Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Sri Lanka Wildlife

Sri Lanka has an incredibly rich wildlife, especially given its relatively small territory.

Elephants, wild boars, giant bats, crocodiles, exotic birds, even leopards! Just for fun, here are a few pictures I found of Sri Lankan animals:

 
Picture from http://www.asianews.it/files/img/SRI_LANKA_(F)_1016_-_Elephant.jpg

Picture from  http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/sevcik/pteropus-giganteus--pteropus-giganteus-3.jpg 

Picture from  http://holidaysinsrilanka.net/Assets/images/inside/SriLanka_Leopard_At_Yala.jpg 

Picture from  http://ceylonbestholiday4u.lk/images/sri_lanka_brown_headed_barbet_fruit_tree.jpg 

But I really wanted to write about this weird reptile... In English, it is called the Water Monitor. Isn't that already a strange name for an animal?
In Sinhala, they are called Kabaragoyas. And apparently, they are pretty common on the island! They can measure up to 3m (that's 9ft), but they also have a little brother called Thalagoya.
I had never heard about it, and it will probably make me a little nervous if we go on any type of nature walk in Sri Lanka...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Kabaragoya:

 
Picture from  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Sri-Lanka_water_monitor.jpg 


Pretty, eh?
I'd love for this little guy to come rub against my leg!











I don't know how much freedom we'll have, with the paperwork and all, when we go to Sri Lanka. Still, I really hope that we get to go in some National Parks or maybe even on a safari when we're there! How often do you get to see elephants and water monitors in the wild?

2 comments:

  1. HI Gen,
    just coming back from two weeks holiday in Sri Lanka I can assure you, that there are some wild elephants around (we met one on the street) and we were lucky to see the leopard during a safari to Yala National Park (highly recommended!). No luck with the wild living water monitors this time (they had probably been on holiday too).
    As second language speaker I have some difficulties to follow your adoption and immigration progress but I wish you good luck!
    BaLu

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    Replies
    1. Hi BaLu,
      Thank you for your message! Wow! Elephants on the streets? That's exotic!!
      I would love to go to one of the National Parks... We'll see...
      All the best,
      Gen

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