Philippine Eagles Facing Extinction, Deforestation Main Cause

By Henrylito D. Tacio

Davao 1 August 2009. Visitors, both foreigners and locals, who come to Davao City for the first time, are almost always attracted to the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Calinan. Some 30 kilometers northwest and about an hour’s ride from downtown Davao, the center is the transient home of the Philippine eagle. Here, a dozen male and female eagles are being induced to breed in captivity.

Pag-asa, the first tropical eagle conceived through artificial insemination, just celebrated his 17th birthday last January 15. The bird was given the name Pag-asa, which is the Tagalog word for hope. “Pag-asa connotes hope for the continued survival of the Philippine eagle, hope that if people get together for the cause of the eagle, it shall not be doomed to die,” said Dennis Salvador, the executive director of Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).

PEF manages the eagle center. A private, non-stock organization, it is dedicated to saving the endangered bird. “By using the Philippine eagle as the focal point of conservation, we are, in the process, saving wildlife and their habitat,” said Salvador.

The Philippines is among the world’s seventeen “megadiversity” countries, which together account for some 60-70 of total global biodiversity. The World Conservation Union has identified the country as one of the most endangered of the world’s biodiversity “hotspots” -- threatened areas with very high levels of biodiversity.

 

 The Philippine eagle is one of the most endangered species in the country. According to Salvador, the reason for this was due to massive deforestation. “Deforestation is terrible,” he pointed out. “The Philippine eagle has become a  critically endangered species because the loss of the forest had made it lose its natural habitat.”

Forest covered 57 percent (or 17.1 million hectares) of the total land area of the country in 1934. By 1990, this has been substantially reduced to 6.1 million hectares. Today, only about 800,000 hectares of the remaining area is classified as primary forest.

At the eagle center, visitors can see more than a dozen eagles, some of which were rescued after they were trapped or shot. PEF aims someday to release birds back into its natural habitat. “If time will come that we have enough stocks, where shall we release them” Salvador asked. “And how will the eagles sighted in the wild survive if factors which threaten their lives continue to haunt them?”

Pag-asa, the first tropical eagle conceived through artificial insemination, celebrated its 17th birthday.

 

The principal causes of deforestation in the Philippines are logging (both legal and illegal), shifting cultivation (locally known as kaingin farming), and forest fires, as well as conversion to agricultural lands and human settlements. About 20 million people currently live in upland areas, where most of the forests are located.

General Charles Lindberg, a well-known aviator, spearheaded a drive to save the bird which he described as “the world’s noblest flier” from 1969 to 1972. Within this time frame, several helpful laws were passed.

During the time of the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, he declared the bird – which is bigger than the American Bald eagle – as the national bird. This brought the bird to the top of the priority list of Philippine wildlife conservation efforts. If the national bird dies, so will all the country’s efforts at conserving its natural resources and treasures, Ramos said at that time.

Deforestration in Philippines

 The eagle center has been doing its best to educate the Filipino people as to the importance of the bird and its habitat. Its facility was actually opened to the public in 1988 to raise awareness among those who visit the center. Majority of its visitors are children on school-sponsored field trips. “Many of these children came from all over Mindanao,” Salvador said. “We use the opportunity in telling them the importance of wildlife conservation. Our mode of dissemination ranges from providing lectures, slide and film presentations, to guide tours.”

A painting of the endangered Philippine Eagle.

 Foreigners and adults also visit the center. “Knowing what they are doing and how the birds are faring is one of the highlights of my visit to Davao,” said Melvin O. Uy Matiao, an information technology specialist from Dumaguete.

The Philippine eagle was formerly known as monkey-eating eagle (its generic name, Pithecophaga, comes from the Greek words pithekos or monkey and phagein meaning eater). It was later renamed the Philippine eagle by Presidential Decree No. 1732 in 1978 after it was learned that monkeys comprise an insignificant portion of its diet, which consists mainly of flying lemurs, civet cats, bats, rodents, and snakes.

The eagle stands a meter high, weighs anything from four to seven kilograms and has a grip three times the strength of the strongest man on earth. With a wing span of nearly seven feet and a top speed at 80 kilometers per hour, it can carry unsuspecting monkey and carry it off without breaking flight.

Unlike most animals and humans, Philippine eagles are monogamous and bond for life. Once an eagle reaches sexual maturity – at around five years for females and seven years for males – it is bound for life with its mate. They can be seen soaring in pairs in the skies.

