Cryptobiology in 20 parts: The Study of Nature Spirits

                          Cryptobiology in 20 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. 

Local beauty model Angie Tobias poses before a driftwood  in the like of a mythical winged dragon at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

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.
Part 18 - Some Art Masterpieces of Nature
Part 19 - Harmony of Human and Nature art
Part 20 - Twelve Oddities in Nature. Can you identify them?"

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 headless

human figure, España, Manila 2007

I am the ghost that walks

    from a forest before;

I am the conscience of man

    sleeping in its core.

I am the memory

    from 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 me

    can'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 walk

to tell the world the story

    of 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

Howling Puppy from a dead stump of talisay (Terminalia catappa), made into a piece of art  as seen against a wall mural of nature, both made by the author.  On display at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Botanical Garden, San Vicente Ilocos Sur 2020

Front view of  the icon shows stubs of appendages; back view reveals hollowed body, a good resonator for a speaker.

*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 legendary dragon. Cryptid plants (cryptobotany) include man-eating plants, exaggerated versions of real specimens like the pitcher plant (Sarracenia) and sundew (Drosera). Cryptids are unsubstantiated images, products of the imagination, such as this howling puppy, which brings joy and sweet memories instead of fear and anxiety. ~

 

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, all

mixed up in archives and social media

     where 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...  - MacRusgail

Dr 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: Review of Literature
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 kapre

     in 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 unending

greed 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

* 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: an animal is mobile and will not remain in the same spot for long, whilst a plant is immobile, and therefore likely to be formally documented and described after only a single encounter. (Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology, Internet)

** 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. ~

-------------

Part 9 - BALETE - The Monster Tree

"The balete is abode of bad spirits.

Those who go near the tree become sick."

 - A Superstitious Belief 

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.

 But old folks tell us the kapre assumes a dual role, and therefore, lives in parallel worlds, like us. And when their worlds meet with ours, different scenarios capture our senses and imagination.  

 Scenarios of such encounters have been passed on through generations and many survive to this day.

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.

 Here is a personal encounter with the kapre.

 “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.

 

Forests are generally associated with the belief that nature spirit resides and therefore, protects the ecosystem from the destructive hands of man. (Acrylic painting by AV Rotor

 

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

 

Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is an ape-like creature that is purported to inhabit the forests of North America. 

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.

---------------------------

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.   

Here are popular giants from books and stories, which are often featured in comics and cartoons:

• 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

Dr Abe V Rotor
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 span

    she 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

 The endangered Philippine deer enshrined in a fountain at UST, Manila 

 

Skull of whale (Museum of Natural History, UPLB Laguna; whole trunks of forest trees carried down by flood on Fuerte Beach, Vigan Ilocos Sur 

 Cattle ranch on a steep slope ripped off the skin of the mountain in Santa, Ilocos Sur - an example of the irreversible ill consequences of "Tragedy of the Commons." *

  Sunken town of Pantabangan Nueva Ecija resurfaces during a extreme drought. Nature is sacrificed to human needs, more so to human wants in pursuit of affluence.  

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.

 Berlin wall falls, Germany is re-united in 1989 since end of WWII.
But more walls are built dividing cultures and politics.

 Death of trees and forests is happening all over the world.

*The tragedy of the commons is a term used in social science to describe a situation in a shared-resource system where individual users acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling that resource through their collective action. Proposed by Garrett James Hardin an American ecologist and philosopher who warned of the dangers of overpopulation.

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.   

*Kapres are said to dwell in big trees like acacia, bamboo, and the balete. Some say they are the spirits of trees, protecting them in effect.

Part 17
 Superstition is Encrypted in Cryptobiology.

Nature's Emissaries of Misfortune - and Death

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Death-watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) enlarged; tunnels showing powder and frass (excrement) around their openings. (Acknowledgement: Photos from Internet).

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.

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.

4. Someone dies if the fire tree is in full bloom.

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? ~ 

Part 18 - Some Art Masterpieces of Nature 

   "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."  - Albert Einstein

                 

Termite Nest

Lignin in wood to soluble cellulose,

back into soil cum nutrients;

plants grow upon and become trees

again in the next generation -

nature's art, cycle, and evolution. 

Juvenile Brain Coral

Convoluted and shaped like brain,

 hard as rock and keeps on growing, 

host and abode of sea creatures,

ripraps the islands from sinking.  

Paper Wasp (Putakti) Hive

Perfect and uniform octagonal chambers,

work of the Hymenopteran,

where bees and wasps rear their young,

imitated short by human.

