Cryptobiology in 17 parts: The Study of Nature Spirits
Cryptobiology
The Study of Nature Spirits
Dr Abe V Rotor
Cryptobiology is a controversial field of study at the border of science and superstition, thus scientists call it pseudoscience. It is however, gaining acceptance and support from scholars and people in general.
There are two fields of cryptobiology, one concerning animals (cyptozoology) and the other, plants (cryptobotany). The former took off with the discovery of strange creatures like the Coelacanth fish thought to have become extinct millions of years ago. On the other hand, the search of legendary and fiction characters like Loch Ness, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snowman, continues to draw attention.
Part 1 - A collection of Nature Spirit remains
Part 2 - Dead Tree Walking
Part 3 - Nature's Trophy - Cryptid* Likeness of an Ancient Fowl
Part 4 - Nature's Trophy - Cryptic Image of a Yelping Puppy
Part 5 - Nature's Trophy - Crossroad of Reality and Fantasy
Part 6 - Cryptobotany - Strange Images of Trees
Part 7 - Nature's Trophy - The tree that rose from a broken jar
Part 8 - A Dead Tree Arises Heavenward
Part 9 - Balete - The Monster Tree
Part 10 - A Driftwood's Odyssey
Part 11 - Kapre - Monster or Nature Spirit?
Part 12 - Giants - Real and Imaginary - Mingle with Us
Part 13 - Nature's Deathbed: Dirge of a Dying Creek
Part 14 - Farewell to Old Sentinel Trees
Part 15 - Paradise Lost the Second Time Around
Part 16 - Nature's Message in Cryptobiology
Part 17 - Superstition is Encrypted in Cryptobiology.
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 lately?
A collection of Nature Spirit remains which resemble unique features of creatures and objects, a subject of pseudoscience called cryptobiology. On display at the author's residence at the Living with Nature Center in San Vicente Ilocos Sur.
Search for the Incredible
Media with the advancement of science and technology have embellished findings and reports about a "third world of creatures". The platypus is among nature's most unlikely animals. In fact, the first scientists to examine a specimen believed they were the victims of a hoax. If the Red Wood (Sequoia) was not discovered, no one would believe in its enormous size compared with high rise buildings. How many creatures completely unfamiliar to most of us live in a drop of pond water? In terms of biological diversity, 90 percent of living things remain unknown and unidentified, more so if we include the prototype and extinct organisms since life appeared three billion years ago.
Driftwood representing a dragon in biblical times and in fairy books. Displayed as a table top figurine, subject of curiosity and subsequent exchange of stories among young and old alike.
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.
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.
Out of this world creatures haunt the forest, playing the role of guardian against poachers and loggers. Nature spirits are friendly to environmentalists and are believed to be protecting Nature's resources against abuse.
Cryptobiology is traced to our ancestors, and carried on through history, treasured in primitive societies, religious organizations, and time honored beliefs and tradition conveyed in documents and folktales.
Cryptobiology, Keeper of Values and Tradition
One time I asked a man of his true name. He said when he was a boy he was sickly. To overcome his condition, his nickname was changed with one stroke of a bolo (Taga' sa punong kahoy.) To this day Mang Kapok (kapok is cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra), now a senior, is heathy and strong, thanks to the spirit of the place and the village herbolario.
Beginning of Crypto communication
With the breakthrough in cybercommunication, it is evident that soon we will be communicating with Nature more directly than before, more than mere fantasy and imagination, over and above, inferential and psychological.
Cryptobiology and Conscientization
Conscientizatrion conveys the idea of developing, strengthening, and changing consciousness. Consciousness leads us to think further than knowledge in the pursuit of values, truth and the ideal. Here is a piece I wrote for a university lecture on Nature and Literature.
Part 2
Dead Tree Walking
"I came from Paradise lost, would you walk with me?"
Limb of a dead tree resembling a headlesshuman figure, España, Manila 2007
I am the ghost that walksfrom a forest before;I am the conscience of mansleeping in its core.I am the memoryfrom the distant past;lost among the throng,living in the dust.I came from Paradise lost,orphaned by the First Sin;the hands that cared for mecan't now be seen.I long for a heaven, too,a gift of being good and true,but if heaven is only for man,I did serve him through.But I am a ghost now.Would man join me for a walkto tell the world the storyof a once mighty oak? ~
Author's Note: Is the kapre that dwells in old big trees true after all? Utter tabi tabi (bari bari Ilk) while making your way on an unbeaten path. Pour a few drops of your drink before you down your glass. Have you heard the song of a whale? How about that of a mermaid? Anaconda can grow up to 20 meters long! You are lucky if you can pick a leaf of makahiya (Mimosa pudica) fresh and not drooping. If you find a four-leaf clover don't miss the lottery. ~
Part 3 - Nature's Trophy
Cryptid* Likeness of an Ancient Fowl
Figure and background by Dr Abe V Rotor
Cryptid image of an ancient fowl.
