| This water monitor is six feet long from tail
to nose. They look really rather frightening, and are said to be able
to break your leg with a single swipe of their tail. As well as
swimming rather slowly they can also climb trees. They eat snakes,
beetles, eggs, rats amongst other things. |
A Toque monkey sitting on the wall of the
Watson's house next to Kandy Lake. These monkeys live in troops of 20
or more and are a real nuisance if you have loose tiles on your roof or want
to enjoy the abundance of your own fruit trees. But you can't scare
them off for very long - sticks, stones and even firecrackers have very
little effect. They're pretty cool dudes. |
|
This elephant is one of the many domesticated Perahera
elephants, shown here cooling down at a fountain next to the Temple of
the Tooth. We saw many elephants relaxing like this after their
work on the night before, or tied to irons, beside the lake being fed by
their mahouts. |
A Spot-billed Pelican, listed as endangered, but found
in good numbers around the island in tanks and lagoons - according to our
"Birds of Sri Lanka" book. This individual seems to be rather lonely
on Kandy Lake for we have never seen more than one at a time. |
