Wednesday, January 20, 2010

01_06-17_10 Critters in Maui

Lots of critters in Maui. Many were your run-of-the-mill critters (e.g., cats), but many were not. For example, I was able to sit and watch a mongoose for some time. I'd no camera so the photo of it was lifted from the web so you can see what it looks like.

I like critters, but I have to admit this thing was not cute or cuddly looking. The red around it's eyes...it's sharp little needle-like teeth...it's long claws. Ew.

The mongoose was brought to Maui to help control a rat problem. The rats were introduced there by man. Together the rats and mongoose have taken advantage of the birds on the island - birds that have no protection from these egg and young eaters. They've decimated many bird species and continue to be a real problem. Gnarly little beast.

We saw some crabs, though not many. Dave had hoped to see many more but it wasn't meant to be. He was able to get close to one good-looking green-eyed crab. Very cool!

We saw some sea turtles as well. In fact, Dave was in the ocean very close to one - I got a photo of them though he wasn't aware of his turtle friend being so close!

There was an adorable blue-eyed pit bull puppy too. Very cute. And goats...lots of goats. All very cool!







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