Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Otters on a mission


We saw these otters at the Singapore Zoo. I'm not sure whether they live with the orangutans, or were just visiting. They seemed like they really wanted to walk along that little rock wall in front of the orangutan, but they were nervous about it. They'd scuttle forward and then get spooked and turn around and run back. Then they'd slip-slide down the log until they encountered the turtle, which freaked them out all over again. They looked like they were really trying to do something, but it was impossible to tell what. I suspect we look that way sometimes in Jakarta, when we can't quite bring ourselves to step off the curb into traffic, or when we're trying to look at a food cart without LOOKING at a food cart, so the vendor won't try to sell us something.

It still intrigues me. Where were they going?

2 comments:

Chad said...

Those otters make me laugh every time I think about them. Tenacious but tenuous, determined but deterred, benign but badly behaved. They'd slide down the log and startle the turtle. The turtle would pull its head into its shell, and the otters would jump back as though they'd never seen a turtle before. Then they'd try to get past the orang-utang, who ignored them in spite of their schemes. We asked them what they were trying to do, but they just came back, seemingly desperate, belly-sliding down the log again. Until they found a turtle. Who pulled in its head.

Anonymous said...

Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
»