One fine morning we set out from Mangalore and headed straight towards Agumbe.This place is known to get a lot of rain and a Rain Research station is situated here.Agumbe is also famous for the magnificent King Cobras.We really wanted to see a King Cobra during our trip,but deep inside our minds we knew that it was unlikely to happen.
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| A Lion Tailed Macaque |
Another famous denizen of the Western Ghats is the unique looking Lion Tailed Macaque.We were never thinking about these also famous monkey species.Only King Cobra was in our minds.
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| LTMs Live in Groups |
We were fast approaching Agumbe and were negotiating a hair-pin curve and Lo and behold......there they are!
A troop of magnificent Lion Tailed Macaques.We initally thought there was only one but many followed.There was an adorable young one which was attached to its mothers belly.They seemed unusually friendly with us and stood very close to our car.They were expecting something from us but we never gave anything.It is not advisable to feed wild animals.
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| They behaved quite Friendly! |
But it seems people feed them and thats why they were behaving so friendly.All of them were frolocking around our car for quite some time.There were vehicles coming behind us and they were honking their horns and seemed not interested in the LTMs!
But we were really excited to see them!Lion Tailed Macaques exists only in the Western Ghats and only a few survive.About 3500 of them are living in the wild as of today.They have distinct looks with their manes taking centre stage in their appearance.They are arboreal and lives in troops.They are not friendly with humans and have distinct wild characteristics.
We did not pay heed to the constant honkings from upcoming vehicles and stationed there for quite some time.Then we moved on and we saw one more LTM being fed by people.It consumed one full packet of chips in front of us!
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| LTMs Looks like Saints! |
We moved on to reach Agumbe and more excitement was in store for us!....Did we meet the King Cobra?!.....Well thats another story!
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| They were very close to our car! |
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Up Close with a LTM!
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| Adorable Little One! |
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| A Curious LTM! |
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| A Magnificent LTM! |
