This page is a rather disorganised log of the beasties we’ve seen on our travels.

At the bottom there’s a few plants as well.

Photography note: We can’t carry long lenses on this trip. Most distant creatures we shot with Gideon’s Olympus MFT with a 45mm lens, or Clare’s Nikon APSC with a 55mm zoom. There are some pretty extreme crops below!

Mammals

Rodents

Bandicoot. Australia. Roadkill. Not sure what sort.

Rabbits. Only in England. See buzzards.

Hares. Germany thru Serbia. India (looked a bit stumpier than European).

Hare (Tolai or piping). Tajikistan.

Hare (Jackrabbits). Arizona, New Mexico, USA.

Mice etc rarely. Including two in our room in a semi abandoned motel in Kazakhstan. More in India, quite often seen scurrying about underfoot in the bazaar, or (pictured) in a silver jewellery shop where the owner had just offered us chai and cakes… then put the cake packet down: That’s mousie’s bum sticking out of it. Later the same day, saw another in nearby restaurant.

Mouse/vole. Large for a mouse, rather browny tan colour, in a Kyrgyzstan pine forest.

Rats. A Serbian borehole. Indian bazaar. And a great number, in Delhi, in a patch of ground next to a police station, where they’re clearly tolerated, and looked after (watered at least), and were complete unfazed by us less than 2m away (picture).

Gerbil. India (Thar).

Squirrels (Grey, or at least, looking like a grey, also pretty fat). kyrgyzstan (Although Wikipedia doesn’t think it should be here).

Squirrels (red). Germany, Austria, Serbia.

Ground Squirrels: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

Marmots: Either Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan.

Chipmunky thing: India (picture).

Deer

Deer. Sporadically. Shooting platforms Germany thru to Serbia.

Spotted Deer. India. Left above

Sambhar. India (Bandhavgarh). Right above.

Small athletic Deer, dust coloured, small straight horns? dark markings on head or arse (can’t remember). India (Thar).

Blue Bull Antelope. India.

Miscellaneous Mammals

Boar. Croatia, the only time we were riding after midnight, India (below, with spotted deer).

Pecary (Javelina). New Mexico, USA – specifically, early in the morning leaving Lake Roberts, it dashed across the road in front of us.

Coatamundi. New Mexico, USA, Lake Roberts again.

Hedgehogs (flat) England, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, India.

Elephants. Thailand. We also saw a couple of working ones in India and Myanmar.

Kangaroo. Australia, nr Cairns. Clare only saw this, with the wallabies.

Wallaby. Australia, nr Cairns. Large herd, with facial and thigh stripes – Agile Wallaby? 

Stoat/Weasel/Badger/Marten Family

Polecats. Austria thru to Serbia. Roadkill in western Georgia.

Asian Palm Civet. Indonesia (Sumatra) roadkill.

Weasel (or stoat?).?

Mongoose: India (Indian Grey Mongoose, we think, in Delhi). Is it the same family as weasels?

Primates

Orang Utan. Indonesia (Bukit Lawang, Sumatra). This used to be a rehabilitation centre, so the apes are wild, but habituated. 

Rhesus Monkey. India (left, pictured in a busy market street in Delhi  and upper).

Langur Monkey. India. Thailand. Lower right above. These don’t seem to come into towns.

Macaque Monkey. Thailand. Above. Not sure which sorts, but both long and short tails. Found around temples and caves.

Long Tailed Macaque. Indonesia (Bukit Lawang, Sumatra). 

Pig Tailed Macaque. Indonesia (Bukit Lawang, Sumatra). 

 

 

Spectacled Leaf Monkey. Thailand.

Thomas Leaf Monkey. Indonesia (Bukit Lawang, Sumatra).

Feral

Feral dogs. Serbia (sometimes in aggressive packs), Romania. Also Turkey & Georgia, and the ‘stans, but then always mild mannered. India.

Feral cats. Croatia, Serbia, India.

Feral cows (holy cows?). India.

Feral pigs/semi wild boar (uncertain, but not eaten). India.

Bats

Bats. Germany on, at some campsites esp near river. Turkey, in caves. India, in old buildings.

Bigger Bats. Hungary, again riverside.

Huge bat (fruit bat/flying fox). Indonesia. In a restaurant, tied up with elastic bands, waiting for the pot, poor thing. Also seen in big colonies in Australia.

