 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Animals Tue
Oct 07, 09:02:52 AM But there’s more to chickens than just crossing roads! Of course, they are everywhere. The hens are all brown and pudgy and the roosters are grand and majestic, striding along the path with confidence. So let’s talk about the big rooster “myth” for a moment. Some of you may have been led to believe that roosters crow at sunrise, and make an ideal, albeit early non-electric alarm clock. Sunrise in Togo is 6:00. This is a myth, a lie. We north Americans just don’t understand the rooster. Oh, if only that myth were true. In reality, the rooster begins crowing well well well before sunrise, more like 3:30 - 4:30. And as soon as one starts, every rooster in Togo joins in some kind of back and forth song sung to each other. But yes, it does wake you up. Really though, the rooster isn’t limited to start their crowing at 3:30. Nope, some times they’ll have a 10 minute jam session at 1:25 and stop in for a 5 minute round of karaoke at 2:42. They are quite flexible that way. Is it this fact alone that I long for Kentucky Fried Chicken to expand into Togo. One great day though, I observed something quite bizarre. I was sitting on the roof of my place reading a book, when I heard a chicken, and it sounded something like this:
It was quite rhythmical in-fact. However, the BU-CAW was clearly a cry of pain. ”What was happening to this poor chicken” I though to myself. Peering of the roof I looked down, and there was an 8 year old boy with one hand grasping firmly onto the wing joints of the chicken, and pulling out the large plume feathers with his other hand one by one. With the removal of each feather came a loud ”BU-CAW”. This reminded me of my days of pulling off the legs of daddy long legs and frying ants with a magnifying glass. I felt kind of bad for this chicken, but deep down felt a bit of satisfaction and pay-back. Then I noticed another boy come up, and they maintained some sort of normal conversation while the other boy continued pulling out feathers. ”BU-CAW”. Other adult Togolese were walking by, and making nothing of what was going on. Apparently this chicken torture was something normal in Togo. There were only two explanations for this attitude:
So I described the situation to my African Papa, and he laughed. Now, for a little bit of background, you have to understand that people often keep a chicken and/or roosters in their homes. I have no idea why, I’ll try and get back to you on that. Just accept that they do. Also, everybody’s home is surrounded by a concrete wall. Some walls are as high as ten feet, other only five. Our neighbour’s fence height was about 5 feet. My African Papa to me that the chicken had grown large enough to jump, give his wings enough of a flap to get over the wall! (Yes, think real-life “Chicken Run“). To solve that little dilemma, the child was assigned the job of pulling out the larger plume feathers so that he would no longer be able to fly over the wall to escape. I don't think we're in Belleville anymore Toto! Wednesday November 13 2003 ... But do they get to the other side?  As
quick and skittish as chickens are, they don't necessairy make it
to the other side of the road as they
cross. I have been in at least one car so far that has clocked a chicken
on the road. He wasn't the brightest chicken as he didn't even try
to get out of the way.
I'm sure he'll be had for supper none-the-less. Chicken's vary enormously in their appearance. Some are brown, others are red, white, black ot pink. However, there seems to be a particular breed of chicken that comes in ugly, real ugly, and butt-ugly. I would classify the chicken in the picture as truly butt-ugly. The other week I got stuck in the village during a torrential downpour. I hurried under an awning to wait it out and started snapping pictures to try and catch the feeling of the rain in Togo. Across the street I heard this children laughing and laughing. I looked over and saw nothing of interest. On the sides of roads are about 1 foot wide troughs, or sewers to drain the rainwater. Some sections are covered with sidewalk, others are not. When it rains, water flows powerfully and quickly through these channels. In front of the laughing children was a section that was covered for about 10 feet with water rushing underneath. Suddenly from out of the end of the covered section, out popped a chicken, and he hopped out of the channel! He had been walking in the rain and then fell in, got pulled under through the sewer, then popped out! One new titbit that I learned about chickens is that if you own a dog; don't be surprised if chickens fly over your wall and into your yard. This was happening with surprising frequency to some Yovo friends of mine. Why does this happen? The explanation is simple; neighbours will toss their chickens into adjacent lots with dogs in hopes that the dog will eat the chicken. Then, the dog owner will have to pay for the chicken! back to topTuesday
November 18 2003 Their usual action will be to scurry along the wall for 2 feet or so, stop, bop their head up and down like their listening to music, then scurry another 2 feet. I have seen them catch large insects on the wall, which they do by quietly camouflaging with the wall while approaching a bug on the wall, waiting, waiting, waiting, then quickly darting forward and snagging the bug in its mouth. They are pretty fun to watch, and I was amazed the first time I saw one, but am now getting used to them too! Friday December 5 2003 Termites and their grand cathedral  We
are all well aware that ants make anthills. Termites also make termite
hills, but they are more like mountains when compared to an anthill.
