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Planting fruit trees along the streams to create varieties of life for the wildlife

*** g 11/09 pp. 16-17 Bolivia’s “Lost World” ***

Teeming With Life

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park boasts over 600 species of birds, 139 different mammals (more than in all of North America), 74 varieties of reptiles, and perhaps some 3,000 kinds of butterflies—not to mention countless other insects. The birds include more than 20 varieties of parrots, as well as the harpy eagle, the hoatzin, and the helmeted manakin. Nick Acheson, a local bird guide and conservationist, told us that “rare species like the rufous-sided pygmy-tyrant and the black-and-tawny seedeater draw bird-watchers from all over the world.”

Among the many mammals are giant anteaters, maned wolves, jaguars, peccaries, tapirs, and pampas deer. The numerous rivers that surround and drain the park are also filled with life, including 62 kinds of amphibians and 254 species of fish, as well as caimans, giant river otters, capybaras, and beautiful pink dolphins. The park truly is a nature lover’s paradise!

Because of the big cats in Amazonia, many visitors have concerns about safety—and so did we. The administrator of Los Fierros camp told us about his first night in the park. “I awoke at midnight with the strange feeling that I was being watched,” he related. “I looked out the window of my cabin to see a jaguar staring at me, a mere insect screen separating us! Terrified, I locked myself in the bathroom until dawn.” That was not what we wanted to hear!

But then the administrator continued: “I soon learned that this curious feline often visits at night and is not considered dangerous. In fact, on hot days jaguars often enter the camp and lie on the cool, tiled patios of the cabins. As you might imagine, that can be an unnerving sight to newcomers! In the past, we always carried a rifle, especially when guiding night tours, but now we never take one. The animals haven’t changed; our attitude toward them has.” Nevertheless, he cautioned us to treat all wild animals with respect.

The Jungle Walk to El Encanto Falls

The park’s many waterfalls are a big attraction. We started out early on our walk with Guido, our guide, to El Encanto Falls, which spill down 262 feet [80 m] from the Huanchaca Plateau. As we walked the 3.5 miles [6 km] through the rain forest, spider monkeys and howler monkeys greeted us from the branches above. Both species are appropriately named—spider monkeys because they are all arms and legs and howler monkeys because they make a loud crying sound that can be heard up to two miles [3 km] away! Up ahead, a red-throated piping-guan, a turkeylike bird, dashed across our path in search of breakfast. Guido drew our attention to tracks along the banks of the nearby stream. His trained eye identified the footprints of two different kinds of deer, as well as a tapir, a jaguar, and a cougar. We sensed that eyes of all kinds were observing us from numerous hiding places and that day and night this place throbs with life.

The watchful creatures have abundant foliage to hide behind, for the various landscapes and habitats in the park support a profusion of plants of every kind. In fact, an estimated 4,000 species thrive in the area, including over 100 varieties of orchids, as well as a wide range of trees, ferns, bromeliads, and vines. Our eyes feasted on the colors and our noses captured the fragrances as we savored the delicious fruits growing near the path. The latter included mangaba fruit, which grows on a tree, and passion fruit, which grows on a vine.

*** g 6/08 pp. 22-24 Trees That Live in Water ***

Trees That Live in Water

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN AUSTRALIA

They provide refuge for many endangered species of mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also preserve the environment by filtering pollutants from the water. In south Florida, U.S.A., some 75 percent of game fish and 90 percent of fish caught for commercial purposes depend on them. And they create a barrier that protects coastal areas from storms and tides. What are they? Mangroves!

FOUND along more than half the world’s tropical seashores, mangroves are a type of tree, or shrub, that includes members of several families. They generally grow in the intertidal area between land and sea where the water is a mixture of seawater and freshwater. Although the water there is much saltier than most plants can stand, mangroves handle the conditions with ease. How? By using several fascinating methods—sometimes in combination.

Surrounded by Salt

Some mangroves, known as salt-excluders, have filters that prevent the entry of salt through the root surface. They are so effective at excluding salt that a thirsty traveler can obtain freshwater by breaking open the root of such a mangrove. In other species, the mangrove lets the salt into its system and accumulates it, depositing the salt in old leaves or other parts of the plant, which then drop away.

Still others are salt-secreters, letting the salt into the plant but then quickly secreting it, usually through special salt glands on the leaves. If you were to lick the leaf of such a mangrove, it would taste very salty. But be careful which mangrove you choose! The latex from the leaves of the blind-your-eye mangrove can cause temporary blindness if it gets into your eye. However, the latex has medicinal properties and has been used to treat sores and stings.

