Turbo Pudding
Every jungle adventure needs someone with a view from above. In Jungaloo, that someone is Captain Bellows, a frigatebird who never lands. Not on a branch, not on a stone, not even for a quick chat. He has a very simple reason, and he tells you the moment you meet.
Walking is beneath him
Tavo meets him in level 2, on the climb inside Hollowheart, the great hollow tree. Up on the tier where tinder fungus sticks out of the bark, a gray stone with a glowing orange feather carved into it stands by the path. Walk up to it, and a black shape sweeps in from above the screen: “Captain Bellows! Sky navigator! Walking? Far beneath me!”
Then he gets down to business, or as far down as he ever gets: “Step on the feather-stone — I’ll show you what’s hidden.” A little wooden sign next to the stone spells it out for the rest of us: push Up on a feather-stone.
Dressed for the job
Bellows looks like a pilot from an old photo. He wears a leather flying helmet with a feather badge on the front and no goggles, and a white pilot’s scarf with one end that streams back behind him as he flies. His wings are long, narrow and black, the shape of a wide letter M, and his long gray beak ends in a hook.
There is a gold medal on his chest. Look closely: it’s a bottle cap. Bottle caps turn up in some very odd places in this jungle, but that’s a story for another Friday.
Then there is the pouch. Under his beak Bellows has a red throat pouch. Most of the time it’s just a small red fold. When he gets to work, it starts to puff up, and when he carries Tavo, it’s blown up like a big, shiny red balloon.
Ask the sky
Feather-stones are how you ask Bellows for help. Stand next to one and push Up. He shouts “Tally-ho! Follow the sparkle, kid!” and flies straight to the nearest relic or hidden door you haven’t found yet.
On the way he leaves a trail of sparkles, and they hang in the air for about twelve seconds. When he gets there, he circles the spot for five seconds, calls out “Roger!” and heads off. Every feather-stone works only once, so it pays to use it when you’re truly stuck.
And if there is nothing left to find? He reports that too, with dignity: “From up here? Nothing left to find. Roger that!”
Asleep on the job
When nothing is going on, Bellows waits by the stone. He hovers right over it, wings almost still, always a little above it and never quite touching. Wait a few seconds, and a small white “z” drifts up above him. He’s snoring. In flight.
It sounds like a cartoon joke, but real frigatebirds do something close to it. In 2016, a team led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany fitted great frigatebirds from the Galápagos Islands with tiny recorders that tracked their brain waves on trips over the Pacific that lasted up to ten days. In the air, the birds slept only about 42 minutes a day, in short bursts of around ten seconds. They slept almost only at night, and mostly while circling up on rising air. Sometimes just one half of the brain slept while the other half kept watch. Back on land, the same birds slept more than twelve hours a day.
So when Bellows dozes off over a feather-stone, he is only doing what frigatebirds do. Old Lento the sloth would approve. He dozes by his campfire, tea in hand, until you come near, and his advice is simple: “There is… always… time. That is… the trick.”
Hand in hand
Hints are only half of his job. Later in the adventure, on a windy level of gusts and wide gaps, Bellows joins Tavo for real: “Captain Bellows reporting for duty! Hold jump when you fall — I’ll do the rest.”
Hold Jump while you’re falling, and he swoops down, takes Tavo by the hands and glides with him, pouch blown up like a balloon. The very first time, he can’t help himself: “Arms in! Feet up! Enjoy the view!” Let go of Jump, and he lets go too. His strength shows as a small ring by Tavo’s shoulder, and it starts to blink when it’s nearly gone. When it runs out, he lets go and climbs back up. Over a warm updraft, though, he never gets tired at all, which is very frigatebird of him.
Night shift
He grumbles, of course. At dusk, looking out over the Glowwood from the top of a stair, he sighs: “Night shift. I hate night shift.” Tavo points out, “You hate the ground too.” Bellows doesn’t miss a beat: “I contain multitudes.”
Meet him in level 2
Levels 1–3 and the first boss are free to play in your browser at jungaloo.com. The full game is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Jungaloo page.
