild. Right now she is still being fed by biologists. I'm not sure of how long she will be kept in the pen, but they will eventually release her and possibly keep food out for her temporarily after she is released. The main people working with her right now are Anne Brooke, Dusty (the bat man), and Jenn, who has worked with fruit bats in Australia.
Let us not forget why we're here on Guam: to strangle... and be strangled... by the brown treesnake.
Merry Christmas, from the plastic Foremost Dairy cow. This is appropriate, since I think all of Foremost's milk is made from powder. It's probably the nastiest milk I've ever had. There are no dairy farms on Guam... that I know of, anyway... and Foremost makes that abundantly clear.
There has been such a huge lapse since my last major entry that to try recounting everything would be realistically impossible. I’m sorry for not keeping up with this more consistently, especially for those of you eager to know more about what has been going on here. However, I hope that in many of those cases we can/do communicate in other ways. Things, overall, have been incredibly busy over the past few months and I’ll be happy to give the Cliff Notes version.
Two entries ago, I had just finished the first of a five-part bike race series. Well, I was unable to attend any of the other races, due to several events, some foreseen, some not. The second race I missed due to a snake sighting in Saipan, to which I was deployed for about a week along with Brent, Haldre, and later Pete. After departing Saipan, we flew back to Guam for approximately 8 hours. My next destination was Bali, where we stayed for 6 fantabulous days. Once arriving back to Guam from Bali, I was once again launched back to Saipan for another stint at the snake sighting. After being there for another week, I came back here. Where I’ve been since… for now.
Now, that’s a super brief summary, so I’ll go into a bit more detail about Bali, since that was by far more entertaining than the Rapid Response deployments. The first trip to Saipan went well in that it sounded like a legitimate brown treesnake sighting, the area was fairly open (i.e., lots of houses and mowed grass), and we had plenty on searchers. The area was searched for several days with no snakes to be found. Then, on the day before we were scheduled to leave, there was another snake sighting. Ah, crap. It was seen in the early afternoon, while I was at the hotel. I could have been there less than an hour after the sighting, however, Brent, by no fault of his own, had chosen the incredibly inopportune time to leave with the car 10 minutes before we got the call. So, I sat in the hotel waiting for him to return from his run. We ended up making it to the sighting, helped set up, and, following a very brief dinner, began searching. It was about this time Pete was called in from Guam to help out and relieve us from search duties so we could 1) get some sleep and 2) actually make it to Bali. We were grateful- and the next day, we were outta there.
The first day in Bali was a Friday. We stayed in Kuta, a small but densely populated city on the southern peninsula of the island. The main purpose of our visit was the Bali Tens rugby tournament, which is a fairly major event in this corner of the world. It was during this time in 2002 when the Bali bombing occurred, an event in which many people, most of them rugby players and fans, were killed. Bali is not a very dangerous place overall, especially compared with many parts of Indonesia, so the fact that such a horrific terrorist attack happened there shocked many people, including most Balinese. Much of Bali’s revenue comes from tourist dollars, so it only makes sense that most residents want people to come (along with their money) and have a great time. The bombing was another event showing that, of course, attacks can happen anywhere. However, most people in Bali were appalled by what happened and condemned the attacks.
Despite past events, we had no problems our entire time there. The tournament was held at the Grand Bali Beach Hotel, which is an impressive hotel encompassing a big chunk of land. The games were a lot of fun to watch and I even got some photos, which I may post here. Brent and Haldre played in many of the games, with Brent being the biggest proverbial slut of the group, playing for four different teams during the course of the tournament. He did a fantastic job in the games, scoring several tries and proving himself, as far as I could tell, to be the MVP. Haldre also did a great job and, as always, received a lot of attention for not only playing very well, but also being the only woman out there. She even tackled a guy with impressive force, a sack many people were talking about for the rest of the weekend.
Jenn and I were dubbed team managers, so we conducted several important tasks for the players. Well, that is to say we sometimes brought them water, although that was done primarily by Jenn. I acted more as the team photographer. Basically we didn’t do anything, but that’s okay. We still got to be part of the team.
After a long Saturday of watching games, we all went down to the beach for a couple beers before heading to dinner. Upon arriving at our destination, we met up with a fun group of belligerent rugby players with the team name of Tequila Mockingbirds. These guys were by far the most cordial group we met and this dinner gave us a deeper appreciation for their antics. The dinner basically involved a lot of beer, way too much food, and grotesque amounts of tequila. Those leading the ceremony basically tried to find any excuse, whether it be in the form of penalties, peer pressure, or threat of physical abuse, to make everyone else drink. By the end of the night we had all walked (staggered is more like it) to a nearby “jazz” club, where several amusing things took place, including an elephant walk, Jenn shaking her groove thing with every member of the live band, and me sitting in on drums for “Play That Funky Music White Boy.” Let’s just say Sunday morning was more than a little rough, but I got what I deserved.
