Fighting Ram

A few days ago, I accompanied my Australian students to walk in and out of kampongs at Geger Kalong Girang area in the north of Bandung. Among the dense houses, there was a an empty plot of land with a goat pen in one of its corners. There we saw a couple of strong and healthy looking rams. We asked a man who happened to be sitting close by about them. He said they were fighting rams.

Ram fighting (known locally as 'adu domba') is quite a popular Sundanese (West Javanese people) traditional game. I have yet to post a story about it, but - frankly speaking - I still feel a bit apprehensive that such a story might be repulsive for some of my viewers who may be thinking that such a tradition is cruel.

Does Dog Like Coke?

Apparently it does.

Like humans, dogs like sweet drink like coke. Unfortunately, coke is bad for dogs. It can cause tooth and other serious health problems for them.

Photo taken at Alun-Alun Bandung (Bandung City Square).

Dancing Orangutan

Can orangutan really dance?

While it is known to be one of the most intelligent primates, there are no references that I know of that say that orangutan can dance. Atim - a captive orangutan at Bandung Zoo shown in this photo -, however, would sometimes display what looks like a dancing act when asked to pose for a photograph.

Atim has been placed at the park in the center of the zoo by his caretaker/handler every Sunday to entertain visitors and those who want to have their photos taken with him.

This photo was taken and contributed for Bandung Daily Photo by Alda Agustine, a teacher at TBI Bandung. Thanks for the contribution, Alda.

Beach Monkey

Pangandaran is also the location of a small national park where a number of protected species of plants and animals live. Among them are Banteng Jawa (Javanese bull, boss Javanicus), kijang (barking deer), the endemic Javan Gibbons (hylobates moloch), the world's largest flower - the Rafflesia Arnoldii, and this common monkey (rhesus macaque) who often goes out of the forest to the nearby beach to greet beach-goers.

Sacrificial Animals

Tomorrow moslems in Indonesia as are those in other parts of the world are going to celebrate Eid ul Adha - a festival to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God. On this day muslims who can afford it are expected to sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim's sacrifice. The meat of the sacrificed animals are to be distributed to the poor and needy.

Unlike in the Middle East where Eid ul Adha is the larger and more festive holiday than that of Eid ul Fitr (the other major moslem holiday), in southeast Asia Eid ul Adha is not as festively celebrated as Eid ul Fitr. Therefore, Eid ul Adha generally feels like the smaller holiday for us.

Pictured above are the seasonal street vendors selling sacrificial sheep and goats. They usually come from the villages and begin selling the animals a week before the D day, and make use any empty lot of land they can find and even the road side to keep the animals.

Banteng Jawa

This is the head shot of a young female Banteng Jawa (bos javanicus) that I took at Bandung Zoo sometime ago.

Banteng Jawa belongs to the family of bovidae (bull, cow). Although scientifically named "javanicus", this species can actually be found not only on Java Island, but also on the islands of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Bali, and several other places in southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Thailand, the northern part of the peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

Banteng is a sexually dimorphic/dimorpheous animal, that is the appearance of its male and female can be readily distinguished. The coat colors of a mature male banteng usually range from blue-black to dark chestnut, while its female's coat is usually of rofous-chestnut color. In addition to this, male and female can also be distinguished by the size and shape of their horns. An adult male banteng's horn is normally longer than that of the female's and is pointing upward in its shape. The famale's, on the other hand, has shorter horn that is shightly curving inward. Both male and female banteng have white stocking-like coat on their lower legs.

An adult banteng is about 190-225 cm/6.3-7.5 ft long and can weigh from 600-800 kg/1320-1760 lb.

Indonesian Endangered Animal: The Sumatran Tiger

This is a picture of harimau Sumatra or the Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatrae) that I took at Bandung Zoo sometime ago. The Sumatran tiger is one of only six surviving subspecies of tiger. The other subspecies are - in discending order of their number in the wild: The Bengal tiger (panthera tigris tigris), the Indochinese tiger (panthera tigris corbetti), the Malayan tiger (panthera tigris jacksoni), the Siberian tiger (panthera tigris altaica), and the south China tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis).

