Speaking of tongues

I know, I know, that is one strange title for a blog … well, this is one strange blog. I got the idea for it after taking a couple of photos that had big tongues in them – it seemed a shame to waste the photos, so I ran with the idea, intentionally taking a couple more tongue photos.

So, did you know … ?

Dogs’ tongues:

This gorgeous creature is a Peruvian hairless dog. She was so pregnant that she was barely able to waddle from one shady spot to another.

·         As they use their tongues to clean themselves, dogs’ tongues have an extremely rough texture, helping
      them to remove dirt, parasites and oil from their coats.

·         A dog’s tongue also acts as an air-conditioner. When a dog becomes hot through exercise, its tongue swells because of the increased blood flow. The dog then lets its tongue hang out of its mouth and pants, allowing air to cool any moisture on its tongue, thus also cooling its blood.

This cute little guy followed us in to a local restaurant in Oropesa, where I work and then used those big cute eyes to beg some of our lunch from us.

Dinosaur tongue:

Okay, it’s not a real dinosaur but a concrete one, from Jurassic Park, the local fun park in Oropesa. And I know nothing at all about dinosaur’s tongues and couldn’t find much by googling, but the picture has a tongue in it, so here it is!
 

Human tongues:

After deciding I needed a human tongue or two for this blog, I asked the kids at Picaflor House to pose for me. Of course, they were happy to poke their tongues out at me and I just love these photos. You can almost see what they had for lunch!

·         The human tongue is the strongest muscle in proportion to its size in the human body. It is also the most flexible.

·         The human tongue has approximately 3000 taste buds.

·         If you are healthy, your tongue will be pink. If your tongue is white, that means there is a film of bacteria on it. And, interestingly, a human’s mouth contains much more bacteria than a dog’s mouth – amazing when you consider what a dog uses its tongue for!

·         Much like fingerprints, the tongue print of every human is unique. I’m surprised law enforcement hasn’t made use of that fact, though tongue-printing could be a very messy business.

Bear tongue:

This is one of the Spectacled, or Andean, Bears I met during my recent tour of northern Peru. I will write more about these magnificent creatures in a future blog.

·         Bears have very long tongues, the better to extract honey and insects from trees and logs.

·         Despite being the smallest of all bears, the Sun Bear has the longest tongue, ranging from 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimetres) in length.

·         Polar bears have blue/black tongues. Their skin is actually that colour too, underneath all that white fur.

·         As well as grunts, Black Bears use tongue clicks when engaged in friendly conversation with their mates and cubs. Aw, so cute!

Okay, that’s it. Everything you never wanted to know about the tongues of these various creatures. I promise a more serious blog next.

It’s a dog’s life

When I was looking for a suitable title for this blog, I immediately thought of ‘it’s a dog’s life’ but then wondered whether that was a positive or negative statement. After all, many dogs have an easy life, eating, sleeping, barking, sniffing, scratching. But dogs can also lead a miserable existence, starved and beaten, used for fighting, maltreated, or living wild. It seems the expression initially had negative connotations, having first been recorded in a 16th-century manuscript where it alluded to the miserable, subservient existence of dogs during that era. 

Here in Cusco both sides of the story are true. Some dogs are well cared for, pampered even, and these poor pooches are often dressed by their owners, sometimes in clothing obviously made specifically for dogs, sometimes in family cast-offs. I feel sorry for these dogs as the clothing is certainly not needed for protection from the elements and the dogs themselves often seem to look embarrassed – if that’s possible!

Sleeping peacefully!

A Peruvian hairless dog

But, for the majority of Cusco’s dogs, life is tough. They frequently look malnourished and diseased, with matted coats and obvious injuries, from being hit by cars, fights among packs or from being beaten. They spend their lives roaming the streets, scrounging desperately for food.

There are thousands of dogs here – in fact, I’ve never seen so many dogs in one place before. The problem seems to be a complete lack of population control. The cost of veterinary services for neutering dogs is beyond the reach of most Cusquenians and even those who can afford it don’t seem to choose that option. Instead, when their female dogs are in heat, they let them roam the streets, pursued by packs of eager male dogs.

Here, the sound of dogs barking and fighting can frequently be the cause of a sleepless night. And, with so many dogs on the streets, you also have to watch carefully where you walk. No litter control laws here!

Dogs can also be dangerous, of course, and as the dogs here can carry rabies, you have to be careful to avoid being bitten. Soon after I arrived I was told that the best way to scare off a dog is to bend down, as if picking up a stone to throw. Even if there are no stones, dogs recognise the action and run away – a sad comment on the society they live in.

He may look docile but this dog, who lives behind Picaflor House, can be vicious and frequently scares our children

Peru has its own native dog, one of several breeds of hairless dog, though some have tufts of hair on their heads, feet and the tips of their tails. I think they’re quite ugly, but the locals obviously like them – a huge replica was paraded through the streets during a festival here in June.

The Peruvian native dog on parade

The charity I work for, Globalteer, plans soon to begin assisting a local organisation with a stray care and neutering programme. Volunteers from around the world will come to help care for the local dogs and their donations will fund the programme. The project’s goal will be to nurture the animals back to health through loving care and veterinary treatment at the hands of project staff, veterinary students and volunteers, and whenever possible place the animals in caring adoptive homes. In my opinion, it can’t happen soon enough!