Mangrove Loving Penguin: What's in a Name?

 

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Flowery words from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. With this question, the Bard of Avon was referring to the idea that names themselves are a convention  to distinguish things or people, but themselves do not have any worth or meaning. To quote insurance guy Walter Isler, "while we can certainly understand that ä rose by any other name would smell sweet, we do have to be careful with names and their meaning in the world of business, contracts, and construction." And so it seems in the world of blogging and nature. 

And in nature, there are certainly an abundance of amusing, interesting and thought-provoking names.  Take for example the Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) which is found in northern South America.  It is the largest spider in the world in terms of mass (175 grams) and body length (up to 5 inches) . Why was it called bird eating?  The name is derived from an 18th century copper engraving showing one eating a hummingbird. Despite the name, it rarely preys on bird. 

Goliath Birdeater

In the Pacific waters off North America lives the Sarcastic Fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi).  The name "fringehead" refers to the floppy fronds of tissue that fall over the fish's eyes while the term "sarcastic" is thought to describe the animal's sardonic closed-mouth expression. When two fringeheads have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing their distended mouths against each other, as if they were kissing. They press against each other until one was able to bite the others heads. This allows them to determine which is the larger fish, which establishes dominance.   

Sarcastic Fringehead

Closer to home is the Monkey-Eating Eagle  (Pithecophaga jefferyi). Also known as the Great Philippine Eagle, it is the largest eagle in the world in terms of length (3.35 feet). Upon its scientific discovery in 1896, it was first called the monkey-eating eagle because of reports from natives of Bonga, Samar, where the species was first discovered that it preyed exclusively on monkeys. What type of monkeys? The only  2 monkeys native to the Philippines are the Philippine long-tailed macaque and the common long-tailed macaques, both subspecies of the crab-eating macaque. In addition to monkeys, later studies revealed that the monkey-eating eagle's buffet selection included large snakes, monitor lizards, flying lemurs, and even larger birds such as owls and hornbills. The monkey-eating eagle have been reported to capture and eat domestic fowls, young pigs and small dogs.  The Great Philippine Eagle is an opportunist apex predator.

Monkey-Eating Eagle

Contrary to my earlier belief , the Monkey-Eating Eagle was first discovered in Samar, not in the Davao region. But there is another opportunist apex predator that was recently discovered in Davao City.  It is  hugging the Philippine media's attention lately.  It is the Money-Eating Eagle. It is quite a novelty and the people, particularly the taxpayers, are just beginning to pay close attention and scrutinize its features, especially its extraordinary appetite. Given its newness, it has no scientific name yet but given its provenance, a frontrunner is Pariunt avaritiae.        

Money-Eating Eagle

    The whole point of  writing about all these amusing and thought-provoking names in the Animal kingdom is to introduce the latest persona of the Bicolano Penguin (BP) which is the Mangrove-Loving Penguin (MLP). 

Truth be told the term "Money-Eating Eagle" going viral got me thinking to spawn the Mangrove-Loving Penguin series in my Bicolano Penguin blog. What is it?  What will it  be all about? 

Mangrove Loving Penguin

It will be a series of articles here in the Bicolano Penguin blog that will focus on all things about mangroves and the stimulating experience of propagating, planting and protecting these adaptable,  utilitarian and above all, lovable tropical trees. 

What is there not to love about mangroves?  

Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone. There are about 80 different species of mangrove trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove forests only grow at tropical and sub-tropical latitudes near the equator because they cannot withstand freezing temperatures. 

30 to 40 years ago,  and perhaps even now among the uneducated and short-sighted,  mangroves have long been frowned upon as dirty, mosquito-infested   tangles of roots that stand in the way of an ocean view. But with climate change rearing its ugly head globally and our beloved Philippines among the most vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change, there is now a case to be made that mangroves are the most useful ecosystem in our country, if not the whole world.   

Of the many benefits the mangrove ecosystem provides to the community and the earth, a couple are worth articulating on.  

First is the mangroves function as an effective and efficient Carbon Sink. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere that it releases.  Protecting forests can account for as much as 30 percent   of the solution to climate change thanks to their ability absorb and store carbon dioxide. Mangroves have the capacity to take far more carbon out of the atmosphere than terrestrial forests; a patch of mangroves could absorb as much as 10 times the carbon of a similarly sized patch of terrestrial forest based on a 2011 study  conducted by a team of US Forest Service and scientists from the University of Helsinki.  

Second is the mangroves'contribution to coastal protection. Many scientific studies have extolled the global protection benefits of mangroves.  In many tropical and subtropical regions mangroves reduce waves and storm surges, and serve as first line of defense against flooding and erosion.  These benefits are provided through bottom friction, the cross-shore width of forests, tree density and shape. 

Wow. Super Wow. 

Such is the BP's admiration to the mangroves that there will be a series of articles in the BP blog about mangroves, particularly the MLP's hands on experience with all things mangrove.  What more, there is now a Mangrove Loving Penguin  YouTube channel where videos of the experience are uploaded. It is hoped that the MLP blog articles and the videos will get to inspire more people to act for the benefit of the mangroves and in so doing benefit their respective communities. Check out my  my very first YouTube video

In this love for mangroves, there have been many that inspire the Penguin  including  Jurgenne Primavera , widely-known as "mother of mangroves in the Philippines" (who I have not yet met but who I hope to meet), and the members of a people's organization in Siruma in the province of Camarines Sur at the forefront of rehab efforts targeted at turning abandoned fishponds back into mangroves (who I have engaged the help of in conducting a mangrove planting activity).     

The journey begins...

In the words of  Shakespeare: "But then begins a journey in my head."

P.S.  Thank you ver much to fellow runner Benedick Bana for crafting the MLP logo.