As the name indicates, the Sumatran tiger is native to, and is only found on, the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is considered as a critically endangered subspecies of tiger with an estimation of only about 250 individuals currently still surviving in the wild, according to an Indonesian NGO The Coalition for the Monitoring of Protected Wild Animals. This remaining population is scattered in 18 separate enclaves, most of which are found at Leuser and Kerinci Seblat National Parks.

The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving subspecies of tigers out of three that Indonesia has or used to have. The other two that are now extinct are the Balinese tiger (panthera tigris balica) and the Javan tiger (panthera tigris sondaica). The Balinese tiger went extinct in 1937. The last of it - a female - was reported to have been killed at Sumbar Kima in the West of Bali on September 27, 1937. The Javan tiger was thought to have become extinct not too long ago in 1980, although there were reports of its sightings as recently as last year. The sightings, however, could not be verified.

Habitat destruction caused by logging and the conversion of pristine forests into palm oil plantations, industrial forests, and farms is the main threat to the existing population of the Sumatran tiger. But hunting and illegal trade of its skin and other organs are of no less serious threat to its extinction. In the two year period between 1998 and 2000, for example, 66 tigers (or about 20 percent of its population) were recorded to have been killed (the number could have been higher as it is quite probable that there were undiscovered killings). This should come as no surprise as a piece of Sumatran tiger skin can fetch about US$ 3,300 at the international market. Some black market rare animal skin brokers are even reportedly willing to give a handsome amount of downpayment as an incentive for people to hunt the tigers.

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest surviving subspecies of tigers. The adult males weigh about 100 - 140 kilograms (220 - 308 lbs), whereas the female weight about 75 - 110 kilograms (154 - 242 lbs).

Camel Ride

Camel ride at Bandung Zoo.

Bandung Zoo has quite a number of one-humped or Arabian camels (camelus dromedarius). Some of them are made available for a ride, like this one.

Indonesian Endangered Animal: "Kalong" - The Flying Fox Bat

These are "kalong" (Javanese brown giant fruit bat), another collection of animals at Bandung Zoo.

"Kalong" (Pteropus Vamvyrus) is classified into the suborder of megabats (megachiroptera) or the giant bats. Because of what they eat and their behavior, megachiroptera is also called fruit bats or flying foxes. An adult "kalong" can reach about 60 centimeters in length (about 23.5 inches) and weigh about 1.5 kilograms (about 3.3 lbs) with wing span of about 1.5 meters (5 feet).

"Kalong" are fruit eaters (frugivores) and like most fruit bats they have big eyes and excellent sense of smell, which help them navigate in the dark - the time when they go out to eat - and find their food. For your information, most fruit-eating bats don't generally use echolocation.

"Kalong" is one of Indonesia's endangered animals and is protected by the law.

Indonesian "Kangaroo"

Here is another collection of Bandung's Zoo: The Agile Wallaby (Wallabia Agilis).

Wallaby is a marsupial that, together with the kangaroo and wallaroo, belongs to the family of macropodidae (macropod = large foot). There are currently about 30 species of wallaby that have been identified, some of which - including this Agile Wallaby - are native to the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (formerly called Irian Jaya) on the island of Papua.

Merak Hijau (Green Peacock)

This green peacock (Pavo Muticus) is one of Bandung Zoo's aviary collections. Green peacock is one of the three species of peacocks. The other two species are the blue or Indian peacock (Pavo Cristatus) and the Congolese African peacock (Afropavo Congensis).

The green peacock is native to and can still be found wild on the Indonesia's island of Java (I've seen it myself once in Meru Betiri National Park in the eastern tip of the Island). It can also be found in Indochina, particularly Burma (Myanmar). Its blue sibling, meanwhile, is found mostly on the Asian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh).

Although quite a misnomer, the name "peacock" is generally used to refer to both male and female individuals of this bird. Technically the name "peacock" only applies to the male bird. The female bird is called "peahen", and together they are called "peafowl".

The famous iridescent tail of this bird belongs to the the male species (the peacock) and is used to attract the female (the peahen) in courtship and mating rituals.

Peafowl is omnivorous ground feeder and its diets mainly consist of insects, small animals, and plants.

