A million untold stories in the big wilderness

This is just a silly anecdote. I mean, even sillier than normal.

little toy orangutan with bindi
I found this little toy in the backyard – specifically, in the space under the raised and screened porch, alongside the lower deck. It’s not very big, essentially a keychain charm. I just don’t know exactly how it got there. Nobody here owned it, and it wasn’t there when we moved in, and doesn’t even show signs of having been in the yard for an extended period – just the corrosion on the chain itself, but the fur is pretty clean.

So, something carried it in here – through or over the backyard fence, and from where I couldn’t even guess. Nor exactly why. It was found near the compost bin, which does receive visits from wildlife – I’ve seen both raccoons and opossums checking it out for tasty tidbits, so I’m supposing one of them carried it over and then left it behind. But I’m not even sure why they would be carrying it around with them in the first place. Neither is so stupid as to believe it’s really edible, or was even once alive – the scent and structure is all wrong. Just having a toy, like cats do, is possible I suppose – it just seems odd that it would be brought along on their foraging expedition. Nothing else of the sort has ever appeared either.

I have to admit that while I’d noticed the gnawed-off toes almost immediately upon discovery, it wasn’t until I shot the pic that I realized it was sporting a little red bindi on the forehead. It looks deliberate, but I’m not sure if this is really intended to relate to hinduism or not…

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