In evolutionary studies, images such as this brings science and folklore together within the boundary of fact and superstition. (Natural formation of a limb of talisay (Terminalia catappa), on display at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur)
Imagination quite often more important than reason
soars beyond rules, roams in all kinds of exploration;
takes us back to our senses in joy and seriousness,
in Creation's mystery, in humility and earnestness.
*Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience that aims to prove the existence of entities from the folklore record, such as Bigfoot or chupacabras, as well as undetected animals otherwise considered extinct, such as dinosaurs. Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids. Because it does not follow the scientific method, cryptozoology is considered a pseudoscience by the academic world: it is neither a branch of zoology nor folkloristics. (Internet)
Part 4 - Nature's Trophy
Cryptic* Image of a Yelping Puppy
Dr Abe V Rotor
"I can see your voice," is true;
a happy puppy in my childhood,
sweet memory comes alive,
virtually real in any view." - avr
Part 5 - Nature's Trophy
Crossroad of Reality and Fantasy
(Is Rationality a Mask of Reality?)
Dr Abe V Rotor
Nature's art: Cryptobiology
Mural background Underground River of Palawan, by the author
What leads reality to fantasy, we surmise;the saga of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn,Jules Verne's Kraken, Loch Ness monster,from fantasy to reality stories rise.Nostradamus prophesy, Malthus' theory;the Bible - fiction, science, tales, allmixed up in archives and social mediawhere one is led to think and feel free.Scientific protocol: Koch's Postulate,Linnaeus' nomenclature, Mendeleev's,computer prediction models of today,Quarks and Higgs Boson as of late.To where do all these lead us, we ask,after moon landing, soon to planet Mars;if fantasy a means of escape from reality,then rationality is but a fateful mask. ~
Martian landscape by the author 2019 ~
Part 6 - Cryptobotany
Strange Images of Trees
Some cryptobotany may well be pseudoscience,
but it is also true to say that some "respectable"
botanists are cryptobotanists... - MacRusgailDr Abe V Rotor
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Re-incarnation - this elephant tree had been
once roaming around in band;
threatened, endangered and gone,
what would it become the next time around?
St Paul University QC
Young devil tree, but you aren't;
your eyes but holes to your heart;
your arm raised to praise, to call
a friend, such is nature's art.
UST Manila
Shadow of death I see across the lawn,
save the sun all mourning;
haunting the playground empty and quiet,
save a dead tree walking.
Driftwood Serpent on display at the Living with Nature Center
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Rising from a forest long gone;
drifting aimlessly in the sun,
hidden unknown in the sand,
the like of a monster found.
Driftwood Duck-like Creature, Living with Nature Center
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Happy or sad this driftwood duck
many features it may lack,
its horn and bill make me laugh,
but its message's enough.
Skull and eyes of a tree, Living with Nature Center
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Are trees human, too?
A question its answer is No,
'til you come face to face
familiar no other but you.
Cryptobotany or cryptophytology is a field related to cryptozoology, dedicated to the study and search for formally undescribed plants. Due to their nature, cryptid plants are far less common than cryptid animals.
- Cryptid plants are generally reported from inaccessible tropical regions, and many are carnivorous plants, such as man-eating trees or vampire plants. There is no single dedicated work on cryptobotany, but the largest collections of information regarding carnivorous cryptid plants are contained in Karl Shuker's The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003) and Roy P. Mackal's Searching for Hidden Animals (1980).
- Bernard Heuvelmans stated in the foreword to A Living Dinosaur? (1987) that his proudest achievement related to the Congo dragon cryptids was cryptobotanical: in Les Derniers Dragons d'Afrique (1978), based on advice from Armad Bouquet, he had correctly identified the plant described as the mokele-mbembe's favourite food, "a kind of liana with large white blossoms, with a milky sap and apple-like fruits," as a species of Landolphia. A sample of the liana collected two years later was identified as Landolphia mannii. (Source: Cryptozoology Encyclopedia, Internet)
- "I object to the allegation that cryptobotany is a total pseudoscience. This is totally POV. Maybe the article (not this article) has things the wrong way round. Some cryptobotany may well be pseudoscience, but it is also true to say that some "respectable" botanists are cryptobotanists, since they are looking for unknown or hidden (crypto) plants. Someone who looks for rare orchids is as much a cryptobotanist as someone who looks for man-eating trees. There is just an artificial boundary that creates a false division between the two." --MacRusgail (talk) 10:45, 15 October 2008 (UTC) Wikipedia ~
Part 7 - Nature's Trophy
The tree that rose from a broken jar
Dr Abe V Rotor
If the Phoenix bird a cryptid, so with the kaprein the balete in children's book;Out of a broken jar emerges an reptile-like tree,with menacing poise and look.They have stood sentinel in the forest and plain,guardian against man's unendinggreed and folly for material wealth, honor, fame -telling him the cause of his suffering. **
Top view of a cryptid tree
Back and front view of the cryptid tree
** Beliefs in the spirits have helped preserve Nature against man's destructive hands as he pursued a "progressive and enlightened culture." The greatest destruction of the environment was in the last 200 years, the impact of which is most felt in our postmodern world today.
