Are you all up for a change of pace? Today’s information is from a direct observation, possibly more reliable but also open to interpretation.
We’ll meet a very knowledgeable person from Australia (Art) as well as a not so capable person from somewhere else (Mate, not his real name but that’s what he is called by Art). They both work for the BBC, If you want to hear the commentary as well as read it, just click on it. You may have to click 2x once on the icon and next on the long link. Only the BBC has people with the right, deep voice to provide running commentary during a nighttime observation. Just for the record, this is a compliment.
Mate: Hello, are you Art from the BBC?
Art: Right on mate, and who are you?
Mate: I am . . Uh
Art: that’s ok mate, we all have days like that
Mate: I’m here to see the wombat at night
Art: the wombat? where do you think we are?
Mate: in the Zoo in London, are we not?
Art: no, that was last week, this week we’re in Ontario,Canada reporting on Casus Huismanus Parkinsonius a.k.a. Parky
Mate: I want to see a real life Wombat! It’s got to be here. There must be tunnels here too. The BBC does not make mistakes like that
Art: let’s get started
Art: in his best BBC voice:
it’s about 11.30 at night, most of the lights are off, and the female is already in the nest. Here comes the male. He gets into the nest too, it looks pretty cozy and a few words are spoken. Our microphone is too far away to pick up the sounds. The picture is hazy. After a while the female seems to be asleep, and the male also dozes off.
Mate: how often do they mate?
Art: no one knows, they keep that pretty private. Take a break Mate.
2.00 a.m. It is now 2 1/2 hours later:
Art: watch his toes, they are having a party of their own. Up and down, up and down. He’s scratching as well. There is a theory that his dopamine level is very low. He is waking up. His body is very stiff. You take over Mate
Mate: I see him, he’s out of the nest; he’s walking on 2 legs, but he seems very wobbly, he holds on to a closet, then a dresser drawer, then the door. He does not have a tail. I didn’t know wombats could walk on 2 legs.
Art: it’s not a wombat!
Mate: He goes into another room, finds some more clothes, puts them on and now he goes downstairs. I didn’t know Wombats could lay out extra clothing ahead of time. They must be more intelligent than dolphins. I wonder if they can swim?
Art: They are reasonably smart, some can swim, but he’s not a wombat!
Mate: now he goes downstairs, grabs a walking cane and goes into the kitchen. Turns on a nightlight. Looks around, checks the time and goes into yet another room. He sure knows where everything is. There is a humongous chair, what will he do? He goes right up to the chair, sits in it and then pushes some buttons and, I don’t believe it, the chair turns into a bed. The male goes to sleep again. Wombats can use push buttons; what a discovery, wait till the world hears about this! These wombats must be more intelligent than chimpanzees!
Art: it is not a wombat. Get me a coffee mate, it’s going to be a long night.
4.00 a.m. 2 hours later.
Mate: he’s on the move again, can’t stay in one place too long I guess.
Art: has to do with this illness called Parkinson’s. See how he is stretching to regain control of his body. He is walking quite stooped now. During the day, it’s not so bad because of dopamine based medication. Some of them also shake and have uncontrollable arm or head movements.
