Cryptobiology: It's beyond this world to comprehend, where superstition and science meet, and debate continues without end.

Cryptobiology

It's beyond this world to comprehend,

where superstition and science meet,

and debate continues without end.

1 - Cryptobiology* in Driftwood Art

Birds - Descendants of the Archaeopteryx. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), nature's art in driftwood -

a lucky find among uprooted and burned madre de caacao trees, 

waste of swidden or kaingin farming in woodlands. 

Into the sky this giant among Aves,

rises with all its strength sublime,

enthroned in wood gone to waste. 

Look, it's our own eagle in its prime!

In the likeness of an eagle or hawk, I mounted these pieces 

of driftwood against a background depicting its natural habitat. 

Darwinian evolution, Part 2, or is it? 

It's beyond this world to comprehend,

where superstition and science meet,

and debate continues without end. 

It resembles the Philippine hawk or lawin flying majestically in the sky.  I found this rare piece of wood cum bark of an old talisay (Terminalia catappa) uprooted by a typhoon on our homelot in San Vicente,  Ilocos Sur, circa 2012 

A legendary bird for children,

singular pride of our nation;

 but we'll be losing this long time friend, 

now at the brink of extinction.

Archeopteryx reconstructed from fossil

2 - Cryptids in our Midst

Dr Abe V Rotor

  

 

Top photos: Half-serpent, half-avian with distinct eyes, beak and crown (palong Tag); yelping puppy in a greeting pose.  Lower photos: Long legged reptile emerging from a broken jar seems to be telling story fit for a horror movie. 

This figure of an aquatic creature apparently swimming, was discovered in an estuary. Old folks claim the creature once lived where sea and river meet, a unique habitat of many strange creatures, animals and plants as well.  Mural background adds to the queer ambiance of the figure. 

Horned duck with wings half-spread ready for takeoff, gives a fantasy image of a strange creature, which kids relate with cartoon characters and unique specimens like the Pterodactyl, an extinct genus of pterosaurs.

    

Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”.  It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark? Have you seen a black dove in our real world?

*Cryptobiology is the study of cryptids, creatures around which myths exist but whose current existence has never been verified. Some famous cryptids include bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and the chupacabra. Cryptids are elusive creatures that dance on the fringes of human perception, whose existence has not been proven by science, but has been reported by many eye-witnesses. Modern science has proved the existence to creatures that existed only in imagination and fantasy.