Part 8 - A Dead Tree Arises Heavenward
"Trees do not preach learning and precepts. They preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life." ― Herman Hesse
Dr Abe V Rotor
Skeleton of Agoho (Casuarina equisetifolia) of the Pine Family, QC, 2017
Half a century I lived, my master is now gone, his generation remnant
of tradition, imprimatur of the old school, the values of old, outstripped
by today's postmodern living.
My death is also the death of my friends: lichens and mosses on my
bark, ferns and lianas on my limbs, mycorrhiza and rhizobia in my
roots, and others in symbiosis with me.
My demise is also a great loss to countless dependents: insects
feeding on my leaves, bats feeding on my cones, bagworms housed in
my needle leaves, earthworms thriving on my litter.
My crown was once a huge umbrella for tired passersby, stopover
of birds in their migratory route; it buffered strong wind, and filtered
dusts and carbon in the air, cooled the surroundings.
I stood tall to reach out for the sun and through photosynthesis
converted its energy into food and other materials, while releasing
oxygen to balance the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Like my relative, the pine, I did not shed my leaves all at once unlike
the deciduous trees; instead I shed my leaves as they grew old, thus
I kept the landscape evergreen all year round.
My life was a struggle like my kin in the wild abiding with the laws
of nature; unlike them however, I lived on the whims and dictates of
the human community in which I was introduced.
I did not have a family of my own, my children were weaned early
and carried to places I never knew; nonetheless I learned to live well
in a man-made community of plants humans called park or garden.
I played with children in my shade and on my limbs, lulled them in
their cradle, the old in their hammock, the bold in their swing,
whispering, humming, creaking in nostalgic pain and laughter.
Many times I joined their celebrations, tasted their beer, held up their
flag and banner, joined in their singing, kept secrets of lovers who
marked my trunk their initials and vows leaving traces of memories.
I grew up with kids until they left home, rejoiced at their return,
welcomed and showered confetti to friends and guests, prayed for the
sick, grieved for the dead, expressed my own way of compassion.
I was pruned many times to give way to electric lines and cables,
road widening, for necessity of firewood and materials for various
crafts, or simply for aesthetic reason whatever that means.
Progress, I had my share too, but I got mostly the harmful consequences:
pollution, congestion, global warming, acid rain, ailments that
accompany the Good Life, which progressively led to my demise.
I have been standing dead for some time now and no one seemed to
care, save the termites and fungi gnawing on my skeleton, and some
black birds that sit awhile on my bare crown.
I rise up and peep into the hole in the sky beneath me, and if this is
a gate to an afterlife told by man to be so beautiful, I ask my Creator
if I too, deserve the gift of eternal life and happiness only a place
called Heaven can give. ~
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Part 9 - BALETE - The Monster Tree
The balete is also home of bad spirits
Those who go near the tree become sick.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Balete has indeed a bad reputation. In fact its real name is strangler’s fig because it slowly strangles its host tree to death, using its trunk as if it were its own until it decomposes underneath its interlacing roots and branches. Years after nothing can be traced of its once benevolent host.
Balete wraps an acacia tree, UST Manila. (The acacia tree has been liberated from the prop roots of the parasitic balete)
The juvenile balete is popularly made into bonsai, and the young tree is domesticated into shrub and grace our homes, roadside and parks.
But in the forest, it is a monster, taking over towering trees. Some wrest with the emergents, trees that rise above the canopy layer of the forest, virtually piercing through the cloud.
The tree house in the novel Swiss Family Robinson written by Johan Wyss in the 17th century, was built atop a huge balete. A proof of this contention is that the core of the trunk is hollow, which could only mean, the tree strangled its host tree to death.
I had the chance to climb the Swiss Family Robinson tree replica at the Disneyland in Los Angeles, USA, PHOTO through the tree’s interior spiraling stairs. From the tree house everything below is Lilliputian. Here the Robinsons were safe from the beasts of the forest; it served as their watchtower, too. Of course the tree in Disneyland is made of steel and concrete, but it appeared real the way it is described in the novel.
Anyone who gets near an old balete will develop goose bumps. Imagine walking along Balete Drive (Quezon City) at night and meet a white lady.
Old folk will tell you it was a balete Judas Iscariot hanged himself. Others will relate how a kapre (black hairy monster) sits high up in the tree, his long thin legs dangling with its cavernous prop roots.
But in India and other parts of Asia, the banyan tree, a relative of the balete (Family Moraceae) is the home of kind spirits. Banyan is the longest living tree species after the Redwood and the Bristle Pine.
Unlike the latter, the banyan actually “walks around,” its prop roots colonizing the immediate surroundings so that a centuries-old tree may reach a diameter of twenty meters or more. Imagine how massive and extensive the banyan is – it can house a temple under its prop roots, making it Ripley’s living house of worship. ~
"Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” – E. O. Wilson
Part 10 - A Driftwood's Odyssey
Dr Abe V Rotor
San Vicente Integrated School coed, Miss Riyzza Mae Rotor Carbonel, shows her school project - a table vase made of driftwood, seashells, and recycled plastic materials.
