bestiary: bactrian camel

the main difference between these and arabian (dromedary) camels is the number of humps each has. bactrians have two instead of one. consequently, they can go even longer without plants and water in even harsher conditions (from about 40°C to -30°C) with the extra storage. i suppose it is fitting that when they can drink water, they can do so at ridiculously fast rates. like more than two gallons per minute fast. bactrians are the only true wild camels in the gobi dessert and yet they are very endangered. estimates say there are less than 1000 left. camelus bactrianus in moleskine.

bestiary: baboon

baboons live in troops that number in the hundreds. they vocalise to communicate within the troop but good old physical force does the trick for the males as well. interestingly, they spend a fair amount of time grooming each other, ridding one another of insects and the like. i'm not sure why their groups are called troops though. a school of fish; a herd of cattle; a troop of baboons? perhaps they're militant? they do eat meat but tend toward more vegetarian diets, often annoying farmers in the african and arab regions they inhabit. baboons are old world monkeys - a distinction i'm finding a little hard to comprehend. aside from tails that don't grip trees, i believe old world monkeys have different nasal and dental structures from apes. papio hamadryas / papio / anubis / cynocephalus / ursinus in moleskine.

bestiary: aye aye

just about everything i read about these guys is new to me. aye-ayes are nocturnal, spend their life in rainforest trees (in eastern madagascar mainly), and are the largest of nocturnal primates. they kind...woodpeck...with their long, slender middle fingers to get at insects within branches and trees. until i read it, all signs indicated a very timid creature but they're apparently quite fearless. they've been spotted just kind of strolling through villages or don't mind cozying up to people in the wild, if they're there. on the flip side, they're known as omens and are killed on the spot by locals who believe this. daubentonia madagascariensis in moleskine.