GVI Kenya

Category: Small mammals | Date: Mar 06 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello!

Before I begin let me introduce myself…

My name is Matt, I’m GVI’s forest officer here in Shimoni.  I’m from Devon in England, although spent most of my life growing up in South Africa, Malawi and Bangladesh.  You’re usual blogger, Corti, is off to Costa Rica and Hawaii (on business I promise…) for a month and a half, so I shall be keeping you all informed and up to date with all the exciting news from the beautiful south coast of Kenya, and the work we’re doing here.  I don’t pretend to be as eloquent as Corti, and I’m only half as funny, but I shall certainly do my best!

Matt (in green) checking butterfly traps

Secondly, I must apologise for the distinct lack of blogs this week.  Unfortunately, we are in a part of the world where a fully functioning internet connection is never guaranteed.  We’ve been having some technical issues, but fingers crossed, all will be well!

At the end of last week, our forest team headed out nice and early to get a couple of bird surveys in.  Despite having to get out of bed when it is still dark, and fumble around for the equipment in the dark, it is without a doubt my favorite time to be out in the forest; just as dawn is breaking and all the animals are waking up with you.  We went to transect 1, our nearest transect, and sat down to begin the survey.  As usual, our ears were assaulted with hundreds of bird calls, and we all spent the half an hour trying to identify as many as we could.  It was only after the survey was finished when Olga, one member of our team came up to me, with a puzzled yet excited look on her face.  She, and one other person, had got a brief look at what she could only describe as a “mystery mammal”.  I was intrigued, so the moment we got back to base, out came the mammal book.  We all had a good look, and as of yet, have not made a positive ID.  

This is the description Olga gave:

Approximately 30cm high from the ground to its shoulder, and its head-body length was approximately 40cm.  It had a very bushy tail that stood erect when it ran.  It was a long tail, at least the same length as its body.  Its body colour was dark grey to black, with patches of white.  Its back was sloping and it ran with its head close to the ground.  It didn’t appear to have a long snout or muzzle, and was very quick along the ground.

Unfortunately, it was only a fleeting glimpse, so that is the best description we have, and there certainly wasn’t the chance for a photo!  After looking through the book, the two lucky spotters claim that the picture that looks most like what they saw is that of a zorilla (ictonyx striatus), but according to the book, they aren’t found here!  Apart from that, my guess would be it was some sort of mongoose (although the colouration doesn’t match the common ones found here).

It was exciting nonetheless, and we shall continue in our search to successfully ID it (feel free to offer any suggestions!).  I will be back very soon with more news, I hope you’ve enjoyed the first edition of ‘Matt’s blog’!

Bye for now

Tags: mammal, mongoose, Shimoni Forest, zorilla