Privileged Observer: All Creatures Great and Small

Flap-necked Chameleon - Philip Shirk

As I often say, size isn’t everything.

Ok, ok, you can stop sniggering at the back…

My daily grind consists, on the whole, of going to lovely places and looking at awesome animals. Usually big animals. But that’s not always the case – sometimes you find some cool smaller stuff, and some of these are very cool indeed

A friend kindly volunteered (or was 'volunteered'? Thanks again, Norma) to act as a ‘mule’, bringing me some exciting new toys from the States. One of these, advertised on Amazon as a ‘Private Investigator Flashlight’ (apparently great for revealing bloodstains and other bodily fluids, as any ‘Bones’ fans out there will know) is an ultraviolet light.

Just before it arrived, I asked a fellow guide if he had used one at all? Oh yes, lots. How did he rate it? ‘I stopped using it, it gave me nightmares…’ You see, UV isn’t only good for showing up bloodstains, it’s also REALLY good for finding scorpions. (Hint: if you don’t like scorpions, don’t look at the picture below).

I have to admit to being just the teensiest bit underwhelmed when my CSI Flashlight arrived. As soon as it was dark, I dashed outside to find… nothing. I tried a couple more times in likely looking places… nothing. So I wasn’t expecting much when Chris, the manager at Manyara Ranch, borrowed it to see what he could turn up. But he was back in a few minutes, with a small scorpion in a glass.

It appears that a scorpion’s carapace absorbs UV light, so it glows a weird greenish white. VERY weird against the purple backdrop of everything else around it! Chris took a series of lovely photos, including this:

Photo by Chris Rodgers

As you can imagine I was reenergised by this discovery and managed to find 5 more on my way back to my tent. Well, right by my tent actually. Hmmm…

While at Manyara Ranch, Jules spotted a slim snake sunning itself on the path. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we identified it tentatively as a Tanganyika Sand Snake, which, according to the distribution map, shouldn’t really be there. We’re awaiting expert confirmation, but it looks like a good match.

Meanwhile, back home once again, we were lucky enough to spend an evening prowling around our property with leading chameleon boffin Philip Shirk. No UV this time: a standard torch (flashlight for those on the other side of the Atlantic) does just nicely. In the cool of the night, chameleons save energy by diverting blood from the skin to the core; the colour-bearing chromatophore cells, deprived of blood supply, turn very pale. So you look out for whitish, comma-shaped objects among the leaves and if you’re any good, you find them.

We found 9 (or was it 11?), including this baby Kilimanjaro 2-horned Chameleon and his friends: