The Finger Dragon ~ とんぼ

Back in the spring I published a blog article about Japanese lizards I titled 'The Finger Dragon'. Though the subject of this post is different I offer no apologies for the similarity in title. Dragonflies have to be one of my favorite insects and here in Japan we have a wealth of them. At this time of year at the end of the rainy season they start to appear here and there and eventually reach their peak at the start of autumn when you can see them in hordes. As they're just emerging from their aquatic form it seems to be quite easy to get close to them which makes for some great photos. As you can see here, they'll even perch on a finger if you don't move around too much.

This being the first day of my summer holiday (yippee!), me and Prof Ewan spent some quality time with cameras wondering round the ponds and through the bushes of the local wildlife hotspot. He was quite enamored with his little 'dragon' as it kept coming back to sit on his finger. Eventually, we had this conversation.....

Ewan: Can I keep it as a pet dad?
Paul: Can't really do that. It needs to fly to feed.
Ewan: That's OK. We can keep some mosquitoes in the house too.
Paul: ..........................

The Finger Dragon

Professor Ewan with his first exhibit of the year.

Couldn't believe this lizard was out and about. Have had a miserable, rainy, freezing cold winter this year, but yesterday the sun came out for an hour and it was slightly warm - about 12C. Found this little beauty sunning himself on a wall. Professor Ewan - so named because he's always lecturing me on various topics - was beside himself as we weren't expecting anything to be awake for a good few weeks yet!

Loved the pattern of his scales and beautiful yellow eye.

We spent 15 minutes taking photographs and having a good look at him. Usually, it's very hard to catch these because in the summer they're like little streaks of lightning. Most of the time all you see is the end of a tail disappearing into the long grass. On the rare occasions we've caught one, we've had to hold on tight otherwise they're off! However, because of the cool weather and an empty stomach after 4 months hibernation this one was very easy to catch and handle. Great for taking photos, but a pity we didn't have the video with us.

We put him him back on the wall and he disappeared into the leaves.

We didn't have much success in keeping these last summer. We caught several, but they refused to eat and would rapidly lose weight. Sadly, we lost two, and then decided just to keep any more we caught  for a few days before returning them to the place we found them. This summer we're planning to do some research into the best environment for them and make a larger and hopefully more suitable home for the lizards and any other wildlife we catch.

Here is a video of the first lizard we kept back when Professor Ewan was around 5 or 6. At that time, he'd just got his first camera and I started taking videos of the animals we caught and various mini safari's we took together. The six or seven I made became a series on Youtube called 'The Family Pet'. These can be seen by clicking on the link.