There is a narrow strip of forest that snakes along the Segur nallah. The last vestiges of a once proud expanse of jungle that has been slowly swallowed up by the ever expanding local population with its incessant thirst for land. This narrow strip is the last corridor left for wildlife to access water in the nullah as well as to move between the protected areas of the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary on either side of the steep road that leads to Ooty. Little wonder then that it attracts a steady stream of animals parading through the narrow corridor, much to the delight of anyone who cares to sit quietly and enjoy the show.
I was on a treetop machan along the nullah. Dusk was starting to fall, bringing the curtain down on an evening spent watching 4 tuskers interacting and mock fighting across the Segur. I wasn’t hoping for much at this stage. Perhaps the itinerant leopard, slinking though the bushes on his evening stroll? That would be too much to hope for. But one never knows. Slowly the grassland under the machan started to fill up with the ever present sentinels of the forest. Langurs and Chital or spotted deer. A large troupe of hanuman langurs first made themselves comfortable in the clearing. Then the herds of chital started to slowly gather in. I watched them with a mixture of interest and disappointment. The presence of langurs on the ground and a large number of chital usually means that there were no predators in the vicinity. Else they were unlikely to be so relaxed.
It was Jan and both the deer and langurs had given birth at the end of the previous summer. So there were plenty of young ones gambolling around. The young ones of any species are a treat to watch. They are all similar and love to play, be naughty and feel secure in the presence of their parents. Langur kids in particular are so much like human children. The resemblance is striking. They leap and chase each other much like children playing catch, but at the slightest sound or movement they rush back to their mothers and jump into their laps. Peering over their shoulders with a mixture of fear and curiosity, till they feel safe. Right now a metal roof over a faraway shed was shaking in the wind. And every time it rattled, they would go rushing back to their mothers. A few moments later, they were back to chasing each others tails across the clearing.
Then the chital does started coming in with their dainty young fawns. They seemed to be somewhat disdainful of the rambunctious langurs and their antics. But in reality langurs and chital often forge a close relationship based on survival. While feeding, langurs knock down berries and leaves for the chital and they keep a sharp look out from the treetops for predators. When they descend to the ground, the langurs now depend on the superior hearing and power of smell of the chital, to warn them of danger. It is quite a happy symbiotic relationship. Right now however, the mothers were ignoring each other while the kids were busy being kids.
Soon I noticed that the langur kids were developing a growing interest in the chital fawns. It was interesting how they stayed away from the adults and slowly started approaching only the young ones of the deer. Soon they started inviting them to play by touching them, running away and looking back. Almost as if they were inviting them to a game of catch. Then one of the more adventurous langur kids decided to invent a game of tag. He would slowly sneak up to a fawn as it was grazing, smartly whack it on the nose and run away. Soon this game became the rage amongst all the youngsters. The fawns would shake their heads in disgust and mock charge the langur kids. Who would in turn jump onto fallen branches and rocks and try to touch their noses again!
As the shadows lengthened, I found myself captivated by this idyllic scene. Who says animals don’t indulge in futile pursuits and play. Here was a clear demonstration of childhood fun between two totally different species. They had made up a game and were indulging in it whole heartedly, just for the joy of it. Not very different from human children after all. Maybe we aren’t that different, I mused, as the light faded further. We all just want to survive, have a little fun, get a little love and live peacefully.
It’s just that humans have wrapped our motivations in complex layers of our intellect. And animals haven’t 🙂
