This little animal could have been a film star.

In the new film  ‘The Lone Ranger’, the hero is copying a classic animal strategy at avoiding predation, having an eye-mask. Even Johnny Depp has disruptive facial marks.

 

The Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto were among my favourite childhood heroes.  What I remember most was the mystery of the Lone Ranger’s eye-mask.  I couldn’t understand why he wanted to hide his true identity, after all they were the goodies.

Later I realised that they wanted to hide from the baddies, faces are bright and easily seen, the Lone Ranger needed to camouflage himself.

In Argentina, the ‘Living Wild in South America’ team of Paula and I went looking for a special animal we had heard of  but never seen, the Plains Vizcacha. One of South America’s wildlife specialities.

The Plains Vizcacha was once abundant in the Pampas grasslands of central Argentina, but not now.

Intensive agriculture has transformed the Pampas.  The burrowing habits of the Plains Vizcacha became a nuisance and it had to be eradicated.

We found them in an area of semi-woodland, close to grassland, living in burrows.  They are crepuscular, only emerging at dusk and dawn, and their Lone Ranger eye-masks help to camouflage them.

Hey ho Silver!