An Enchanted Forest of Balite Trees

I always emphasize in my environmental science classes that the state of the environment is a result of how people regard nature. In other words, if somebody believes that nature is there to be exploited and is viewed as an infinite source of raw materials, his behavior will be to make full use of the resource without regard for the future. Trees, when cut may be renewable, but the extent of damage may not allow a forest to revert back to its original state.

In the Philippines, many of the old folks believe that the balite or banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) is a favorite forest home for the enchanted. Its small leaves, twisted, and complex root system gives an eerie feeling. It's like a large bonsai growing in the forest. There were times when some people see enchanted lights in the forest and many saw them moving. And some saw half horse, half human creatures trailing behind them while walking near those trees.

These are the reasons why local members of the community in the rural areas would not dare topple the balite tree down for fear that supernatural beings living in it will get angry and punish them with some kind of unexplained illness. This belief was further reinforced when many of those who did cut the tree experienced some kind of unexplained malady.

To prevent harm, the babaylan or local psychics would advise those who pass by those trees to utter some words, in effect asking permission to walk through it. It is believed that people who prowl those forests may bump into an enchanted being unknowingly and earn its ire. Thus, the balite trees were left untouched in the forests.

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My graduate professor once remarked that it may be desirable to plant balite trees in the deforested areas of the country, as people believe it is enchanted and will not dare cut it down. It will be a good strategy to preserve the forests to maintain a desirable landscape.

Beside its ecological functions like preventing erosion as part of the forest, banyan is extensively used in creating bonsai. There may be other uses aside from this. Preserving the balite tree can provide future options for undiscovered qualities.

This idea may also hold true in the case of that island whose surrounding reefs were protected because of a fisher's snake encounter in that island. More of this story in my article titled "Marangas: An Enchanted Island".

Crocodiles Without Tails Are Aggressive?

Talking about crocodiles, there was that legend that says a crocodile named "Putol" was notoriously ferocious. Putol is a local term that means that its tail was severed. It may be aggressive because it encountered someone in the past and got its tail cut off. So, the story goes that the crocodile attacks humans because of this. It's some kind of vendetta. Does this mean that crocodiles without tails are aggressive? I don't think so.

I was reminded of this story when I noticed my photographs of crocodile offspring with this condition several years back. The tails of these crocodiles did not develop during incubation. When they broke out from their thick eggshell, all of them have no tails.


The mother of this group of hatchlings was once reared near a plantation somewhere in Mindanao. The veterinarians pointed out that somehow, pesticides in the chemicals sprayed on the growing crops adjacent to the crocodile's pen contaminated the food of the mother crocodile. Feeding on the contaminated food, the mother crocodile ingested the harmful ingredients of the pesticide. These crocodiles were victims of pesticide residues that prevented the growth of their tails.

Crocodiles: Misunderstood Man-eating Animals

A badly beaten and tightly restrained crocodile in a remote barangay south of Palawan.

Crocodiles are treated with scorn by many as these animals have a reputation of eating humans. But are these man-eating reptiles worthy to be treated with fear and hostility?

The most notable man-eating crocodile is the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). These animals can even travel via the sea. There was a report that even SCUBA divers encountered them underwater.

How well do we know these animals? I happened to engage in research about these awesome reptiles that didn't change much in it general bodily features for more than 200 million years. And I came to understand the important role they play in the environment and got rid of many of my misconceptions.

I wrote a detailed description of the important role these highly resilient animals play in my post titled "Dangerous Saltwater Crocodiles".

Although crocodiles play a very important ecological role, contact with these man-eating animals should be limited as much as possible. While many of them are not man-eating, at least two of them are. These two species are described in Man-eating Crocodiles: Dangerous Reptiles That Survived the Age of the Dinosaurs. A veterinarian working in the zoo was victimized by a nile crocodile. Luckily, high tech medical technology made possible the reattachment of his lost arm.

Heartbeats Unimaginably So Very Slow

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I never knew before that some animals can have heartbeats unimaginably so very slow. The heart has to pump blood through its intricate system of arteries, veins and valves towards the lungs to remove carbon dioxide and to allow general blood circulation in an animal's body through a major artery, the aorta. This mechanism serves the following functions: provide much needed oxygen, remove carbon dioxide from the blood, distribute nutrients, and remove bodily waste in general.

Among those animals known to have the slowest heartbeat are the blue whales at four heartbeats per minute. It can afford to do so because of its big size. Browsing the internet, I discovered that a relatively smaller animal can even have a slower heartbeat at only two heartbeats per minute. These are the crocodiles.

Find out how crocodiles do it among other facts in a featured article titled "What Animal Has the Slowest Heartbeat Ever".

Blood-Sucking Vampire Bats

Are vampire bats really blood-sucking mammals as its name connotes?

While looking for facts about this mammal, trying to verify if these animals are really blood-sucking like vampires are portrayed on stories and films, I discovered a lot of facts. While these animals are associated with the supernatural and treated with disdain, they serve some purpose to man. They are not blood sucking but may surreptitiously feed on any warm-blooded animal including man.

More on these remarkable animals here.

Palawan Bearcat: Neither Bear Nor Cat

Palawan Bearcats (Arctictis binturong) exist only in Palawan in the Philippines as it is an endemic species. They are, however, neither bear nor cats as people might think because of its name. Locally named binturong, the bearcat belongs to Family Viverridae which includes civets and genets. Civets are small mammals frequenting trees (arboreal)which produce a distinctive musk. Genets, on the other hand, are catlike (but unrelated to cats) and likewise have musk glands. are Genets are superficially cat-like creatures, despite being unrelated to cats.

Notable among the bear cats are their prehensile tail which they also use to communicate. More on these animals here.

Visit Palawaniana for more information on Palawan's wildlife.

Wild Pigs and Pig Bombs

Wild pigs once are abundant in the forests of Palawan. But with an ingenious device, the "pig bomb" as the locals call it, the wild pig population was almost wiped out.

Here's the story.

More on mammals in Palawan here.