Sunday, November 11, 2007

Wildlife





Dear Tomha,
Went to the wildlife stampede, which is like some sort of a parade of little children dressed up animals, in the Botanical Gardens last week. As it had been drizzling a little before that, the atmosphere was a little humid although it did not drench any of the participants' will to carry on the parade and the show after that. A colorful event, lots of cute little children, lots of creative costumes. Check out my flickr for more photos. However, in the end, the most important thing was still the rather sombre Jane Goodall speech to appeal for more conservation awareness, in which, she told a very touching story.


There was this chimp, a rather angry one, which, for his character, was sent to a faraway place to live in isolation among the woods and 2 females. There was this person, who was appointed with the rather regretful task of sending the chimps food. And so, he went about his job by leaving the food at some corner in the woods, where the chimpss would collect by themselves at the end of the day. However, one day, as he went about his usual routine, the angry chimp was at the exact spot. For some reason, the caretaker reached out his hand with a banana and the chimp accepted it gladly. Emboldened, he stayed there longer than what he needed, observing the angry chimp.

Days went by, and everyday, the caretaker would feed the angry chimp by hand, staying there to observing him. As if fate would have it, one day, the chimp wasn't there but a young chimp came by. A sudden realisation that the chimps had produced an offspring came to him, and he reached out to feed the chimp excitedly, but he slipped and fell, startling the little chimp. The 2 females, thought that it was an act of provocation, attacked the caretaker. Being mightily stronger, the caretaker thought he was dead for sure. Then, he heard the roar of the male. Thinking that the male is out to get him, he prepared himself for the worst. However, a turn of events that he did not foresee happened. The male actually chased the two females away into the woods, saving the caretaker.



If even chimps know what's gratitude, what about we homo sapiens???

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