Who me? I am a Colugo,
Somewhat like a lemur, but pseudo.
I’m totally weird, top to toe
And I glide through trees, don’t you know…
My body is like my hammock,
My vision is pure panoramic,
My diet is very botanic,
When gliding, I’m aerodynamic!
Check me out, I am arboreal.
What, do you need a tutorial?
I only exist equatorial,
Since pretty much time immemorial.
I’m awkward, yet kind of eternal
And preferably jungle nocturnal,
The daytime heat is infernal—
You can journal that kernel.
I’m of the order Dermoptera.
Not a bat, that would be Chiroptera;
Or a butterfly, that’s Lepidoptera,
But sometimes, I do eat cassava.
Really, I’m rather herbivorous.
I digest all of that tannin bitterness.
One can’t be choosy in the wilderness,
Without any easy refrigerants.
Some mammals, they practice judo
Or karate or even sumo.
Me? Leaping off trees I go,
Because… I am a Colugo.
-Photo and poem by WT Trip Leader Karin Betts, Borneo Expedition
