India's Creatures, Great and Small

As you can probably imagine, the animal life in India is different in many ways from what we are used to in the US. Unless we go to the zoo or the circus, it is unlikely we will see elephants, monkeys, or camels, and even though cows are a common sight in the countryside here, we don't usually see them just walking down the street, or holding up traffic in a city where millions of people live!

Shopkeepers often have to shoo them away, not so much to protect their merchandise, but to prevent "cow pies" in front of their shops.

Although cow dung is picked up, patted into disks to dry and burned as fuel,  you really need to watch your step on city streets, walkways, and even stairs, or you could find your foot buried up to your ankle in warm mush!

Not all bovine animals have it so easy though. Bulls and water buffalo work hard, pulling carts, plows and well pumps, but they are not the only beasts of burden in India.

Camels and elephants are also used heavily in some areas for transport of people and all sorts of stuff, though elephants mostly seem to be used as a tourist attraction, providing rides for curious westerners.

Camels, on the other hand, are put to work everywhere in Rajasthan, and although they are definitely used as entertainment for tourists (including me!),

(Photo by Leah Smith)

they are more often working animals, along with the occasional donkey or mule, especially in the desert communities. 

Goats are pretty prevalent, mostly in the countryside, but occasionally in the city. They are used for milk, yogurt, cheese, and are one of the favorite meats eaten by non-vegetarian Indians.

As far as dogs and cats go, we saw lots and lots of dogs on the streets, but very few cats. In fact, I only got a couple feline shots, and one was out in the desert near the mud huts of a dhurrie rug weaver's family.

Most of the dogs we encountered were the same sort of shorthair mutt. We were warned that some could be rabid, but most of the dogs we saw were very wary of humans, so they didn't pose much of a problem for us.

Some of the more creepy (or maybe I should say, "interesting") animals we came across were snakes and giant fruit bats. The snakes were usually being "charmed" by a man with a flute-type instrument. This particular man had several very slow-moving snakes slithering out of various bags, but they were all moving so slowly, that I thought they might be drugged or something. They didn't really seem all that dangerous, still, when asked to hold one I adamantly refused!

The fruit bats we saw were startled out of a giant banyan tree next to a small temple, out in the desert near Sardargarh. We were amazed by how large they were, with a wingspan of at least 18" across.

Hindus, aspiring for a better station in the next life, make feeding of animals a regular practice. They especially seem to like feeding birds, and it is common to see feeding patches filled with bird seed and covered with mostly pigeons. 

On the Ganges River, while we were in Varanasi, we often saw people in boats throwing food to the seagulls.

In a small village called Khichan, near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, there are enclosed spaces called chugga ghars, where each year, thousands of Demoiselle Cranes migrate during the winter. Many years ago, a few cranes showed up and the villagers fed them. Each year after that, more and more would show up, and now as many as 20,000 return each winter. 

These cranes are very large birds, standing almost 3 feet tall and have a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet. 

They take turns feeding, and somehow signal each other when it's time to move out so others can have their meal. To us, it just sounded like a constant din of squawking, but all of a sudden, their heads would all pop up and they would start flying out of the compound, while the next group of hungry birds flew in.

It was truly a spectacular sight and I was completely mesmerized by the experience!

Of course, no blog about animals in India would be complete without monkeys, and they were everywhere!

They were sitting along the side of the road,

on the tops of buildings,

and playing around temples.

Our bus driver even stopped on the road to Jodhpur and fed cookies to a bunch of Hanuman Langurs! 

We watched mama monkeys feeding their babies.

We saw them steal food - and clothes - from a family hanging their laundry on their rooftop! 

They're fun to watch, but you don't want to mess with them! While eating a snack on our hotel terrace in Varanasi, we had our naan (Indian flat bread) taken right off of our plate by one very feisty monkey! I wish I had a picture of Sam facing off with that rascal!

This little guy was hanging around the parking lot as we came out of the Mehrangarh Fort, when he noticed a lady walking with an ice cream cone. Before she even knew what had happened, he leaped off the jeep he was sitting on and snatched the cone right out of her hand! Needless to say, she screamed, and we all learned a lesson: Don't walk around with food when monkeys are about!

To view photos enlarged, click on one and a slide show should appear.

If you would like to see these and more of my photos of India's creatures, follow this link to my Flickr page.