Djurlivet i Phuket

Morning time in the tropics you may hear the Phut-phut bird (or the rain bird as some people say). She is singing in a melancholic monotonous sound pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu. The Thai name for this bird is Nok Kapod. In school the children learn to sing about her:

Hello Knut,

Thanks for your inquiry about the Phut-phut bird [Lesser Coucal - Centropus bengalensis'. I live in Chiang Mai, in a rather undeveloped section and I have the pleasure of listening to these birds every day. Love their haunting sound. They are somewhat shy and I don't see them very often. But when I do, oh what a pleasure.

In fact I saw one this morning drinking out of one of the large water lily bowls in the garden, but when I returned with my camera it had vanished. I can send you a photo, but it is only a scanned photo from my bird book. The colour in the photo is not very good in that what appears to be a redish-brown, is really a rich brown without the reddish overtones. However I shall keep the camera handy and take a proper photo to send you when the opportunity arises.

Regards,

Gordon Stefanik
Chiang Mai, Thailand

This little bird is very musical and like to dwell in the near of our breakfast table. It is very common in Phuket.

Cage birds has started to be very popular in Phuket since this year (2008). The picture shows a song contest between birds of the same sort. As a listener I could not understand what was going on, but someone explained it to me. A Judge walked from cage to cage at a distance of 3 meters and listened. I do not understand how he could separate the sounds - all the birds were singing in chorus. He was judging tone level and endurance and made his marks on the yellow cards hanging under the cages. First price was 8000 Baht. When I was trying to make a photo of one of the birds he tried to avoid me: As soon as I got him in focus he quickly disappeared. Finally I got him in the photo below. Note that it is not his bill pointing up - it is his comb! The bird is turning his head backwords looking for his next place:

From Andreas Brehammar at Skansenakvariet in Stockholm I got the name of this bird: Red-whiskered Bulbul, common in Thailand.

Egretts are often seen along the beaches in Phuket. The white one is seen in the swaps and here on the neck of a buffalo, where she finds something to eat.

This is a very beautiful butterfly. Unfortunately it is entreatened with extinction:

To see her flying is a tru pleasure. Oposite to other butterflies she is flying like a bird. The span between the wingtips is about 20 cm. When we one year were staying at Thavorn Palm Beach Resort in Karon Beach we often saw two of them play between the palms. In the butterfly museum in Phuket it was shown fastened on a pin in a box. Here they also show spiders (alive):

According to the Swedish herpetolog - Lelle Pettersson - these species are Chilobrachys, Lasiodora and Haplopelma. These

monsters are, however, not to be afraid of in Thailand, sais Lelle, because they are not living free here.

An other giant butterfly to be seen in Thailand is the Attacus Atlas Silhetical. This specimen measured 30 cm over the wings:

Yes - this is 6 liters cikada on the way to the grill to be eaten by hungry Thais and me. Yes I tried one in order to impress. It did not taste bad, but one was enough for me.

Normally these animals are experienced in an other way. Without a warning 100ths of them could start a hysterically shrill concert which could go on for 5 minutes and equL s sudden stop. They sit in a tree in the neighbourhood, but they are not so easy to see.

Another acquaintance I made could have been not so nice if a nice Thai girl had not warned me that a big Scolopendra Gigantea was about to climb up at me when I was sitting on a stair step drawing. This beautiful centipede is very venomous. One sting can cause the death:

This beautiful snake lied apparently lifeless at the roadside. She did not show sign of life when I touched her with a stick. A bypassing Thai man told me that she was a 'pong kwai' and that she was not venomous. He wanted to kill her but I managed to stop him. First I gave the snake some water and she started to move a little. Then I gave her massage by caressing the neck and then more water. Now she came to life and looked at me as she was trying to say something - we were now friends. But the friendship was short. Miss Pong winded away into the grass and disappeared.

Later I showed this photo to a friend in Kata. He knows how a pong kwai looks like and this was not that kind of a snake, but he could not tell the name of my new friend. Back in Sweden I contacted a Swedish snake expert Bo Jonsson at the Skansen aquarium. He told me that she was a Red-necked Keelback (Rhabdophis subminiatus) and that she is slightly venomous. The Thai word for this snake is งูลายสาบคอแดง and is pronounced 'ngoo lei lam kho deng' according to Laila at the Orchidacea resort in Kata. Ngoo means snake, lam kho = neck and deng = red.

This beautiful 2 meters snake - Ptyas - I found not far from the above 'Red Neck'. I got it identified by Lelle Pettersson (see above):

According to an encyclopedia she kills her offer by squeezing and, thus, she is not venomous.

To the left a land turtle on a walk on the island Kho Khao outside of Takua Pa and to the right a sea turtle, who exhausted tried to reach the sea at 5 a.m. the 14th of April 2009 in the north end of Kata Beach,Phuket. I had to help her down. Both of theses turtles had a length of one foot.

There are plenty of elephants in Phuket. They are used as good workers and for attracting tourists;

On the way down to Ao Po by bike from the road 4027 I met around 20 monkeys belonging to the makake family. I stopped for a photo. But this one below did not seem to welcome me and just after my shot he rushed screaming towards me and I had to run away qwickly:

This type of monkeys is very common in Thailand - among other places in the cave Temple near Pangnga. In the town Lop Buri 150 km north of Bangkok there are a lot of them all over the town. For tourists an attraction but for the shop owners a pain. These monkeys ar very social and in large groups as here many of them are infected by leprosy. This desease can easily be cured if the individuals could be caught, which sometimes is difficult.