By my estimates; a termite hill can be about 25 ft tall. Guy calls it “la Grande Cathedral”, or the grand cathedral. They really are quite architecturally interesting to look at, with a series of turrets and a luxury sweet at the top of the hotel. These think may look fragile, and you might be fooled into thinking that they are just big anthills, but really that are quite solid and hard. It is even possible to climb up the hill (so long as it is no longer inhabited!). I realy have no idea how they get so well built. It seems like they are made primarily of sand that's stuck together with some kind of mud, but that is only a guess. Maybe I'll look it up in national geographic when I get back. In any case, these things aren't rare, take a drive along any country road and you will see one every few kilometers.
These things are cooooooooooooool. Friday Feb 20 2004 Goats and sheep Take a look at this guy... I don't even hear them anymore... But they're always there... Baa... Baa... baa The baa-ing is in the background at all times, probably with a frequency of about 3 baa's every 10 seconds. Let me test that hypothesis... I am going to count the number of baa's that I hear in the next 60 seconds... OK, 20 baa's in 60 seconds, that's and average of 1 baa every 3 seconds, or about 3.3 baa's every 10 seconds. I guessed too low. It's just ridiculous. Amedzi and Christine laughed when I first arrived, because at the dinner table I would always chuckle when I heard a goat baa, and then imitate him. They probably stopped hearing them long ago, and found it quite amusing that I found it amusing. My throat would go horse if I kept on imitating them every time I heard one. I can't really tell the difference between goats and sheep. They are both always really shaggy and usually quite dirty. They just kind of mull around chewing on grass and sometimes garbage. Often, they won't be tied to anything; they'll just be wandering around the village. Amedzi tells me that every one of them has a home, and that they go back there by the end of the day, so you don't have to tie them up. Walk into any given yard and you will probably see 2-5 goats marching about. You can buy those young for cheap, and then sell 'em when their old at a pretty good profit, or eat them yourself for a nice feast. That's why their so popular despite their irritating voice box. While the adult goats are kind of ugly and shaggy, the baby goats are really cute. Their hooves are disproportionately large compared to the rest of their body, they haven't quite figured out how to walk normally yet, their hair is short and soft, and they make a really pathetically amusing little attempt at a "baa". Most of the red meat you find in these parts is goat meat. It's usually pretty tough, but that's because they get lots of exercise. They also make Djembe skins out of their hides. Goats seem to be the second most populous animal here, just behind the chicken. I can't quite decide which one is more irritating... Probably the
chickens because at least the goats sleep at night.
|
It's time to talk about the chicken in Togo. If you were to ask
a Togolese the joke, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
joke, he would not get the punch line. You see, chicken's DO cross
roads here. In fact, as I was walking to work just today, I say
three, yes three, chickens cross the road. Now, at times, there
can be quite a bit of traffic on the road, and the chickens have
to cross the road QUICKLY. In fact, I've noticed that the Togolese
have a habit of spotting chickens crossing the road, then stepping
on the gas and driving straight towards them, all the while maintaining
a civilized conversation between the driver and passenger. The chickens
seem to recognize this habit, and can “cluck cluck cluck“ it out
of the way quite fast! Perhaps this is why the Togolese are always
so calm when zooming towards a chicken on the road, they know that
is how you get them off the road! 
A
lizard is like a gecko, but not as slimy. They are usually grey,
but the males have colourful heads. They are about 10-15cm long.
You can find them climbing on the walls of ANYTHING. Even inside
a house, nobody bats an eye at their entrance. They are very skittish
and hard to capture on camera. 
On
two occasions I have even seen termite hills used as decorations
on property, kind of like the way you use a tree on a yard. The
first place I saw this was at Tsiko Hospital. There is a long bush
fence along the road, but in one place the shrubbery is interrupted
by grand cathedral, then the bush resumes again a few meters later.
The second place that I saw the cathedral being used as decoration
was at the “Hotel 30 Aout”. There is a bit of a garden outside,
in which there is a paved walk that goes out only as far the termite
hill.
