Ethiopia Facts: Wildlife

We’ve been doing a little furniture shuffle at the Tol House this past couple weeks, trying to move Brian to a quieter workspace for his new job and anticipating the arrival of a baby sometime in the next year or so. I’ll spare you the details of our confusing room to room furniture shuffle, but I will say that the new arrangement is working out nicely.

So what in the world does this have to do with Ethiopian wildlife? Well, we sacrificed our living room to create a new playroom, and decided it’d be fun to decorate the new room with a theme. We call it our “Out of Africa” playroom and it features lots of safari friends. In the process of creating some homemade animal artwork for the walls, I got to wondering: Do any of these animals actually live in Ethiopia? Or is my safari playroom more cliche than reality?

So off I went on a roadtrip down the Information Highway, researching Ethiopia’s wildlife. Here’s what I learned (courtesy of Wikipedia): Ethiopia does, in fact, have a beautiful variety of wildlife including the lions, elephants, zebras, and giraffes that are adorning our playroom walls. (Sigh of relief: My artwork can stay.) Some other interesting animals I discovered on the Ethiopia list: mongoose, gazelle, warthog, anteater, aardvark, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.

But wait. I also placed a charming stuffed monkey on the playroom bookshelf: Is he authentic, as well? With a bit more searching I discovered that there is plenty of simian life in Ethiopia, including monkeys and baboons. What a relief, because really, what kind of playroom doesn’t feature at least one monkey?

One animal that didn’t make the playroom scene, despite his presence in Ethiopia: the hyena. Apparently, the so-called “laughing hyena” isn’t a funny matter to Ethiopian children. These ferocious animals play much the same role as our big bad wolf in Ethiopian children’s tales. So we’ll just keep Mr. Hyena out of the Tol house for now. Other Ethiopian animals that didn’t make the cut: The Naked Mole Rat, the Ethiopian Fruit Bat, and a bountiful variety of shrews.

One sad discovery: The friendly stuffed tiger who is lounging on the playroom sofa really doesn’t belong. I always thought tigers and lions were good chums, and pictured them doing the savannah equivalent of going to a diner for milkshakes together. Not so. Tigers actually live further north, in areas of India and Asia, while lions roam Africa. Perhaps they could be penpals, at least?

At any rate, since Noah is rather attached to his tiger friend, we’ll let the tiger slide in with the lion under the general category of “big cats.” (Come to think of it, our housecat Mocha fits in this category as well.)

So there is my rather brief tour through Ethiopian wildlife. Isn’t it amazing to think of all those animals roaming about their country? And here’s one last wildlife fact for those of you who’ve stuck with me: Ethiopia’s national symbol is the lion. It’s hard to imagine a symbol with greater beauty and power.

Writer’s Note: So here’s the thing. Whenever Brian writes a blog entry, we seem to get comments. When I (Amy) write, there is an ominous silence.  So I’m humbly begging for a response. Just a word. Or maybe a whole sentence if you have the time. Please? It’s not that I want to compete with my husband prolific comments: It’s just that I’m starting to wonder if my words are being sucked into some secret black hole of the web!

May 30, 2008 | Filed Under adoption, amy, ethiopia 

Comments

  • http://lowmanlife.blogpost.com Meredith

    Amy, I loved your blog! And…I truly loved your pen-pal idea. :) Hope all is well, miss you guys! xox ~Mer

  • stef

    Amy,
    I am Ethiopian, came her courtesy of google :) Don’t lose heart, there are leopards in Ethiopia and Eritrea that come close to your tigers.

    Have a pleasant weekend

  • Uncle Wayne

    Amy, I too always check on your blog. We are very excited for you and Brian and love the “Africa theme” you are preparing. When I was younger, I had a “paneled wall theme”!! Not near as cool as what you are doing. We love you guys!!
    Unc Wayne & Aunt Jill

  • http://lowmanlife.blogpost.com Meredith

    Sorry Amy my dad is a dork sometimes. :) Haha!

  • http://paulyuen.com Paul

    I’ve got you guys on my reader… I liked this one… Nice post! Have any pics?

  • http://wiremine.wordpress.com/ Brian

    Thanks P! We do have pics, but they’re stuck in the limbo that is our digital camera. Actually, that would make for a great blog post! Thanks for the idea!

  • Anonymous

    hello

  • http://tolhouse.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/tol-top-ten/ Tol Top Ten « Tol House Blog

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  • REENA

    I AM ETHIOPIAN MYSEF AND I LOVED YOUR STORY AMY.
    IT IS TERRIFIC AND I AM ONLY TWELVE.
    SINCE I AM DOING A PROJECT ON ETHIOPIA(SO EASY)
    I CHECKED OUT YOUR BLOG.
    I LOVE THE PICS, ESPECIALLY THE GIRAFFES.

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