I am a remnant of a felled tree in a forest long ago,
drifting down the river to the sea;
braving the elements and patient with time, too;
free but knowing not my destiny.
For how long I drifted far and wide I do not know,
my world was aimless and carefree
among creatures I met, that would come and go.
but to whom can I tell this long story?
Until the tides took me one day into another view,
to where trees stood happy once like me,
where people brought back old memories anew;
but I am now but a waste of the sea.
Until a curious lass took me for something new,
something for the arts, not for money;
but some kind of beauty in my ugliness to show
Nature's hidden artistic quality. ~
Main face of the driftwood vase
Views of the driftwood vase in perspective variations. ~
“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright
Part 11 - Kapre - Monster or Nature Spirit?
Dr Abe V Rotor
The kapre is perhaps the most popular Philippine mythological character. Grownups and children regard the kapre either as monster or spirit. As monster it is bad and feared; as spirit it is kind and respected.
They occupy a respectable place in Philippine literature, but versions in comics, movies and animations are creating different images of this mythological huge, black and hairy, creature.
“Did you hear that?” I was startled by a mysterious moaning in the dark. I switched on the headlight.
“What is it?” Cecille sleepily responded.
“It’s a strange sound, like someone agonizing.” I said while straining my eyes on the sugarcane fields on both sides of the road.
We had just parked along a newly opened road of the North Diversion somewhere in Tarlac that night. My wife and I were driving to Manila after a vacation in our hometown in Ilocos. I was so tired driving; I pulled our Ford Escort to the grass lane for a brief rest, and switched off the engine.
Then. “Did you hear that?” Cecille shook me. It was the same agonizing sound I heard earlier, and it was getting louder!
I switched on the headlight, and there stood at the opposite side of the road a tall figure the outline of the Colossus of Rhodes – black and hairy, so huge I could barely see his torso.
Instinctively I started the engine and stepped on the gas. Cecille moved close to me as the monster took another step toward us. We escaped in the nick of time.
Since then I became popular with children. “Tell us about the kapre!” And they would gather around clinging to one another. It reminded me of Lola Basiang, the story teller of folklores and legends.
My story became known to my friends and officemates. It was the cause of a meeting suddenly losing its agenda to the kapre. Everyone had something to say about the mythical monster. They talked about kapre living atop big old trees, along rivers and lakes. One related his experience while clearing the vines clinging around a large tree when suddenly he noticed blood dripping from above.
He looked up. Kapre!
Old folks say there are different kinds of kapre. There is even one taking over abandoned houses and empty buildings. There is kapre on empty playgrounds, farms and pastures. Kapre in gambling places, like the cockpit, kapre appearing suddenly in a group picture.
Since then we didn’t have to stay in office late. We had to finish our work early so we would not be taking the stairway that is seldom used, or hear typewriters clicking when everyone had already left. We won’t be passing dark alleys on our way home.
Children who heard the story of the kapre would stop playing at dusk. The farmer looks at the leaves of acacia, and when they start drooping, starts walking for home. Everyone in the family must be home for supper.
Because of the kapre, trees are spared of the ruthless chain saw. People passing through thickets politely whisper, “tabi tabi, po.” Fishermen catch just enough fish for their family’s need. Harvest festivals are observed even if harvest is not good.
Indeed there are different kinds of kapre. And they abound everywhere.
When I was buying a new battery for my car and told the salesman how I encountered a kapre one dark night, he handed me a new brand of battery.
“Sir, makakasiguro kayo dito.” (Sir, you are very safe with this battery.) ~
Playing with the Kapre
He is a friend, he is an enemy;
the world is divided in two;
but who is friend, who is enemy,
when you talk about kapre?
He can be seen, to others unseen,
appears to one, not to another;
at daytime or in the evening;
it's his choice. Oh, brother!
He is kind, although scary;
seldom loved and feared by most,
lonely and misunderstood;
unlike any other ghost;
He watches children passing by
prods them home before dark;
warns them not to tarry where
danger lurks, where dogs bark.
He watches fruits until they're ripe
and shoos away trespassers,
makes loggers sick from guilt,
keeps the menagerie from hunters
He sways in the trees and comes down
awhile to the young in company;
teaching them in discreet allegory
a unique children's story.
Can you describe the kapre, his looks, habits and places he frequents? What is the counterpart of the kapre in other countries? Where does he live? Is he diurnal or nocturnal? Or crepuscular (active during dusk)? Is there reason for the kapre to exist? In the first place, does he (It is believed to be male) really exist? What is his mission, if any?
Part 12
Giants - Real and Imaginary - Mingle with Us
"Children who believed in giants made good in life,
better than those who did not. " - avr
Dr Abe V Rotor
Giants fascinate children most, and mothers do not run out of stories about the kapre or Jack and the Beanstalk or the giant squid that attacked Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea to keep them at home or eat their vegetables.
Giants to the young mind are living creatures bigger than life, and they possess supernatural powers that they unleash either for good or evil.
-------------------------
There are friendly giants, ugly giants, sleeping giants, giants of the deep, the forests and fields, and almost everywhere.
