29 August 2013

New Trip Report: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka 2013: Great – detailed – report from Vladimir Dinets, 2.5 weeks & most of the mammals including several shrew sp, Indian Pangolin and a Dwarf Sperm Whale. Interestingly I saw the remains of a Pangolin quite close to where he saw his. Perhaps the Yala coast is a hotspot for them.

More information is urgently needed about Vladimir’s SOREX (Sound Reception Enhancing X-thing) which “proved useful for locating small mammals, particularly shrews. Unfortunately, the device looks extremely embarrassing, and can’t be used when there are people around.” I suspect Vladimir doesn’t embarrass easily, so this I want to see…

Jon

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4 Comments

  • 30 August 2013
    Israel

    that was brilliant. I actually am on a yearish-long Asian trip at the moment and do intend on going to Sri Lanka at some point in the middle, so all that information is well received!!

  • 30 August 2013
    Vladimir Dinets

    I am working on SOREX-2, it should be a bit less embarrassing to use. There would still be some risk of being forcibly locked up in a psycho ward, but at least no danger of being declared a sex offender, which is a real problem with the current version.

  • 4 September 2013
    Mahesh

    This is very interesting report. Thank you Vladimir Dinets for posting this. When I reading through your report it seems like you have seen lot of mammals in Sri Lanka. What was your total number of mammals for this trip.

    I’m very impressed with the number of small mammals you have seen on this trip. Rodents and shrews are very tricky to id did you use an id guide. If so what was it.

    It seems to me that your new invention SOREX has worked really well. Since it is so embarrassing to describe I wan’t ask any details.

    Mahesh

    • 6 September 2013
      vdinets

      Mahesh,
      I couldn’t find any guide for SL mammals, so I had to look up the original descriptions of shrews, photos in research papers, etc.
      Most shrews were actually found without the help of SOREX. SOREX is basically just a pair of extra-large external ears, it enhances your hearing and sense of sound direction, that’s all.

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