Indonesia: Weda [Halmahera] + Bangka [Sulawesi] - March 2013
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text:
Français
Does Shrek's cat move you? Do you have a crush on the wet-eyed baby seals? This cute little couscous from Indonesia should make you melt.
They've really got a thing, all of them. Something with the eyes, right?... 😂
What is this, a couscous?
Yes, it's a strange name. But nothing to do with semolina and Moroccan cuisine, eh? I'm talking about the other couscous, the animal one (which is also written kuskus or couscous). The Wikipedia page herewill enlighten you on this exotic creature.
It is not a monkey or a squirrel, or even a cousin of the tarsier of Sulawesi. It belongs to the family of marsupials like the koala and the kangaroo (and the famous Marsupilami).
I had already seen big ones but from a little distance, hidden in the trees, in Raja Ampatin Indonesia last year. Adults, red and spotted, rather ugly.
During this new Indonesian trip of March 2013, on the island of HalmaheraI was able to see up close a very young and cute specimen. Abandoned or fallen from the nest, he was taken in by Adrian, the little boy of the owners of the Weda Resort.
Adrian and his father brought the baby cuscus to the resort's restaurant to show it to us, in the manner of marsupials who keep their young in a pouch: huddled on his belly, under his shirt.
They also made a nest for it in a cardboard box, until it could be released into the jungle surrounding the Weda Resort.
The star of the evening
This adorable ball of fur, with its small pointed muzzle, its round ears and its big worried eyes, moves everyone at mealtime.
We take all photos of the bug, without putting the flash, to avoid frightening it too much. It is the star of the evening!
It is really a strange animal. The hair is soft, the little hands clawed, the tail strange... Long, without hair at the end, pink, it rolls up and allows the animal to cling to the branches of trees.
We offer fruits to the little couscous, which gets bolder little by little, and ends up parading on the table once full...
What a look!
I admit, I too can be touched by the baby seals and I love Shrek's cat. But the baby couscous, who peels his fruit with delicacy, watching me from the corner of his eye, has a much greater effect on me!
😉
Indonesia: Weda [Halmahera] + Bangka [Sulawesi] - March 2013
