the humerus bone

here's an original:

what is the strongest bone in a heretic's body?....

...the blas-femur

hyenas by day, hyenas by night

oh, the metamorphoses that the starlight brings

to begin, hyenas from the lone palm clan at their communal den.

hyenas and me, at peace in the waning illumination of the eve

now see them in their midnight attire, singing the songs of the witching hour.  this is what happens when you drop a wildebeest leg for two young lionesses to eat, and one hyena catches wind of what's going on, but realizes that he has not the size nor the brawn to steal the carcass on his own, so he goes and gets fourteen of his laugh-happy, blood-hungry friends (28 glowing eyes approach the scene, and sing their mad incantations).

 

and they keep on a'singin and a'laughin, hootin' and a'hollerin'

and a'wishin' they could have some of that rotten dish

aren't they cute?

appendix to the things i intended to mention

In regards to the post, “in the forest, there lives a lady.”   

Maybe I should append the above-mentioned post a bit for those of ye who have not read previous posts about Lady.  This may help shed some light on why she behaves the way she does.

First of all, if you want to watch an awesome documentary about Lady--filmed by and featuring my friend Herbert--check out  “The Last Lioness.”    here it is...     

The Last Lioness

Liuwa is a vast plains ecosystem situated in far-western Zambia, on the border of Angola.  In the late 1990’s (back in the 1900’s, that is) and the early 2000’s, Angolans who were fleeing their country’s bloody civil war crossed the border into Zambia.  They came bearing arms, mostly AK-47’s.  And they came bearing no food or money.  When they entered the Liuwa area, they found wildebeests by the tens of thousands (the second biggest wildebeest population/migration in Africa next to the one in the Serengeti)--along with dozens of other abundant antelope species.  For these soon-to-be-poachers, there was a food source in the antelope and a money source in the illegal trophy hunting of lions.  And so, the poaching began.  Angolan and other poachers alike completely wiped out several species from the area (such as buffalo and eland--which have since been re-introduced), and they reduced other species like wildebeest to near extirpation.  And they killed every single lion in the entire ecosystem.  Except one. 

Lady lived alone for several years, possibly 5-7.  Lady most likely had several run-ins with poachers, and probably witnessed the slaughtering of her family, her pride, every other lion, and much of her food source.  Eventually, the Angolan civil war came to an end and measures were taken to halt the poaching.  As the ecosystem began to recover, Lady lived alone.  She hunted alone and fended off clans of hyenas alone, neither of which are easy tasks.

 Lions are the only big cats that are truly social by nature.  So a solitary existence may have been difficult for Lady on many levels.  She had to learn how to take down adult wildebeests by herself, and she had to adjust to a life without companionship.  Three or so years ago, African Parks Conservation introduced two sub-adult male lions from another park into the Liuwa ecosystem.  So Lady, for the first time in years, had other lions to interact with.  Yet, there is not a strong social bond between Lady and the males because adult male and female lions do not fully integrate socially.  Males form coalitions amongst themselves, and the females form prides.  The two groups will interact for various reasons, such as during feeding or during the mating season.  She mated with them, but never conceived.  And although the males do not hunt with her, she often willingly shares her kills with them.  I once witnessed her nudging one of the males towards a wildebeest she had killed because she wanted the male lion to eat more than he had already eaten. 

And while I was there, we introduced two sub-adult female lions in the hopes that they would form a pride with Lady (which has not happened yet as far as I know--mostly because the tough-guy males keep scaring the young lionesses away).  So, Lady is still essentially alone and lives a pride-less existence (not to say she is not proud).  This, I believe, really helps explain why she approaches certain humans affectionately.  It seems she chose Herbert and I because we were probably the most open to interacting and connecting with her, and showed the least fear towards her. 

If ever there were a lion that should have a reason to fear or resent humans, it would be her.  But such is not the case.

 How would you feel towards lions (or say, wolves--for certain wolf-hating residents of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho) if they came into your town one day and killed your parents, your siblings, your friends, and your neighbors--and then proceeded to burn down your grocery stores, slaughter your cattle, and trample your farms and gardens?  And towards this species that ransacked your home and forced you to live totally alone for several years, would you show kindness?

Truly, a lesson in forgiveness.  Thank you, Lady. 

And it is a lesson in seeing that not all members of a certain species, ethnicity, or race are the same in their actions and attitudes.  (As a quick aside, allow me to note that many of the species that humans often fear, or label as man-eaters or cattle-eaters, or consider to be evil--such as lions, wolves, and bears--have killed far far less of us than we have killed of them.  For example, in the Great Plains of this country where grizzly bears and wolves used to roam in extraordinary numbers, you now find no grizzly bears and no wolves (except in Minnesota).  But you do find endless miles of genetically modified cornfields that are stripping the ancient, sacred soil of all its worth.)  I am not out to kill lions, nor is Herbert, nor are most of the local people who currently live in Liuwa.  Mabye Lady knows this, and she does not hold us accountable for the actions of the poachers who came before us.  Just as I would not would not want to be accused of being a Nazi despite my German last name.  Nor would I want to be blamed for the once-prevalent slavery in the US of A, despite my white skin. 