The female eagle lays once every two years. The breeding season ranges as early as July to as late as February. During the breeding season, the eagles do aerial courtship and mate in the nest or near it. Female eagle lays only one egg. Both parents alternately incubate the egg for about 60 days, although the female spends more time incubating while the male hunts.

Upon hatching, the eaglet remains in the nest for about five and half months. Once it fledges, the eagle parents will continue to look after its young for as long as 17 to 18 months teaching the young eagle how to fly, hunt, and to survive on its own. The young eagle matures in about six years.

The Philippine eagle is truly a Filipino pride. This is the reason why they have to be protected and saved from disappearance in our land. If only Philippine eagle could speak, these would be his pleading:

“I have watched forests disappear, rivers dry up, floods ravage the soil, droughts spawn uncontrolled fires, hundreds of my forest friends vanish forever and men leave the land because it was no longer productive. I am witness to the earth becoming arid. I know all life will eventually suffer and die if this onslaught continues. I am a story teller, and I want you to listen before it’s too late.”

 Please, listen!

DNA used as rewritable data storage in cells

DNA used as rewritable data storage in cells

They aren’t yet competition for Intel, but bioengineers have created a one-bit “memory” made of DNA that can record, erase and rewrite data within living cells.

One day, doctors might be able to insert such devices into a cancer patient to tally how many times a cell divides and flag when to shut the cancer down. Or researchers might track exactly what happens inside cells as they age.

The work is a step forward in synthetic biology, a new field in which scientists create tools to control life’s basics from the cell on up.

“We can write and erase DNA in a living cell,” says Jerome Bonnet, a bioengineer at Stanford University. “Now we can bring logic and computation inside a cell itself.”

Bonnet and his colleagues, led by Stanford’s Drew Endy, describe the feat in a paper published online May 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists have long dreamed of putting tiny computers inside the body to monitor and perhaps even control what’s going on. But nobody has yet made a silicon-based computer chip small enough to embark on a fantastic computing voyage inside a cell.

So researchers are turning instead to biological tools, such as enzymes and DNA. Some biologists have devised DNA switches that can be turned on and off within a cell. And in 2009, bioengineers reported making a genetic “counter” that could tally the number of times a particular event, like a cell dividing,

But these previous efforts made systems that could write a piece of information only once. Truly useful digital data storage allows the information to be erased and rewritten over and over again, like burning new information onto a CD with each pass. “What we didn’t have is some kind of logic that also has memory,” says Pakpoom Subsoontorn, a graduate student on the team.

The researchers chose DNA as the stuff of memory and used enzymes called recombinases as the tools to flip it on and off. Those enzymes came from bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. These viruses use one enzyme to integrate into the genome of the bacterium they’re infecting.

This colorful nudibranch is one of the more than 300 new species discovered in the Philippines

Biologist Dr. Terry Gosliner discovered this new species of nudibranch. This brightly colored mollusk has no shell but produces powerful toxins to keep potential predators at bay.

               The survey, headed by the California Academy of Sciences, documented both terrestrial and marine life forms from the tops of the highest mountains to the depths of the sea.

Over the course of the expedition, scientists discovered more than 300 species that are likely new to science, including dozens of new insects and spiders, deep-sea armored corals, ornate sea pens, bizarre new sea urchins and sea stars, a shrimp-eating swell shark, and more than 50 colorful new sea slugs. These discoveries will be confirmed and described over the coming months, as the scientists use both microscopes and DNA sequencing to analyze their specimens.

A Wonderful Discovery in the Philippines

Long regarded for its rich biodiversity, the archipelago that makes up the Philippines is an unsung wonder of the world. Comprised of over 7,000 islands, the Philippines sit on the notorious Pacific Ring of Fire. Being in such close proximity to one of the world’s most active seismic and volcanic regions certainly has its drawbacks, but the silver lining here is the mineral deposits from volcanic activity that result in a stunning variety of life on land and in the sea.

More than 2,400 species of fish and 500 species of coral were known to proliferate the Philippines, but a recent discovery of about 300 new species have brought a new level of excitement to the region. Among the newfound species are sea urchins, starfish, corals, nudibranchs, and sharks. One such species is a newly discovered swellshark, so named for its ability to inflate its stomach with water in order to evade predators. The tactic works best when the swellshark is wedged in a crevice; the inflation of its body makes it difficult for predators to remove it from the small space. This particular swellshark differs from its cousins in that it is a deep water creature, whereas other swellshark species are often found in shallow reef waters.