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They are either aggressive or passive, visible or hidden, loved and hated. It is the enigma about them that heightens their stories, and in fact the stories themselves make them real giants.
• Bigfoot is believed to be a huge hairy creature roaming the forests of North America. It is projected as a prehistoric man with beast like characteristics.
• Kapre is the Filipino version of a supernatural being, more of a beast than human, that lives in trees and abandoned places.
• Nessie in Loch Ness (Scotland) is believed to be a prehistoric reptile. It continues to attract tourists, even after a century after someone took a photo of the monsters on the murky water.
• Abominable Snowman or Yeti (PHOTO) has been sighted on a number of occasions by residents on the snowy slopes of the Himalayas.Giants in fiction stories and novels are virtually endless.
- Take the case of Gulliver of Lilliput by Jonathan Swift. King Kong the ape monster that crushed cares and leveled buildings.
- Greek mythology would not be as exciting if there were no giants. Giants made Hercules a legendary hero. Imagine the giants he fought - the cyclops, the hydra, among others, during his ten years of wandering. Remember the Minotaur - half man, half bull - whom Theseus killed in order to liberate the monster's hostages?
- How big was Goliath in the bible whom the boy hero, David slew?
- Then we have our own Bernardo Carpio, and Angalo (PHOTO), most popular Philippine epics.
- A favorite bedtime story is Jake and Beanstalk. I wonder how the story can lull children to sleep - specially when the giant comes crushing down to earth!
- Recently Honey I Shrunk the Kids and its opposite - Honey I Blew Up the Baby became cinema's box office attractions.
Pinsal Fall in Sta. Maria Ilocos Sur is believed to be a footprint of the giant Angalo, a popular myth of the Ilocanos. Left, Pinsal Fall in the rainy season painting by the author; Pinsal Fall in summer showing its basin which appears like a huge footprint.
TRIVIA: What is the biggest living creature that ever lived on earth? Is this creature still alive?
* Original title: Giants mingle with the spirits, too, on Halloween
Reference: The Living with Nature book series by AVRotor ~
Part 13
Nature's Deathbed
Dirge of a Dying Creek
"I am dying, dear mother, I long for you and my kin;
I choke with debris, laden with waste matter,
my banks are no more, concrete walls have taken over,
I am dying mother ..."
Dr Abe V Rotor
The afternoon sun casts an aura of the creek's once beautiful state with trees and shrubs lining its banks. Now the creek is virtually dead - biologically. Note highly polluted water and dumped quarry materials blocking the natural waterway. (Parallel Aurora Blvd, QC)
Balete or Strangler's Fig clings on an adobe rock cliff.
Views of middle stream, and upper stream to the east. The creek is now an open sewer, ugly, obnoxious
Outgrowth extends over the creek as if to hide its pathetic condition and man's indifference from public view,
Just across the creek to the north lies a man-made pond of the Oasis - serene and aesthetic, except the foul air of Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, methane, ammonia and other gases, being emitted by the nearby creek
.
Dirge of a Dying Creek
Once upon a time, so the story goes, clouds gather
from the sea and land, cumulus to nimbus,
falling as rain, drenching the trees and grass and all,
and down the lake and river and field it goes.
I was born this way, like my kin, many miles away,
children of Pasig River, seat of a civilization,
the artery of vast Laguna Lake and historic Manila Bay,
and I, a tributary of this magnificent creation.
I lived in the stories of Balagtas the poet laureate,
in Rizal's novels, Abelardo's Kundiman song,
I throbbed with the happy heart of a living system,
like the Rhine, Danube, Nile and Mekong.
I am part of history, obedient to man and nature's will,
I gave him clean water and fish, I sang lullaby;
laughed with the children at play under my care,
through generations and time sweetly went by.
Seasons come and go, the story goes on - ad infinitum -
but where are the birds that herald habagat?
where have all the children gone after class, in summer?
reflection on my water, green carpet on my rock?
I am dying, dear mother, I long for you and my kin,
I choke with debris, laden with waste matter,
my banks are no more, concrete walls have taken over,
I am dying mother - but my mother doesn't answer;
my mother doesn't answer.~
Part 14
Farewell to Old Sentinel Trees
"Goodbye to these old sentinels as they are known,
dying gradually season after season,
Dying with Mother Earth in waste and greedy boon,
prelude to man's following soon." - avr
prelude to man's following soon." - avr
Dr Abe V Rotor
avrotor.blogspot.com
avrotor.blogspot.com
Century plus mango trees, San Luis, Batangas, 1985
Twice the lifetime of man, three generations span,these pioneer trees grew sans plan,but providence - until the emergence of modern man,cleared forests to farmland to urban.And soon their genes decline, and they'll be gone,and new varieties are up to come:dwarf and tame, their fruits in golden, red to tan,engineered by the genius of man.Nature needs no genius, as long as there's the sun,the elements, not even a Green Thumb;for millions and millions of years in that great spanshe has managed well without man.Goodbye to these old sentinels as they are known,dying gradually season after season,dying with Mother Earth in waste and greedy boon,prelude to man's following soon. ~
Part 15
Paradise Lost the Second Time Around
Dead Tree Standing, Mt Pulag, Benguet
“As politics starts with good citizens, so ecology starts with us who in
mind and spirit respond to the call of unity and harmony with nature.” - AV Rotor
Recently I was a speaker on ecology before students at St. Paul College QC. It was in observance to Guidance Week with emphasis to values education. It was also a demonstration of integrating art in science teaching, an alternative methodology that makes a subject not only better understood but experienced. Hence it is also called experiential learning.
