Dr Michael Leach: Animals Behaving Badly

Photograph © Michael Leach

As Dr. Leach has spoken on several occasions at our meetings, we were all looking forward to this month's entertainment. He is a renowned zoologist, BBC wildlife photographer who has travelled widely and has written many books describing his journeys and experiences.

He began by telling us that he had spent a summer in the Amazon rainforest with a tribe of people who live in abject poverty but are very resourceful, making the most of what few possessions they have. 

He then showed pictures of many animals and birds from around the world. We were amused to see how an orangutan used his intelligence to steal some bananas that were in a boat, which had been tied up to a wooden jetty but was floating freely at the end of the rope. Firstly, he eyed the bananas greedily and then had a tantrum when he realised they were just out of his reach. He then had to plan how he could reach them and pulled out some of the planks of wood from the jetty which he placed so as to bridge the gap between jetty and boat. He was then able to use his bridge to board the boat grab hold of the bananas and return to the jetty; he had achieved his mission and stomped off almost with a smile on his face.

Next, we were shown lemurs in Madagascar waking up and warming themselves in the first rays of the morning sun. They like to eat whole flowers and can become affected by the narcotics in the flower centres, producing odd behaviour. He had also observed velvet monkeys in the Caribbean who normally prefer to eat one variety of banana but on this occasion had found the remains from a village party. They were shown drinking the dregs of alcohol from bottles left lying on a table. The influence of the alcohol made us laugh as they staggered off chasing goats.

Michael finished his talk by telling us that new behaviour in animals was being recorded all the time. In particular it shows how humans living in close proximity with them, can alter their historic ways of life.