Nest of Mud Dauber Wasp 

Wonder a wasp making an igloo of mud,

in a corner or on the wall,

keeps caterpillars inside for her young

to devour like a ghoul. ~

Mycelial impression on a wall mural on nature painted by the author.

San Vicente Botanical Garden

Old painting on the wall exposed to sun and rain, 

 fungi underneath surreptitiously working 

'til it peeled off.  And lo! a magnificent art design.

 Eureka! I found a school of art emerging. ~  

Forest Ruins 

Aftermath of a bushfire,

wakes us up in ire;

Eden lost for a second time,

in our own prime. 

Part 19 - Harmony of Human and Nature art 

A cyclops moth found refuge on a wall mural

one evening

   

A local moth traced to the Polyphemus moth - Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer). named after 

Polyphemus, the giant cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single large, round, eye in the middle 

of his forehead (Himmelman 2002).  Wall mural painting by the author, San Vicente Botanical Garden. 

False eyes to scare enemies - Nature's gift of survival

to defenseless creatures like this Polyphemus moth,

one drizzling evening found refuge on a wall mural;

with neither fear nor aggression on the wall it brought.

Beauty and peace on a natural setting the artist thought.

Eureka! artist and moth found mutual joy they sought. ~

 

Snail etching a wall mural 

Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) scraping a wall mural in QC

In Ancient Greece there were two artists regarded to be the best painters all over Greece in its golden period. But who was the better of the two?

To resolve the issue a public contest was held.

The first painter painted fruits, so real and sweet looking that birds came and tried to pick the fruits.

The spectators exclaimed, "Who can beat a painter who can deceive the birds?"

It was the turn of the second painter. Tucked under his arm was a wrapped thing apparently, also a canvas. He stood on the stage silent for some time, until the first painter became impatient. "Why don't you show your work?" and started pulling the string to unwrap the object.

But he found out that the string is the painting itself.

The spectators exclaimed, "Who can beat a painter who can deceive another painter?

When I saw a mural being scraped by a snail, I said, "Who can beat a painter whose work invites a snail to work jointly with his art?"

Indeed I found the wall mural more beautiful and natural. It links man's art with that of nature into a universal harmony.~

Part 20 - Twelve Oddities in Nature. Can you identify them?"

The things that stand out are often the oddities." Pierre Salinger- Standing Out

Photos by the author and Marlo Rotor  

1. Porcupine, real specimen or hand crafted?

2. Fruits are produced not from flowers, but directly from
special buds. What tree is this? Does its seed germinate
and grow into a tree?

3. This is highly prized as food to Asians.

4. Snails are hermaphroditic, but why do they still mate?

5. On whose lap does this cat find comfort and quiet?

6. Name the plants growing on this dead log.

7. What will the doomed caterpillar become?

8. It's tough, grows radially, and clings on dead trunk like shelf.

9. It's all skin, its owner makes the loudest and longest love
song among trees.

10.  It has two pairs of legs per somite or segment. It feigns dead curling into a wheel with its soft belly inside and the thick plates serving as armor.  

11. It looks like a green grasshopper, master of mimicry, you might miss it among the leaves and stems of its host tree.

12. You find it in museums, fossilized primitive giant mollusk, which gave the concept of a prototype submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. 

Answers:

1. It's real. The porcupine is indigenous to the Palawan. It is now in the list of highly endangered species. St Paul University Museum QC.

2. Siniguelas ( sarguelas Ilk) - Spondias purpurea. This is exemption to the rule that fruits and seeds are products of pollination and fertilization. Siniguelas can't be propagated by seed, it is by cuttings. Just cut a good branch, the girth of a man's arm, a meter or two in length and plant it on well drained loam soil. Plant along fences and field borders.

3. Edible sea urchin (maritangtang Ilk), an aphrodisiac.

4. An hermaphrodite has both gametes - sperm and egg. Seldom does fertilization and zygote formation take place in the individual. Copulation is necessary to prevent inbreeding. Exchange of genes is necessary. During mating, the first to penetrate is the male. At another time, it plays the role of female.

5. Icon of a Paulinian sister, St Paul University Museum QC, reading the Holy Book. PHOTO

6. Growths are not of plants but saprophytes (tainga ng daga or Auricularia) and lichens (association of algae and fungi).

7. It will become fossilized. If embedded in resin, the fossil will be visible through the clear amber.

8. Shelf mushroom.

9. Cicada. It's the male that sings; the female is mute.

10. Millipede, Class Diplopoda, relative of the insects and spiders, centipedes - they all belong to Phylum Arthropoda. 

11. Walking stick, originally classified under Orthoptera, the order of insects.

12. Nautillus.  The fictional submarine in the novel is named after this livbing marine fossil.  The captain in Nautillus is Captain Nemo. ~