When I received the invitation, I said why can't I try the approach I used at St. Paul? Prof. Arlene and I had a lengthy talk regarding the outline of my discussion which I am going to present - and if you would allow me – I will use it in conducting a similar exercise with you which would take some ten minutes.
First, “governance in the hands of the few,” means autocratic and monopolistic rule, which has led to abuses of power in manipulating the affairs of the state.
v Throughout history such abuses have been committed not only in closed societies, but in open societies as well.
v Dictatorship – call it benevolent dictatorship which was claimed as the trademark of Lee Kwan Yu, Park Chung He, Chang Kai Sek, et al *– is without the shade of radical dictators like Pol Pot and Stalin.
v We often hear people asking, “What about World Bank and IMF, GATT which led to World Trade Organization? Do they also bear the brand of dictatorship?”
Second, there is “low priority of government on effective resource management” is true. Let us look at it this way as gleamed from Prof. Arlene’s paper.
v Environmental management today focuses on ecology and conservation. There is much debate until now whether it is better to adopt total log ban or selective logging. It is a sort of battle between fundamental and practical ecology. Remember the Alaska oil pipeline conflict?
v The thrust of environmental management in colonial times was exploitation. Our best timber was exploited during the Spanish and American colonization, and Japanese occupation. The Japanese mined Taiwan’s ancient forest. The Dutch thinned the Indonesian forest. Other colonies suffered the same.
v The strength of our economy when we were second to Japan in Asia was based on a vibrant exportation of raw materials such as lumber, copra, sugar, ores, etc.
v Cash crops economy as dollar earner bears the design of our sound economy in the past, but the player is the agri-businessman and not the small farmer.
Third, environmental degradation is a syndrome of modern society.
v It dates way back to pre-history, but the problem is exacerbated by the growth of population and affluence.
v Aborigines too, were also destructive to the environment. Slash-and-burn is the most destructive method of farming. Today Easter Island is a no man’s land. Much of Peru’s original vegetative cover started to decline with the Incas, so with the forest around Lake Teotihuacan in Mexico.
v The first recorded animal that became extinct in the hands of man is the mammoth.
Fourth, forest denudation follows the concept of the Domino theory, a kind of chain reaction. It is loss in diversity on three levels, namely
v Genetic diversity. Varieties and cultivars of plants, breeds of animals, strains of microorganisms are forever lost.
v Species diversity. The species itself can be eliminated on the surface of the earth. Examples are the saber-tooth tiger and the dodo fowl. Thousands of species all over the world are endangered as their natural populations continue to dwindle mainly because of human exploitation.
v Ecosystems diversity. The loss of natural habitat is the worst kind of environmental destruction. Deforestation will not only eliminate the resident organisms, the forest itself is lost. It will never be one again, contrary to the belief of many.
Fifth, authoritarian rule in the Philippines from 1972 to 1982 spawned politicians and cronies whose concern for the environment cloaked a distinct privilege of exploiting our natural resources.
v This opened a floodgate in post-martial era leading to drastic decline of forest resources, as shown by deforestation records.
v Forest reserve was stable for years at over 15 million hectares until 1972. It fell in 1982 by 14 percent and continued on to decline after.
v The plunge was in 1990 when our forest reserve was cut to almost half that of the end of martial law.
v By 1997, our forest reserve represents only 18 percent of our total useful land (land-use area) which is 30 million hectares. It continued to decline after.
v What is appalling is that our land area devoted to different uses (other land-use area) such as subdivisions, industrial zones, golf courses, resorts, and the like, grew to 75 percent in 1997 as compared to 12 percent only in 1960. Our farmlands today have shrunk tremendously, the main reason we resort to importation of rice and corn, fruits and vegetables, and other commodities.
v Without forest we will experience desertification. Much of Southern Cebu, Northern Luzon, the two Mindoro provinces, Eastern Samar, Masbate and other provinces have virtually lost their original forests.
Six, people’s participation in environmental conservation through community organizations and NGOs is a potent force barely tapped.
Let us consider the following:
v Growth of Civil Society. Citizens from different parts of the world regardless of affiliation, ideology, race and belief picketed the hall where the World Trade Organization was to be signed. They nearly succeeded.
v Greenpeace, a radical organization blocked the trade route of wildlife items, demanded governments and corporations to comply with environmental laws.
v Time launched the search for Heroes for the Earth. They are the likes of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), Schumacher (Small is Beautiful), Cousteau (Oceanography pioneer), Macliing (Chico River project rebel)
Seven, there are social scientists who believe that ecology struggle is part of a larger ideological struggle.
v Andre Gorz (pen name Michel Bosquet) sees ecology struggle not as an end in itself but as an essential part of the larger struggle against capitalism and technofascism. He champions a “shifting of power from government the state and political parties to the local community and the web of social relations that individuals establish amongst themselves.”
v Rudolf Bahro, a German philosopher, wrote “Historical Compromise” in which he blamed monopoly capitalism’s constant search for new profits as the major cause of the environment crisis threatening humanity.