Another amazing discovery was that of a starfish that feeds exclusively on submerged driftwood, in addition to roughly 20 other new species of starfish and urchins. More than 50 new species of nudibranchs were recorded, and animals that were previously undetected due to their diminutive size were written into the history books during this 6-week study in the Philippine region.

The expedition was conducted by the California Academy of Sciences and the University of the Philippines, with assistance from the National Museum of the Philippines. Scientists from the Steinhart Aquarium, located in San Francisco, CA, collected samples and species to be brought back and added to their Philippine reef display, in order to further educate people about the special nature of the Philippines and the life that exists there. The process is meticulous, from permitting to extraction, to ensure the reef is not harmed. The Steinhart Aquarium houses the coconut octopus, which is indigenous to the Philippine region, and is the only place in the US to have one. The Academy is one of the few institutions that is allowed to extract reef species, as the area is protected by law.

Two new frog species found in Philippines

        Two new species of frog have been discovered in fast-disappearing forests in the Philippines, boosting hopes for the survival of the country's rich but threatened wildlife, scientists said Tuesday.

The new discoveries are a mottled brown frog with red eyes and a broad yellow stripe running down its back, and a yellow-green one not much bigger than a human thumb, British-based Fauna and Flora International said.

Country director Aldrin Mallari said the finds should boost conservation efforts in the Philippines, which has extremely diverse plant and animal life but where many species are threatened by extinction.

"Many (environmental) institutions and funding agencies have written off the Philippines because we only have 20 percent of our forests left," he said at a forum at the National Museum where the finds were announced to the public.

"Yet many of these species, even if they are threatened, have this resiliency."

His team discovered the frogs in Leyte island's Nacolod mountain range in November last year. Their dwindling habitat also harboured 62 other reptiles and amphibian species, 36 mammal species, 112 bird species, and 229 plant species.

"A lot of these are critically endangered because of fragmentation," Mallari said.

The Nacolod range's once-expansive forest cover is almost gone, with trees cut down for timber or burnt off to free up land for farming, he said. The remaining patches of forest are no longer visible by satellite.

The long-term survival of the diverse species will depend on the Philippines' ability to protect habitats from further exploitation, Mallari said.

The brown frog specimens measured about 43-55 millimetres (1.7-2.2 inches) while the yellow-green ones were 20-27 millimetres (0.8-1.1 inches) long. They have not yet been formally named.

US-based Conservation International lists the Philippines both as one of the 17 countries that harbour most of Earth's plant and animal life, and a "biodiversity hotspot" due to massive habitat loss.

Theresa Lim, wildlife protection chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, told the forum that despite this, apart from the frogs 36 new plant and animal species were discovered in the Philippines in the past 10 years.

"We have to do something. We don't want them to disappear immediately after they are discovered,"

Extinct dwarf mammoths identified in Crete

     (Phys.org) -- The smallest mammoth known to have ever lived has been identified by Natural History Museum scientists, and is reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B today.

   The extinct dwarf mammoth, species Mammuthus creticus, was around 1m tall, about the size of a modern baby African or Asian elephant.

It weighed about 300kg, half the weight of the previous known smallest dwarf mammoth, M. lamarmorai.

The fossils, unearthed in 1904 in Cape Malekas, Crete, have been re-examined and identified by the Museum's fossil mammal experts Dr Victoria Herridge and Dr Adrian Lister.

Mammoths are elephants, and 'elephant' is the broad term used for all elephant and mammoth species, living and extinct.

The identity settles a long-held debate about which part of the elephant family tree the Cretan dwarf belonged to.

It was thought that the Cretan dwarf was most likely a descendant of the extinct straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, because this was the ancestor of nearly all the other extinct dwarf elephants found on various Mediterranean islands including Sicily, Malta and Cyprus. But the new work showed that this was not the case.'Our work has meant that we can not only show it is a mammoth, but also demonstrate it is the smallest mammoth known to have existed,' says Herridge.

Mammoths had twisted tusks and a single-domed head. But it is an elephant's teeth that are most often preserved as fossils and these are used to tell elephant species apart. The teeth wear down during the animal's life, creating a surface with enamel 'rings'.

'The enamel rings on the Cretan tooth fossil had 3 character features that resembled mammoths, the genus Mammuthus, and, importantly, not the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon,' says Herridge.

'Once we had identified it as a mammoth, we then used tooth shape to help us work out which species of mammoth it was most like.'

