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It's really interesting as a New Zealander to travel overseas and see the local
mammals, because New Zealand has so few of its own. In fact, the
only land mammals which are native to New Zealand are two types of bat,
and these bats don't even fly around for people to see - instead they spend
most of their time with their wings folded, walking around the forest floor
on their elbows. What fun, then, to come to suburban America and
see chipmunks and squirrels running around, or to see foxes walking down
the side of the road, or beavers on TV attacking the cherry trees in the
middle of Washington DC!
I wasn't
in Guatemala long enough to see many of the local mammals, in fact it hadn't
occurred to me that I would see any. But walking around Tikal
we saw several, including monkeys, which were too high in the dense jungle
foliage to get photos of. Jaguars and pumas also roam this area,
but they are very rarely seen and I'm not too disappointed that I didn't
see them! The animals at Tikal are accustomed to humans, and
even take advantage of our presence. Some people might find
this unpleasant, but I was happy for the chance to see them. Just
think of it as an upscale zoo where the inhabitants are free to come and
go as they please.
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