My Wildlife.....

One of the great things about living here in Venezuela is seeing some of the amazing wildlife that lives in and around our little school. Aside from my two tortoises, the workers found a rare naked tailed armadillo on the school grounds last week. I've decided to call him Dillo (though the school is having a vote on what they want to call him). I've spent the past couple of nights with my flashlight searching for him, but I can't seem to find him. After showing him to the kids, he was released on the school grounds, but it is possible that he got out or was on a different side of campus from where I was searching.

Aside from Dillo, I've also seen some HUGE iguanas running around the campus. One was easily about two feet long (not counting a majority of his tail). We also have a large number of other little geckos and other types of lizards.

Then there are the large number of birds that reside here. I've seen so many colorful birds that it's really amazing. Little yellow and red birds are flying around and sometimes you can even see a humming bird flying near some of the flowers.

Then there is the large ant and insect population. While I'm sure you've heard and read about my battle with the ants, the true battle is with the leaf-cutter ants. These ants literally climb up into the trees, cut off some leaves (which fall to the ground and are picked up by others) and take them back to their nest, where they use it to grow fungus. According to one website, the path that they take to their nest can be as long as 250 meters (think yards). One of our colonies has an extremely long path that they take nightly and it includes climbing over a nine foot cement wall!

When I get a computer, I'll try to post some pics for you, but until then, you can do an Internet search for the pics!! Until then, you'll just have to picture this amazing place in your mind. Until next time....

God Bless