They compared the Cretan specimen to species of elephant known to have lived in mainland Europe in the past, the 3 mammoth species, Mammuthus rumanus, M. meridionalis and M. trogontherii, as well as P. antiquus. They also discovered new fossils of the Cretan dwarf mammoth from the original Cape Malekas site, located using the notes and diaries of pioneering fossil hunter Dorothea Bate who collected the original Cretan specimens in 1904.A fragment of the humerus (upper arm bone) allowed the team to take a measurement of the total bone length so they could reconstruct the size of the adult mammoth as approximately 1.1m tall.

The results showed the Cretan specimen was most similar to the species M. meridionalis that lived in Europe 2.5 million to 800,000 years ago.

'But we couldn't rule out another species M. rumanus,' explains Herridge. 'M. rumanus is the earliest species of mammoth found in Europe (as long ago as 3.5 million years). This means the ancestor of M. creticus could have reached Crete as long ago as 3.5 million years.'

Dwarfism is a well-known evolutionary response of large mammals living on islands, known as the Island Rule (which conversely includes small mammals becoming larger).

However, the Cretan animal was not only a dwarf, it was an extreme dwarf. Herridge adds, 'This is the first time that extreme island dwarfism has been shown to have occurred in mammoths'.

The new research shows that such extreme island dwarfism has evolved in 2 lineages of European elephant independently (the other being the straight-tusked elephants).

The 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition: Unraveling the Philippines’s natural wonders

            THOUGH a lot of species have already been discovered through scientific explorations and studies, it is believed that 90 percent of life on the planet is yet to be known.

            Though the Earth is just a pinprick of a planet in the universe, it is the only known planet that supports life. Humans, the most intelligent form of life, have been struggling to identify other life forms through scientific explorations. And the Philippines, being considered as one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, has been a treasure trove of new species discoveries.

      

The 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition

            AIMING to conduct the first “comprehensive survey of both terrestrial and marine diversity” in the Philippines, scientists, biologists, taxonomists, science educators and students from the University of the Philippines (UP) and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) conducted the “2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition” which explored the forests of Mount Makiling, Mount Banahaw, Mount Isarog, the freshwater of Taal Lake, the shallow waters of marine ecosystems of the Verde Island Passage in Mabini and Anilao, Batangas, and the deep sea around Lubang Island, Mindoro.

            The expedition was funded by a generous $500,000 gift from Margaret and Will Hearst III of the US as well as resources from the University of the Philippines.

            From April 26 to June 8, 2011, the 94-member expedition team, including a group of American and Filipino journalists, documented the sites’ biodiversity and discovered new species. Dr. Terrence Gosliner, dean of the CAS, led the American team while Dr. Perry Ong, director of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology and Dr. Edwino Fernando of the UP Los Baños College of Forestry and Natural Resources, led the Filipino contingent.

            The expedition was a baptism of fire for the then-newly installed administration of UP President Alfredo Pascual, who was able to mobilize the university’s resources to be actively involved in undertaking this international research collaboration on an extremely urgent environmental issue, that of biodiversity conservation. The 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition is a reflection of the priorities of what the university intends to pursue in the coming years.

            On February 9, 2012, Dr. Gosliner presented a follow up report on the results of the expedition at a forum held in UP Diliman.

            “We were inspired to conduct the study here in the Philippines not just because of its biological richness but also because of the enthusiasm and receptivity to conservation recommendations expressed by our Filipino partners,” said Dr. Gosliner.

            

Discoveries

           COMPRISED of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines is home to a wide variety of species. This was reaffirmed by the expedition with the discovery of approximately 500 new species found in rainforests, coral reefs and the ocean floor.

          According to Dr. Gosliner, among the interesting species discovered include a deep-sea, shrimp-eating shark that inflates its stomach with water to bulk up and scare off other predators; a cicada that makes a “laughing” call; three new lobster relatives that squeeze into crevices instead of carrying shells on their backs; a worm-like pipefish that hides among colonies of soft coral; a starfish that only eats sunken driftwood; and a crab with needle-like teeth on its pincers.

To confirm that these species are indeed new to science, scientists will now proceed to the next stage of exploration, using microscopes and DNA sequencing to complete the species’ identification and ultimately to publish these results.

             The marine research team of the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity expedition did not just find new species of octocorals, barnacles, annelids and other marine life forms, but also a lot of waste polluting bodies of water and the terrestrial research team of the Philippine Biodiversity Expedition identifies and documents samples of flora and fauna found during the expedition. The team explored the peaks of Mount Makiling, Mount Isarog and Mount Banahaw.