Meedhupparu - a Wildlife Adventure

Being a great fan of David Attenborough and his insightful natural history programmes I set about my own in-depth research into the local wildlife. According to Wikipedia Meedhupparu’s native wildlife consists mostly of geckos, fruitbats, crabs and crows.

Meedhupparu is, according to reviews, populated with numerous geckos. The Common House Gecko, scientific name Richard, is a native of southeastern Asia. Named after the famous Welsh actor who married Lizard Taylor a couple of times, Richards can be seen climbing walls of buildings in search of insects attracted to light. They grow to a length of between three to six inches (about 7.5–15 cm), and live for about five years. The animal is very adaptable and preys on insects and spiders which, in our opinion, is a jolly good thing.

What is not widely known is that Meedhupparu island was, once, a mental asylum. The number of bats that still populate the island today is testament to this. The term "Going Batty", was derived from William Battie. He was an 18th century psychiatrist whose claim to fame was his 1758 publishing on the treatment of mental illness, A Treatise on Madness. His financial success fuelled a boom in the asylum business. If one were "going batty" they were meant to be going by the way of Billy Battie's treatment or going off to one of his many asylums, of which Meedhupparu was, perhaps, his least well known.

I was interested to learn about the crabs that live on Meedhupparu. Imagine my surprise when I Googled ‘crabs’ and learned that they are, in fact, pubic lice. Pubic lice are small, six-legged creatures that infect the pubic hair area and lay eggs. Pubic lice are, apparently, best treated with a prescription wash containing permethrin, or, one assumes, by putting a gecko down the front of your underwear.

Finally, crows. Crows are believed to have been first introduced to the Maldive Islands by ancient master mariners who sailed in the Indian Ocean, and they were used for navigation purposes to look for land masses. They are intelligent, wary and adapt well to human activity. Some locals do admire the crows in the Maldives, but majority see crows as pests, ready to be stoned for fun. Along with crab racing, crow stoning offers visitors to Meedhupparu a potential source of evening entertainment in the Main Bar. The expression “Stone the Crows” will usually be greeted with an understanding smile.


So, there you have it. Armed with this insightful information our holiday will doubtlessly be much enriched.