Without being ideological however, there are pieces of thoughts we can gather in creating a world order of ecology. Let us consider this excerpt. To wit:
“The privileged today are not those can consume most but those who can escape the negative by-products of industrialization – people who can commute outside rush hours, be born or die at home, cure themselves when they are ill, breathe fresh air and build their own dwellings.” (Ivan Illich a social thinker, and author of “Vernacular Conviviality”1980.
This is related with the lessons on non-cash technology advocated by the Asian-Pacific Food and Fertilizer Technology Center in Taipei. I had the privilege to study in the center under Dr. H.T. Chang, the proponent of this concept which is in line with those of Ernest Schumacher who wrote a book, “Small is Beautiful” which offers a people-based beyond the corporate formula of development, and Dr. James Yen, adviser to PRRM (Philippine Rural Reform Movement), the precursor of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) which was headed by Senator Juan Flavier, then its director general for many years before becoming Health Secretary and Senator.
“The progressive farmer is one who prepares his land more thoroughly, manages his nursery better, keeps his field more cleanly and has better water control – mainly through his effort and those of his family or community. Non-cash extends further than mere savings of direct expenses. It keeps him away from debt and compromised market deals. It means more harvest, free from residues of chemical fertilizer and spray. Ultimately non-cash technology means better home, education for his children, and a healthy environment.”
I remember the principal character of the “Mountain Man” who discovered the Redwoods of California and fought for their preservation. President Lincoln took no time in signing the declaration of the area as a national park. This same man was dying, and it was his wish to die on the mountain alone. As he waited for death he saw the living giants that he thought he was already in another world. It was a turning point in his life, a new beginning.
I am sure there are amongst us persons of his own kind. And if none can meet his measure, then we the members of the academe must create one – a thousand – from among the youth under our care.
May I invite you to reflect on this piece I wrote.
An Ecologist’s Prayer
When my days are done
let me lay down to sleep
on sweet breeze and earth
in the shade of trees
I planted in youth and old;
and if this were my last,
make, make others live
that they carry on the torch,
while my dust falls
to where new life begins -
even an atom let me be
with you dear Mother Earth.
- AV Rotor 2000
Updated 2013 ”A Reaction Paper to the Political Ecology of Deforestation. Paper presented by Prof. Arlene A. Ancheta in a Social Sciences Research Colloquium, University of Santo Tomas, Nov. 23, 2000
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Skull of whale (Museum of Natural History, UPLB Laguna; whole trunks of forest trees carried down by flood on Fuerte Beach, Vigan Ilocos Sur
Sunken pier, Puerto Sto Domingo, Ilocos Sur; Shipwreck, Tacloban, Leyte.
To some scientists the "uselessness" of technology is likened to Lamarck's theory of use and disuse, though biological in perspective. Lamarck believed that disuse would result in a character or feature becoming reduced. 
Ruin of Intramuros, Manila, left by WWII 60 years after.
Death of cities is on the rise all over the world.
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Death of cities is on the rise all over the world.
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Berlin wall falls, Germany is re-united in 1989 since end of WWII.
But more walls are built dividing cultures and politics.
But more walls are built dividing cultures and politics.
Death of trees and forests is happening all over the world.
Part 16
Nature's Message in Cryptobiology
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, Abominable Snowman, the Kapre,* and not the least, the biblical Dragon.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Trophy made of dead limb of a tree with shelf mushroom growing on it, and preserved with fixative. This natural trophy signifies nature's appeal to preserve the environment and keep it from the destructive hands of man. A collection of cryptobiology specimens on display at the the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Organisms are alike or different. It's biological and natural, but man has taken evolution into his hands, playing the role of God through science and technology, creating Dolly the Sheep, and many more Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs.
Strange creatures when we first see them, tame them the second time around, re-creating them next on film and on screen in the likes of Godzilla and King Kong, and now through robotics and make-believe versions for more entertainment and profit.
We are changing the conditions of life on earth, polluting the air, land and water, in effect modifying the way organisms live through induced mutation, forced migration, disturbing their natural interactions in the food web, worst their very existence as species.
Dimorphism in Nature
Phenomenon, not the least,
past and present,
plant or animal or protist,
same though different.
Sea Urchin Tree
Take a close look at the thorny cherry;
it's a sea urchin, part of tree,
a hybrid creature you may not agree;
a living specimen to see.
Womb of a Tree
Si Malakas at Maganda in Philippine mythology
is a popular folktale and children's story;
the tree as habitat in the realm of biology,
now twisted into false and horror movie.
Superstition is Encrypted in Cryptobiology.