When the weekend of rugby was over, we moved up to Ubud, a smaller city about an hour north of Kuta. Ubud has a thriving arts community, so there are paintings, crafts, and clothing for sale almost everywhere. It was here that Jenn and I parted ways with Haldre and Brent for much of the time so they could be alone together. We occupied ourselves by being solicited every 10 seconds for “Transport, Boss?,” shopping, watching a really cool Legong dance, and going to the monkey forest.
This latter experience was probably my favorite part of our time in Ubud. The monkey forest is a relatively small sanctuary in which there are three separate populations of Balinese Macaques. I think about 200 individuals are known to be there, half of which are juveniles. As far as monkeys go, they’re very cute and appear to have mustaches and goatees. They were also amazingly human-like and expressive. It was so cool to see them interacting with each other, to see the details in their expressions, and just see monkeys being monkeys. The only other times I’ve seen primates have been in zoos where they've been locked up. Given, the conditions in which these macaques are living aren’t exactly natural, but more so than a zoo.
Part of what makes the setting unnatural is that there are people walking through the forest all the time, many of whom are feeding the monkeys. Jenn and I didn’t do this since it’s rarely a good idea to feed wild animals (bird feeders being a notable exception) and the monkeys can also get very aggressive in trying to get food from you. Despite this fact, not having food didn’t really help me out.
So there we were, Jenn and I, hanging out with a group of monkeys behind an old Hindu temple when Jenn spots a little guy playing in a pile of dirt. He’s jumping around, throwing little handfuls of dirt around, and having a grand ol’ time. Jenn walks up to him slowly and crouches down to join the fun. She picks up a little bit of sand and gently tosses it his way. The little monkey seems a bit perplexed, if not slightly scared, but he keeps hanging out. I then approach them and do basically the same thing, crouching down to interact with the fuzzy little guy. That’s when things went a little bananas, if you will. Out of nowhere, from directly behind me (and with lightening speed), this adult macaque leapt onto my back, grabbed onto me, and chomped onto the back of my left arm. “Holy shit!” I cried, shooting up and tossing the beast off me while Jenn stood in complete shock. This monkey was just a *tad* pissed off and then, since it was a dominant adult that had succeeded in attacking me, several other monkeys got worked up and started to go for me. None of them succeeded in leaping onto me, although there were many angry screeches being sent my way. I retaliated with a little noise of my own, accompanied by some savage beats to the chest, to make sure none of them could question my manliness. Actually, we just walked away slowly and no more harm was done. I did get a nasty mark from it, though. Fortunately, I think my aggressor could have done much worse than he/she did. The adults have some massive canines for their size (not like a baboon, but big) and this one only just broke through the skin in a couple places.
[stop]
It’s at this point that I’m looking at this entry after yet another month and a half has past. D’oh! I have been terrible about updating this site. It’s down right embarrassing, but the best thing I can do at this point is post, despite the discontinuity. My computer was out of commission for about a month, which made it all the more difficult to pick this back up again. Anyway, let me just fill you in on today.
So, it’s Christmas, and to all of you who celebrate the holiday I wish you a very Merry Christmas. This has by far been my strangest Christmas so far, since I physically cannot participate in nearly every tradition and experience to which I’m accustomed on this day. There are some decorations up around the island (Christmas lights, cheesy plastic lawn ornaments, and even some conifers), but it all looks ridiculous amidst a tropical setting of palm trees, heat, and no chance in hell of snow. I’m also thousands of miles from all the people with whom I normally spend the holidays, which is sad. I do, however, have a lot of great friends here and I’m glad to be able to share the holidays with them.
The main event for me today was the Christmas hash, which should be no major surprise to those of you who often read my entries. Since Christmas falls on a Saturday, it only seemed appropriate to keep with tradition. It’s also a good way to hang out with folks when you don’t have family here. It was the usual run through thick jungle, with the exception that there were presents given out to some people at the end. All in all it has been a good day, but I’m looking forward to talking with my family members, too. It’s early morning on the 26th here, but Christmas is just starting for them.
The only other major thing I want to mention at this juncture, and this will mostly be of interest to family and friends back home, is that I have a girlfriend now. Her name is Anna and she’s fantastic. I won’t go into any more detail in this open forum to protect her privacy, plus I want to tell people in a more personal way. Needless to say, I’m very happy and it’s a great thing. Unfortunately, she’s home for the holidays so I can’t see her during this time, but I know she’s having fun with her friends and family.
In closing, I have a funny holiday image for you, which I really wish I had on film. On the way to the hash, Brent and I were driving behind this pickup truck in the back of which were two large dogs. Each had its front legs up on the side of the truck, taking in the breeze, tongues hanging out. What made these dogs especially amusing was that they were both wearing red Santa shirts with white cuffs, Santa hats, and shades. Remarkably, they didn’t look miserable in these getups, probably since they had a nice breeze cooling them off. I’m amazed the sunglasses were staying on, too. Likely their owner had taped them on.
Once I remember more amusing anecdotes from the past couple months, I’ll probably post them here. There will also be some photos on the way soon. Happy Holidays!