Near Bang Pae (waterfall) off road 4027 there is a rahabilitation centrum for gibbon monkeys. These come from different zoos. Now it is believed that this project would help them to enter their natural milieu, which, however, has shown to be difficult. Gibbons can also be found free - see the section Kok Chang.

There are many soi dogs in Phuket. On the beaches, on the roads and in the Buddha Temples. There are also many institutions and private persons taking care of these animals. Mr Pop is one of them. He has a house in the forest Northeast of Phuket Town. Here he keeps 50 soi dogs, which he is caring for with medicine, food and love:

King Bhumibol of Thailand is a big friend of soi dogs too. His dearest one is Tongdaeng - a beautiful dog he found on the streets. The King has educated him to a high moral and a good discipline. He has also written a book about this dog - 'The Story of Tongdaeng':

The following four dogs can be seen on the south en of Kata Beach and have now accepted my walk at 5 a.m. The last one named Deng use to take shelter under my sun chair.

On Sire Island just outside Phuket Town you will find this charming Phuket International Dog School:

The picture shows a beutiful starfish, which in fact is very dangerous for us and for the coral reefs.

Early one morning when I went down to the beach just after the water had turned back towards the low tide I found the beach full of these autographs. Is it a case of incarnation? I think I can read something like: 'Eva W Swanson'. The creator is a small shell named Saiduen in Thai language and belongs to the Haminoeidae family. Its length is between 19 to 15 mm:

Snailfoot (8 cm in diameter, 25 mm thick, 200 gr) to a Turban shell - a very beautiful and valuable shell:

Lobsters in the tropics have no pincers. When cooked it gets the colours according to the picture - originally the orange was olive green. It's body could be 50 cm. Lobster is delicious when professionally cooked. unfortunately there are many restaurants in Phuket, where they are not clever enough but they still keep price high - about $4/kg.

You see this fish often when diving or snorkeling in Phuket, but according to the encyclopedias this fish should not be seen here.

Grouper is one of the most delicious fishes in the tropics. It should be eaten on one of the best restaurants where they know how to cook e.g. Bar B.Q. or Lobster & Prawns. The one on the picture is red, but other colours exist also.

This fish is a remarkable fresh water fish living in the Mekong River. Note the bend on the neck. It could be bought on the market but you never find it on the restaurants. I have searched for it on the web but without any result. I was offered this fish to lunch at the Swedish Child Care in Muang Mai and found it very good.

This venomous jeelyfish is very dangerous. A sting could be deadly. I met a Dutch couple - Tea Houthuÿsen and Gerard van Haarem - in April 2008. They had just returned from diving outside Ko Tachai near Myanmar - their 600th dive. Here Tea got a sting from this box jellyfish. In deep water she was near fainting and got paralyzed, but Gerard got her up to the surface and she got treatment with vinegar. Some days later she showed her arm still marked:

They’re here! Box Jellyfish found in Phuket waters

PANWA: The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) has issued an official warning following the collection of almost 40 box jellyfish in a trap in shallow waters, off Ao Nambor, on Phuket’s east coast.

Some 38 of the jellyfish, which favor shallow brackish water, were recovered from a fish trap in a mangrove area on July 30. Eighteen more were found in the same area over a two-day collection period starting on October 20.

The search for the deadly jellyfish followed the reported death of a Swedish tourist off Koh Lanta, where another person was reported stung on April 3 this year.

A two-hour search using a seine off Koh Lanta on August 22 recovered 13 specimens, six of the multi-tentacled Chirodropidae family and seven of the smaller, single-tentacled Carybdeidae family.

The PMBC began their search for the jellyfish in Phuket in early July, working jointly with members of the Disease Control Department’s Epidemiology Office.

The researchers have also questioned staff at four hospitals along the Andaman Coast to learn the incidence and type of jellyfish stings that have been reported there.

Somchai Bussarawit, Chief of Reference Collection at the PMBC’s Phuket Aquarium, is working with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Australia to identify the collected specimens.

Of seven specimens collected at Ao Nambor that have already been sent to the institute, one has been confirmed as a Chirosoides buitendijkl, one of the seven members of the Chirodropidae family, he said.

The PMBC is preparing to send six more specimens which are thought possibly to be of the Carybdeidae family, he said.

The PMBC researcher, who expressed surprise at the discovery of these box jellies in local waters, said searches will now be conducted monthly.

Noting that he is not an expert in jellyfish, he said it was still unsure what threat the collected species found at Ao Nambor posed to people.

Although there have been no reports of box jellyfish stings in Phuket waters, the PMBC has issued a warning advising the public on what measures to take if they are stung.

Although not all box jellyfish are dangerous to humans, stings from the most venomous varieties can cause death within four minutes if the venom reaches the heart and causes cardiac arrest.

Any person who has suffered a possible box jellyfish sting should get out of the water as soon as possible, have his or her pulse rate monitored, and undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event of heart failure.

The site of a sting should immediately be treated with vinegar to stop further injection of the toxin, the PMBC advises.

Do not rub or scratch the site of the sting or apply fresh water or alcohol to it, the PMBC advises.

Mr Somchai reiterated that there have been no box jellyfish sitings on west coast beaches, where the seawater is generally too saline an environment for box jellies.

However, he advises seaside resorts in all parts of the island to keep bottles of vinegar as a standard part of their first aid kits as it is effective in treating stings from other kinds of less venomous jellyfish.