How They Survive

In order to survive and thrive, most plants need well-aerated soil. Yet, the soil where mangroves live is generally waterlogged. The secret to their survival is their aerial roots, which develop above the ground and are thus able to take in air directly from the atmosphere. These roots come in a variety of shapes. Some, called knee roots, grow out of and then back into the soil, forming knobbly humps that look a little like bent knees.

Snorkel, peg, or pencil roots protrude vertically out of the soil. Prop roots, which later become stilt roots, branch off the mangrove’s lower trunk. Plank, or ribbon, roots radiate from the base of the tree in curving upright ridges, with the top portion above the soil. These different root systems not only allow the plants to breathe but also provide stability in the soft soil.

How They Reproduce

The cannonball mangrove has a large round fruit packed with irregularly shaped seeds. On ripening, the fruit explodes, dispersing its seeds into the water. Some float away with the tides, eventually finding an area in which to germinate.

Seeds of other mangroves germinate while still attached to the parent tree. This is something extremely unusual in the plant world. These mangroves bear seedlings that drop from the tree into the water and may then drift for several months or even up to a year in search of a home.

The way the seedling floats maximizes its chances of settling in a brackish spot, which is its ideal environment. It floats horizontally in the more buoyant salty water, but when it enters brackish water, it floats vertically and is thus more likely to lodge in the mud.

A World Within a World

Mangroves form the basis of a complex food web. Leaf litter and disintegrating vegetation from the mangroves are a source of food for microorganisms, which, in turn, serve as food for other animals in the food chain. Many living things make the mangrove forest their home, their feeding ground, their breeding habitat, or their nursery.

For example, hundreds of species of birds use the mangrove habitat as nesting or feeding sites and as resting spots during migration. The country of Belize alone hosts more than 500 different bird species in its mangroves. Many fish either commence life in the mangroves or depend upon the mangrove ecosystem for food. Over 120 species of fish have been caught in the Sundarbans mangrove forest, between India and Bangladesh.

Plant life also thrives in the mangrove community. On the east coast of Australia, 105 different lichen species have been found growing on mangrove trees. Many ferns, orchids, mistletoes, and other plants also prosper in the habitat. Indeed, the mangroves of the world provide an indispensable service for flora and fauna—from lichens to tigers—and also for humans.

A Myriad of Benefits to Man

Apart from helping to preserve the environment, mangroves are a direct or indirect source of many products, including firewood, charcoal, tannin, fodder, and medicine. The habitat also provides food delicacies, such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and honey. Some sailors, in fact, once thought that oysters grew on trees because they could be gathered from the mangroves easily when the roots were exposed at low tide.

Mangroves also provide products for such industries as paper, textile, leather, and construction. Other industries that benefit from them include fishing and tourism.

Though there is growing appreciation for their importance, mangrove forests are diminishing at an estimated rate of 400 square miles [100,000 ha] a year. Often they are destroyed to make way for seemingly more profitable projects, such as agricultural and housing developments. Many people view a mangrove swamp simply as a muddy, malodorous, and mosquito-ridden place that is better avoided.

The truth is, however, that mangroves serve valuable, even lifesaving, purposes. Their special adaptive aerial roots and salt-filtering tap roots have established rich and complex ecosystems. They are vital to inshore fisheries, wood-products industries, and wildlife. And they protect areas of coastline from erosion by absorbing the force of powerful hurricanes that might otherwise kill thousands of people. Surely we should be grateful for mangroves!

[Box/Picture on page 24]

Hunting for Wild Honey in the Mangroves

  The largest of the world’s mangrove forests is in the Sundarbans, part of the vast Ganges Delta, which straddles India and Bangladesh. Among the people living there are the Mowalis, who depend upon mangroves for their livelihood. Theirs is one of the highest-risk professions in the country.

  Mowalis are honey hunters. In April and May each year, they venture into the shifting landscape of the mangroves to search for the honeycombs of the giant honeybee. The bees are large, growing to about an inch and a half in length. And they are aggressive, having been known to kill elephants!

  So honey hunters carry torches made of mangrove vegetation, the smoke from which disperses the bees. Wise honey hunters leave part of the hive behind so that the bees can rebuild it, thereby sustaining the honey yield from year to year.

