Copyright notice

It may seem paranoid but here goes... Please note that all the pictures published on this blog were taken by me and that I retain all copyright on them. If you want to copy and use them for any purpose, please be kind enough to ask for my permission and submit the text you want to use in connection with them.

Thank you!



Copyright E. Occansey, 2008

Dogs...

If you were to read only one book about dogs as they were and are naturally, please do read "Dogs: a New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour, and Evolution" by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger. Here is a link to the Amazon page: http://tinyurl.com/dogs-coppinger.

Here are a few pictures taken this very morning:



I think these could be dam and pup. They live in the same compound and I saw this bitch much more rotund than now a few months ago. I think the puppy may be 4-5 months old.



The picture was taken from my bedroom window, and the dogs were about 70 yards from my house. The red and white colours are by far the most frequently occurring colours in local dogs. There are black and whites and tricolour dogs too, but I would be surprised if they were more than 10% of the total population. Until a few weeks ago, I had never seen a brindle Avuvi. I saw one recently, but I'm so surprised I did, after many travels in and to the region over more than 30 years, that I wonder if this specific one could have had a non-Avuvi ancestor.



Avuvis don't have a tightly curled tail like the Western fabrication called Basenji. Their tails can be moderately curled, or not. They can be quite long, but I've also seen tail-less puppies (obviously not cropped) and medium-length tails (about 8in long).

Welcome to Ghana outdoors

For a long time I have felt handicapped by the lack of, then by an inappropriate, camera. It's been all the more frustrating that I'm back to my beloved Ghana and feeling very much in the mood of taking pictures.

Earlier this month, I got a Fuji FinePix S8000 fd. I'm very pleased with it. In particular, my previous camera was less than satisfactory in terms of zoom and macro. No such complain with this one, I even have a 'super-macro' feature that allows me to be less than 1/2in from the subject and get a perfect picture.

I've long been interested in dogs. More specifically, aboriginal dogs. Not "purebred" Western fabrications but natural, local, naturally adapted to the climate, available food and parasites. "Environmentally appropriate", to say it in a fashionable way, but what it really is all about is that nature did much better than any of us poor mortals could do, alone or in groups.

This blog will therefore show quite a few pictures of dogs, Ghanaian dogs, "Avuvis" (avu = dog, -vi = small in the Ewe language), but also birds, plants, ... Anything I see when outdoors and find pleasant enough to push the button.




These birds are very small, maybe not more than 3in from head to tail. They are everywhere here, including in the one tree gracing my diminutive patio. They seem to be almost as light as butterflies. Seen from afar they look just black, grey and white but with the zoom I realised that reality is much more complex and delicate, as it often is.