Royston Reports, Newsletter No. 16
You never have to go far in Sri Lanka to encounter some of the island’s exotic wildlife. Even in the bustling city of Colombo, you’ll see huge pelicans perched in trees by the Beira Lake.
In rural Sri Lanka, of course, wildlife is even more obvious, often intrusive. Just this week at my home in the countryside overlooking the Indian Ocean, l’ve found baby frogs in the shower, a grasshopper on my pillow, a dragonfly in the bathroom, snails on the veranda furniture, colourful butterflies and warbling kingfishers in the garden, a mongoose foraging, fruit bats squawking in the palm trees, and geckos (lizards) croaking in the beams.
My favourite visitors from the wild are the Purple Faced Leaf Monkeys, aka the purple-faced langur (Trachypithecus vetulus). Older ones have a bushy white beard (just like me) and they love to frolic in my garden. They leap from tree to tree, attracted by the plentiful leaves and the fruit of the pandanus (walking) tree.
Purple-faced Leaf Monkeys, an endemic species, frolic in my garden
Experts tell me that this is an Old World monkey endemic to Sri Lanka. The animal is a long-tailed arboreal species, identified by a mostly black appearance, dark face (with paler lower face). The species was once highly prevalent in suburban Colombo and in areas with high temperatures and high humidity. Inevitably, as trees are cut down in rapacious urbanisation, there has been a significant decrease in the population level of the monkeys, making these leaping leaf-eaters an endangered species.
Equally fascinating are the local iguanas or land monitors that occasionally trundle across the lawn. The land monitor is found mainly in the lowland dry zone, and is most common in farmlands (particularly coconut plantations) and dry, open forests. Land monitors spend the nights in burrows, where their body temperature decreases. In the morning they raise their body temperature by basking in the sun before commencing any activity. Hence they are rarely active early in the morning.
Iguana in Sri Lanka
This fellow heading for my wall of (empty) wine bottles has lost part of his tail. The land monitor is an excellent climber. Even large adults can go up vertical tree trunks with ease, where they stalk and capture roosting fruit bats.
The land monitor’s cousin, the water monitor, is often seen lurking in the shallows by the banks of rivers, and locals delight in teasing tourists by saying they are crocodiles.