  The bees are not the only threat to the honey hunters. Others include crocodiles and poisonous snakes, which inhabit the mangroves. Also, thieves may wait to ambush honey hunters as they leave the forest with their honey and wax. While these are a threat, the greatest peril is the Royal Bengal tiger. Every year, these animals kill between 15 and 20 honey hunters.

[Credit Line]

Zafer Kizilkaya/Images & Stories

[Pictures on page 23]

Mangroves and their saplings thrive in an environment that would kill most other plants

[Credit Lines]

Top right: Zach Holmes Photography/Photographers Direct; lower right: Martin Spragg Photography (www.spraggshots.com)/Photographers Direct

*** g 3/08 pp. 16-17 Why It’s Called the Big Island ***

Why It’s Called the Big Island

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN HAWAII

WHEN people think of the Hawaiian Islands, what comes to their mind? Perhaps white sandy beaches, pristine waters, swaying coconut palm trees, and warm nights on lanais lit by romantic tiki torches. Throw in a Polynesian luau replete with fresh pineapple, poi, lomilomi salmon and, of course, kalua pig, and the picture is nearly complete. Who could want more?

Well, on Hawaii many enjoy more than that, much more! To begin with, the island of Hawaii is called the Big Island because you could take the other major islands of the Hawaiian Islands—Oahu, Maui, and Kauai—and easily fit them all into the Big Island! This amazing island covers over 4,028 square miles [10,432 km²] and is still growing. But more about that later.

Location and Climate

Since it is the most southerly island, the Big Island enjoys a mild climate. The average daytime temperatures in the coastal resort areas vary from the mid-80’s in the summer (May to October) to the low 70’s in the winter (November to April), and nighttime lows of between 59 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit [15-18 degrees Celsius] are the norm. Usually, the Kona district, on the leeward side of the island, is more sunny, and the Hilo area, on the windward side, is much more rainy.

The tropical climate and rich volcanic soil allow for the growth of an abundance of fruits and vegetables. Delicious mangoes, papayas, lychees, and other exotic fruits abound, along with beautiful orchids and anthuriums. Macadamia nut trees and coffee plants flourish. Kona coffee is world famous. Coffee distributors from all over flock to the annual Kona Coffee Festival to taste it and to place orders.

The Big Island has a wide variety of climatic zones, including rain forest, desert, and tundra. The rain forests are located on the eastern, rainy part of the island. Many exotic birds are found there, along with tree ferns and various species of wild orchids. Rainfall averages from about 10 inches [25 cm] annually in the Kona-Kohala district to more than 100 inches [250 cm] annually in the Hilo area.

Kilauea—An Active yet Tame Volcano

There are five distinct volcanoes on the island—Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Kilauea, Kohala, and Hualalai. The name Kilauea literally means “Much Spewing.” In 1979, Kilauea reawakened in a spectacular eruption. Since 1983 its red-hot lava flow has been almost continuous. It has devastated three coastal towns but has created hundreds of acres of new land.

When the lava reaches the ocean with a mighty roar and hiss, it creates huge plumes of steam and smoke as well as clouds and new black-sand beaches. Kilauea can usually be viewed close-up with safety, so it has sometimes been referred to as the world’s only “drive-in volcano.”

The dormant volcano Mauna Kea, at 13,796 feet [4,205 m], is the island’s tallest mountain, just topping Mauna Loa, which rises 13,679 feet [4,169 m]. However, if measured from its base on the seabed, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, rising over 30,000 feet [9,000 m] from the ocean floor. On the other hand, Mauna Loa enjoys the distinction of being the most massive mountain in the world, with a mass of some 10,000 cubic miles [40,000 km³]!

A Variety of Attractions

During winter, snow often falls on Mauna Kea, so it lives up to its nickname the White Mountain. Some residents ski there, although the rocky slopes make that activity precarious. At present, 13 of the most powerful telescopes in the world, representing some 11 different countries, are clustered at the summit in the Mauna Kea Science Reserve.

Along the coastal areas of the Big Island, recreational activities abound. Water sports can be enjoyed all year long because the air and ocean temperatures remain warm. The beaches range from the highly rated white sands of resort areas to secluded beaches, often accessible only to hikers or four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The Big Island is truly blessed in a variety of ways—size, location, climate, and geography. You will find that the people there are friendly and caring and that they delight in exhibiting warm Hawaiian hospitality.