It's an Animal's World

Here is a casual collection of animals I've caught on film in Laos.

This cutie pie is a binturong, or Asian bearcat (although it's neither bear nor cat), related to the mongoose and civet, and is one of two carnivores with a prehensile tail, useful for swinging about in its home among the rainforest canopies of Southeast Asia.



Here's something interesting...binturong are one of 100 mammal species that can undergo delayed implantation. That means female binturong can get pregnant, but then hold the embryo dormant and time the birth with favorable environmental conditions. Kick ass!! Can you imagine if humans could do that?? No more surprises, but more like...oh, well let's just tuck that away for a bit and go traveling! Or I can be CEO for a while longer...

BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS!! Chickens, ducks, turkeys...there's no getting away from them here. Countryside, cityside...they're everywhere!

And what do birds (and apparently, humans too) eat? Bugs. From left: raw larvae at the Morning Market; larvae and grasshoppers cooked with chilis; and a boy's pet beetle on a string (he was moody, so I couldn't get very close).