Nature's Emissaries of Misfortune - and Death
Dr Abe V Rotor
1. You can actually hear death knocking in the night.
It’s like an Edgar Allan Poe’s story of death tapping on “a night dark and dreary”, but in this case it is not a raven. It is the Death-watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) that we allude to death. It is an insect with an unsavory habit all right. Its name was derived from the scary tapping sound it produces, which is frequently heard during mating period, usually in April or May.
The beetle simply jerks its body forward in rapid succession, and strikes each time with the lower front part of its head against the surface on which it happens to be standing. It gives eight taps in slightly less than a second; and almost before it stops another beetle of its kind that is within hearing distance will respond by tapping back in the same quick manner. In woodworks and furniture that have been attacked by the Death-watch Beetle, the worm holes are large and distinguished by the presence of frass and powder around the openings.
The beetles are from one-fourth to one-third of an inch in length, dark brown in color, spotted and banded irregularly with thick patches of short yellow gray hairs. Pairing takes place after the beetles have made their exit from the wood, and they die a few weeks later, the female in the meantime having laid some 70 eggs. The tapping is of the nature a sexual call, and may be repeated over and over for quite a long time. Grating sound may also be heard as the larvae gnaw on wood inside its tunnel. It takes three years to complete the insect’s life cycle. A more familiar beetle, Anobium punctatum, is called powder post or furniture beetle, named after the dust it scatters at the mouth of its tunnel on furniture.
2. The kingfisher’s throaty voice is a call of death, so the old folks say.Well, when ponds and rivers dry up because of drought, this fish eater will scour for alternative food outside its niche, poaching around farms and homes. They are the emissary of El Niño.
Common kingfisher (Alcedines sp). Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. (Wikipedia)
3. Bats swoop on unwary people at night.
Old folks warn us not to go out at dusk or at night - and never alone.
Bats, the only true flying mammals are perhaps the most misunderstood creatures because of their ugly looks and enigmatic life embellished with superstitious beliefs and associated with fiction such as the story of Dracula, a bloodthirsty count-vampire in the world of the undead. Movies, cartoons, and children’s stories have projected a bad image of bats, giving us the impression they are enemies of mankind.
Fruit bat closeup; morsels of guava from night feeding at the author's backyard in QC. Photos by the author.
4. Someone dies if the fire tree is in full bloom.
The truth is that bats are harmless, except for three known species called vampire bats that feed on the blood of animals. Seventy percent of the one thousand species of bats live on insects as their daily diet. One bat can devour 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. The bigger species eat on fruits (fruit bats). Insectivorous bats swoop down on flying insects in the dark which they detect by means of echolocation (natural radar) making it appear that they are attacking people when they get too close to them.
Bats are nature’s biological agents in controlling destructive insects. They pollinate plants that bloom only in the night, and they are very efficient in disseminating seeds of many plants. By carrying out these functions bats are crucial in maintaining the ecological balance of fragile ecosystems like the desert and chaparral. Their droppings accumulated for years in their cave dwellings make the best and safest organic fertilizer (guano). Let us protect the bats instead; they are indeed man’s valuable friends.
It sounds more of a premeditated action rather than prediction. In olden days there were tribes that go headhunting when the fire tree (Delonix regia) was in full bloom. In the Philippines the early Ilongots of the Cordillera Mountain used to descend to claim their victims from among the lowlanders. The sacrifice was part of a ritual to win a woman’s heart. How true is the story, we do not know. But among the Aztecs and Mayans, sacrificing human beings to their gods was a common practice before they were converted into Christianity.
One explanation of this belief is that the fire tree blooms to its fullest in the face of extreme drought, most likely due to El Niño, a condition that causes untold death and misery. It is the upland dwellers that are worse affected, forcing them to go to the lowlands in search for food or seek refuge, inevitably causing trouble.
5. Black butterfly that enters the house tells that a close relative is going to die.
There is no scientific explanation to this, except that butterflies are attracted by flower-like scents which perfumeries have been trying to copy. Check the brand of your perfume and call the company.
Beware though of certain perfumes, they attract bees.
6. “Flowers” on fingernails means a relative is going to die.
White maps on fingernails are a sign of malnutrition, mainly calcium. It means the skeletal system is also weak. Unless corrected, this condition may lead to poor physical condition, health problems – and death.
7. It’s lucky to find a four-leaf clover.
There are freaks in nature all around us. Some are common, others occur only in a million chances. It is the latter that people who find them feel they are favored by some kind of luck.
But we also fancy on common ones like an elephant shaped papaya fruit, twin bunches of banana, ginseng root forked like beautiful legs, squash fruit with a face, and the like. These are deviations that appear suddenly and unexpectedly. Nature after all is not perfect. It also commits errors, and these errors may occur only temporarily in the organism concerned, or it is passed on to its offspring – which is the key to speciation, a progressive deviation of traits that ultimately leads to the making of a new species.
Try your luck again if you can’t find a real clover leaf representing the logo of the Boy Scout. Steal a leaf of makahiya, one that does not droop, and your wish – any wish – will be granted.
8. When a black cat crosses your way, don't proceed. Pause for sometime to break the spell. Or go back home and postpone your trip. Is superstition a tool of cryptobiology?.
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