Peafowl is an important bird for the Javanese and Sundanese (the people and language of West Java). Its beauty has long inspired several forms of art performances. One of them is Tari Merak (The Peacock Dance) whose photos and story I posted earlier here.

Indonesian Endangered Fauna: The Sumatran Tapir

This is the Sumatran/Malayan Tapir (Tapir Indicus), one of the world's four species of tapirs. Tapir indicus is native to southeast Asia and can be found mainly in the tropical forests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, peninsular Malaysia, and parts of Indochina, particularly Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). Like its siblings in South and Central America (tapirus bairdii, tapirus pinchaque, and tapirus terrestris), it is classified as a vulnerable and endengered species.

Tapir is classified into the order of perissodactyla together with horses and rhinoceroses, its closest relatives in the animal kingdom. An adult tapir is generally 2 meters long and about one meter tall and can weigh somewhere between 150 to 300 kilograms. With light grey and black coloring (see photo), Sumatran/Malayan tapirs are considered to have more interesting appearance than its Central and South American siblings which have dark furs.

Tapir's most distinctive feature is its proboscis or snout. It can move in all directions and is used to grab foliage that is otherwise difficult to grab and detect scents. The snout of Sumatran/Malayan tapir is the longest of all tapir species.

Shown in the above photo is a mother tapir, named Novi, and her baby son Nova who was born on 22 November 2008 at Bandung Zoo. Nova's father, a male tapir named Willy, is not in the photo. Baby tapirs of all species, by the way, always have stripped and spotted coats like the one you see in the photo. This probably has to do with survival technique of camouflage.

Bandung Zoo: The Elephant Safari Ride

Covering an area of only about 14 hectares, Kebun Binatang Bandung (Bandung Zoological Park or Bandung Zoo) is not very big, but it is very historical and popular. The zoo was officially established in 1933 when two previously existing zoos (Cimindi in the western part of the city and Dago Atas in the northern part of the city) were merged and their animal collections were moved to the current location at Taman Sari street near the campus of Bandung Institute of Technology.

Prior to the establishment of the zoo, Taman Sari was a botanical garden. This garden, named "Jubileum Park", was established in 1923 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the then colonial ruler of the Indonesian archipelago.

Bandung zoo currently has a collection of 218 species with nearly 1600 individual animals. In addition to the animals, the zoo also offers a variety of other attractions, such as this elephant safari ride. I'm going to post some more pictures and stories about this zoo later.

Yellow-Abdomen Spider (The Real Thing)

Two days ago, I posted a photo of the Spiderman in action on Cihampelas street. This one is of a real spider that lives here.

I spotted this yellow-abdomen spider in the front yard garden of my house the other day. It's about 2 centimeter long. Honestly speaking, I don't know which species it is. (If you happen to know, please do kindly let me know.)

Please don't blame me for not knowing. There are nearly 38,000 species of spider that have been identified up to this date. With such a huge number, I think it takes a specialist to really pin point which species this particular spider belongs to. For a rather comprehensive introduction to this magnificent animal, you may want to read this Wikipedia article.

A Cat Family's Story

This is Mawheck, my friend's sixteen-month old male Angoran cat, and the father of Maw Maw, my cat (below photo). Maw Maw is an eleven-month old female. She is not a pure Angoran cat. Her mother is a Siamese cat.



Maw Maw gave birth to three wonderful kittens three months ago when she was only seven month old. One of her kittens is this black and white male I call Uwee. He's my favorite because he was born with coat that resembles a suit and stockings on his feet. He's smart and cute too. Uwee's father is an unknow stray local cat.



Mawheck, Maw Maw, and Uwee are three generations of cats with different race.

According to a book about choosing and taking care of pet cats I have, cats are generally classified into four different types: Short hair, semi-long hair, long hair, and unusual hair. Exotic (a variety of Persian cat with short hair), Chartreux, Russian Blue, Korat, Manx, Japanese Bobtail, and Siamese cats are some of the types that belong to short hair category. The semi-long hair category, meanwhile, would include, among others, the Turkish Angora, Maine Coon, the Sacred Birman and the Ragdoll. The long hair type, according to this small book, only belongs to the Persian.

The most popular cat in Indonesia nowadays is the Persian (both the exotic short type and the long hair type).