Documenting Observations

Manimala is not known for being under attack by leeches. Of late however, there seems to be an invasion of these creatures in areas where they were not seen earlier. One possible reason is that farmlands are now less visited. Unmanageable labor costs have reduced human foot prints. People no longer prefer raising cattle and hence their activity of clearing the farm floor off of the fallen leaves is absent or greatly reduced. Looks like forest would return or the farmlands would be soon subdivided and sold off has housing plots. We also see wild hens, wild pigs, monkeys, peacocks and many others returning

To make this observation I was positioned on top of a rock from where the top of a banana plant was accessible to Chinnu the goat (as named by my daughter) that I was grazing. I let Chinnu munch the banana leaf of a young banana plant. Normally someone would have stopped a goat from eating their own banana plant. However, I was destined to make an observation. Chinnu would eat a bit here and eat a bit there and would then come to the banana plant to munch a bit from it big open leaf. If took rounds a couple of more times but always missed the young new rolled leaf in the center though it was very much reachable. Chinnu might have thought of the rolled leaf as the mid rib (i learnt today that this may not be called a petiole) of a full grown leaf eaten by his family member. It's not every day that a goat gets to see the top of a banana plant. The ignorance of Chinnu might have saved the banana plant from an early extinction. Self Defender