Whales

Humpback (we think) occasionally spied from the cliffs all along Australia’s east coast and some of the south. Also, we went whale watching, woooo!!

Marsupials

Koalas get their own cute picture block…

Reptiles and Amphibians

Was that evening vee in the lake at Ranakpur a mugger crocodile? We’ll never know.

Lizards

Lizards. Germany on. Given the weather before then, hardly surprising absence of reptiles.

 

Geckos. India (in hotel rooms, hopefully eating the mozzies). Myanmar, Thailand.

 

 

Ginko? Lizard. Thailand.

 

Lizards (large green). Serbia, Turkey

Lizards (broad spade heads, grey). Turkey, Georgia

Lizards (broad spade heads, sandy). Kazakhstan

Lizards – Water Monitor. Thailand. Wow, that’s huge. The biggest must’ve been getting on for 2m long. Here’s a tiddler – only 45cm or so.

Goanna. Australia. Although the term seems to be a bit variable.

Lizards – Komodo Dragons. Eeek. Indonesia. Below, and see also Bali blog post.

Tortoise, with yellow spots. Croatia, Serbia.

Tortoise, with no spots and frilly shell. Romania. Turkey.

Terrapins. Australia.

Snakes and Snakey Things

Slowworms (usually but not always flat). Austria, Hungary

Grass snakes (50% flat). Austria, Hungary, Romania (lots)

Adder. Hungary (I think), Romania

Small unknown brown snake. Kazakhstan (nearly run over by Clare)

Big grey with lengthways brown stripes. Big, nearly 2m. Myanmar, on the hill walk.

Long slim bright green snake. Thailand (actually run over by Clare, sorry).

Umpteen snakes. Thailand. Mostly squashed, but many not. Sometimes through our wheels.

Umpteen more snakes. Australia. Squashed.

Cobras. Plain and fancy. India. Only ever seen in baskets, so not really wild.

Black with red belly. Australia. Crossing the road. Apparently these are highly venomous, but not aggressive. It did look at us after it crossed…

Frogs and Toads

Frogs. Very audible in May, Germany to Hungary. Georgia. Rarely seen. Much noisier than English frogs.

Frogs, bright green. Australia, in camp kitchens.

Toads. Thailand, in the rain.

Marine Life

Clam, giant. Australia, Cairns. Great Barrier Reef (scuba). 

Cuttlefish. Australia, Cairns. Great Barrier Reef (scuba). Gid also saw a pair while snorkeling in Indonesia.

Fish. Innumerable, colourful. Australia, Cairns. Great Barrier Reef (scuba). Quite a few seen in Indonesia too. 

Shark (small). Australia, Cairns. Great Barrier Reef (scuba). 

Turtle. Australia, Cairns. Great Barrier Reef (scuba).  

Whale. Humpback. Australia, Cairns. While returning from our Great Barrier Reef day trip. 

Bugs

We’re not systematic with these, well, are we with anything? Just random things that catch our eye.

Damselfly. India.

 

Dragonfly, Thailand (Krabi mangrove swamp boardwalk).

 

Butterflies, Myanmar, mostly in the Shan Mountains, except for the brown with shoelace patterns, at Inle.

Butterflies and bugs from Thailand

Bugs and Butterflies from Indonesia

Eeek!

Roadside woodland, Java, Indonesia. Clare spotted this lady when I went for a pee a few trees along. It’s a female Giant Wood Spider, and only a little smaller than my hand. She was so good and barely moved while I clicked away 45cm away. But can you also see the male?

Bugs from Australia

Mangrove Swamp Inhabitants

(As well as the dragonfly above, these were all at Krabi, aptly named town in Thailand).

A Few Random Plants (Mostly Not Wild)

Thailand Plants

Indonesia Plants

Things Waiting To Be Added/Identified

Editing note: Some of these are duplicated on the Birdies page.

India

Seen in Thar Desert. Gerbil? Small athletic Deer, dust coloured, small straight horns? dark markings on head or are (can’t remember).

On way to Pali, quite large Deer, small herd, poss females and young. About red deer size. Adults plain, light tan, maybe a little striping beside tail. Young maybe light speckled

Unsorted 1 – Thar Desert

Unsorted 2 – South Eastern Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

Bandhavgarh and nearby.

 

End