So let us see each person as they are.  And always be open to the goodness that resides in each soul, regardless our preconceptions and past experiences.  Because the moment you close yourself off from the beauty of the isness, you may miss the chance to connect with an adult lioness. 

and it's organic

Mt. Brown looking like the great guardian of all that is white. 

Back in Montana now.  So good to be here.  To roam is to know the joy of coming home.

 I journeyed into the magical ewok forest of Glacier yesterday.  The sun was shining, sky was blue, mountains were blindingly white and glorious, chandeliers of dagger-ish icicles bejeweled the streamside cliffs, and the air smelled like immortality.  I was the only human around, walking about with a pep in my step and glide in my stride.  And a perma-grin just above my chin.  Altitudinous winds ruffled the snowy feathers of mountain crowns, stirring up wisps of windblown snow clouds from every frozen peak (set against a lifegiving backdrop of blue)-- creating floating auras reminiscent of magmatic smoke, and projecting upon me the sensation that I was living in a land of waking volcanoes.  The cedar and hemlock said to me, “we are happy to see you again.”  It was the kind of day when the sun is sincere and warm but the air is cold, when the snowy ground sings clearly of crystalline winter while the cobalt sky conjectures that it is indeed spring (and the time of blooming is upon us).  They call this the shoulder season, but I felt it in my legs, lungs, blood and bones -- in my entire body, and every part of my being.  Everything was going great.  until this happened...

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair" - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

three-necked monster and other elongated esophagulistic images

(above)  giraffe, zebra and croc hanging around ye olde watering hole.  (i also spy a little black and white bird on the shore.  that's a blacksmith plover.  a shorebird in the shamrock is a plover in the clover)

in the forest, there lives a lady

Lady

The best lioness

Allow me to sing her praises yet again  

First, some photos.   

All of the photos up until the 57 second mark were taken by a friend named Brad who was helping shoot the documentary about the young lionesses.

a moving picture:

lazily a lady lion lay beside me

(follow the interweb pathway below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6TEBUrnTSo&feature=youtu.be

Here she is touring the camp.  Notice how she rakes the sand with her paw before flopping down.  After a visit from her, the sand around camp would be scarred with paw marks from this maneuver.  Also notice how she checks out the laundry hanging on the wire.  She eyed up Matt’s shirt three times that day.  The next morning, the shirt was lying on the ground with a few holes in it from where she took a bite. 

how about a sneeze

As you probably heard, I said her name a lot.  I do the same with domestic dogs (and with any other creature I'm trying to connect with).  This was my way of keeping her and myself relaxed, of keeping the vibes good and the energy light.  It was a way for me to show her that I was aware of her and that my focus was on her, a way for me to reinforce our connection, and a way for me to show my appreciation and gratitude towards her.  

She would never bring the male lions with her into camp, nor would she come into camp alone if the males were in proximity.  Solo visits only.  It seemed she knew that it would not be safe for the males to be around us.  One afternoon she was lying placidly around camp when we heard the males roaring nearby.  She immediately perked up from her slumber and listened, then quickly moved out of camp.  Interpret it as you will, but I think she was concerned for our safety.

Here are some photos of the males.  

The locals and others who had been around for a while told me that although she is friendly towards most, if not all, humans, she only showed such as strong connection to one other person beside myself.  That person is Herbert Brauer, a Namibian film-maker of German descent.  Herber was one of the first non-locals to ever see Lady (a few years back), the first person to ever film lady, and possibly the first person for whom Lady greeted and rolled.  She would wait for him in his camp and follow him around the way she followed me around.  I felt overwhelmingly grateful and honored to share that connection with her.      

The video below is from my last morning in Liuwa.  Lady showed up the evening before and stayed with me all night.  I didn't sleep much.  I spent most of the night interacting with her, playing guitar for her, listening to her, and just enjoying her presence.  The behaviour she shows in the video was pretty common when she was in camp with me.  She almost snapped the tent poles a few times due to heavy rolling.  At one point in the morning twilight, she walked past my unzipped tent door.  I was sitting inside the tent, and as she was passing by, I stuck my hand out through the door and let it graze along her side.  Either she didn't notice or didn't mind (she just took a couple steps and laid down at the corner of the tent).  It was a touching moment.  

 Listen to those purrs

.   

 How many other wild lions in the world would act this way towards humans?

Sometimes she would walk directly at me, staring straight into my eyes, and when she got too close, I would just put up an open palm towards her and she would change directions or stop.  Just a simple gesture to let her know our boundaries.  She meant no harm (quite the opposite, really), but one must still be careful when interacting with adult African lions.  At one point, I started carrying around a 4ft palm frond as a tool for keeping her from approaching too closely.  But this actually added tension to our interactions.  Legend has is that some years ago a poacher sent a spear into one of her front paws (and thus she has one small paw).  She may be spear-shy, and my palm frond probably made her uncomfortable.  So I abandoned the palm frond of the tree and kept to palm of the hand.  Usually I would accompany the open palm with a calm but confident “hey” or “hey lady” -- to which she would reply with a flop, roll, and purr.

Open palm, not closed fist.  You can live by fear or live by love.  We are animals too.  Humans are not the only animals we can connect with.  

Namasté