Creepy Animals of The Forest

I have always had a passion for all wildlife and as a teenager kept many
unusual and exotic insects and spiders in my bedroom, much to my mothers
disgust!  In January 2006 I came to Cameroon to search primarily for birds
of prey, which I work with in the UK .  After spending one month in Limbe, I
decided to move to a new area and after sending several emails to different
organisations, I received a reply from CWAF, offering me the chance to volunteer at their forest reserve in Mefou, working with their apes and monkeys.  I grabbed the opportunity, which would allow me not only to work with chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons, mangabeys and other primates, but also to live in the forest where there are many other interesting animals and birds, including eagles, owls, insects, such as the praying mantis, spiders, lizards and snakes - including the deadly green mamba!

It didn't take me long to find the first praying mantis, a more common
species, typical of what most people would imagine one to look like.  I took
plenty of pictures, fearing I wouldn't see another one!  This was not the
case however and as the weeks passed I found more and more unusual and
exotic species, infact, many of the staff at CWAF had never even seen these
or realized that they existed on their own doorstep.  The cryptic shapes and
camouflage conceal them in the undergrowth and they can be very difficult to
spot.  The following pictures show some of the more unusual species,
including a giant 20 cm stick mantis, resembling a very fine twig in
texture, colour and shape and some smaller, more ornate species which
resemble shriveled or spiny leaves.

Praying mantids feed on other insects by grabbing them with their powerful
raptorial arms.  These are barbed with spines and very few insects can
escape a mantid's grasp.  Many of the larger species, such as the one
pictured on my arm, are capable of eating small lizards and frogs.  Some of
the locals were convinced that in the North of Cameroon a species existed
which could kill cattle, an interesting thought!

Also spotted were cockroaches resembling yellowed, dead leaves, stick
insects, orb web spiders and many moths and butterflies.  One of my
favourites were the Katydids, large grasshoppers which feed on and resemble
leaves.

If you get a chance to volunteer with CWAF, or if ever traveling in Cameroon
and have the opportunity to visit Mefou, take a look above the light outside
the nursery entrance when it gets dark, many insects are attracted to it
(watch out for the resident bat, see photo!).  During the day, keep an eye
out on walls of buildings and fence posts around the enclosures, where
praying mantids like to perch waiting for their next meal.  Other insects
are often seen trying to hide themselves in the bushes lining the pathways,
patience helps when searching as often it will take a moment or two for your
eyes to adjust.

There are probably thousands of species of insect in the Mefou forest alone and maybe even some as yet unidentified - you may unwittingly discover a completely new species!