Is this Considered As Animal Cruelty?

I came across a show called ‘Animal Superpowers’ on the National Geographic Channel the other day that starred Patrick Steward from the x-men movies. The show investigates and explains to us how animals have powers like changing colors and electrifying their prey.

The episode I was watching was about the newt’s ability to regenerate lost, broken or damaged body parts. Interesting? Yes it was, until the part where the limb of a newt was cut right off with a knife just to experiment on its abilities. I felt angry and started imagining the scientist’s limbs being cut off instead of the poor little newt.

Was it really necessary to do so? Is it really that important to learn how to regenerate our body parts just like a newt? How selfish humans are. I can feel the knife piercing through the skin of the little animal and it hurt in my heart. Not only that, they showed that all the other newts that were ready to be cut up lived in tiny containers just enough to hold them. I felt very sad and couldn’t take much more of this and eventually changed the channel.

What do you think of this? Is cutting off the limbs of a newt for an experiment okay to you? Well, it’s definitely a big NO for me. I say this is animal cruelty!

A Simple Guide on Cactus Care.

I have never been very successful with gardening, unlike my mum who just has to sow the seeds and the seeds will sprout effortlessly. I tried protecting my plants, checking on them day and night and to no avail, the plants will die in one way or another. Snails munch on them, parasite bugs sucking on their juices, or sun burn etc. The list goes on and on. I love plants and hope to have my own space so I can plant anything I want, from fruit trees to bushes to flowers and even herbs. And with my hopes down I tried my hands on the cactus.

Everyone says that the cactus is easy. Some told me not to water them. Some say it needs full sun. Some says a little shade will do wonders. I did my own research in the end because I did not want to fail again.

Well I haven’t failed since. So I thought I would share what I learnt and in hope that others like me won’t have to see another dying plant killed by our innocence. Yes, I considered myself innocent when those plants died under my hands (my eyes trying to hide the guilt).

Anyway, when you buy a cactus, try to do a little research on it before you run to the shop and buy a few. Not all cactuses come from the desert (I thought that they were all from the desert before my research because cartoons always showed them in deserts, yes, let us all blame it on the cartoons). Some of the species are actually from the jungle (such as the species that bears the dragon fruit). So their way of living is different. If you can’t find any information on the species, it’s best to ask the shopkeeper for some information. They usually have lots of info from their experiences; some even teach you how to make certain species flower.

After you get your cactus and bring it home, you will need to decide where it will live. For most cactuses, the best spot is a place that provides the morning sun and shade from the afternoon sun. Do not place them immediately under full sun, if your cactus came from the indoors, giving them full sun might burn them. So you might want to help them get use to the idea by giving them full sun little by little gradually every day for at least two weeks before they go out for a longer sun tan. Also make sure that the place will not be wet because of the rain. In Malaysia, it rains often, so I do not recommend planting them straight on the ground.

Once you find the perfect spot, you might need to consider repotting it. Most cactuses that are sold at shops had outgrown its pot. So think about giving them some more space. Some say that cactus grows best in individual pots that are not too big, that way it limits the maximum size that it will grow into. I plant mine in big long pots and I mix different kinds together (this is not recommended for beginners due to the different needs of different cactuses, but I’m experimenting so it’s okay). Plant your cactus in individual pots to be safe. Always use pots that have holes at the bottom.

Next is to choose the best medium for your cactus. The key is good drainage. Whatever you choose, make sure that there are many pores in it that when you water the plant, the water will go straight down and comes out from the holes beneath the pot. Search the internet if you want to know what choices you have.

Wonder how you are going to transfer your cactus into their new pots? First is to get them out, you can try knocking on the side of the pot to loosen it up or use something thin enough to go through the sides. After that, knock gently until the cactus comes out of its pot. Next is to handle them with care, you won’t want one of them pricks stuck in your hands. My way is to use a long piece of newspaper to wrap around the cactus, hold the newspaper to tighten your grip on the plant and transfer it to their new home. Or you can just use the newspaper any way you want to, newspaper helps a lot in the transferring process. Another way is to use very thick gloves, do not use gloves made with cotton or cloth as the pricks will easily get stuck on it.

Now it’s time to take care not to kill them. Knowing how to water a cactus is important, once you know how, you’ll most probably do fine. The shopkeeper that I frequent thought me a good way to indicate when to water. When you see that the top layer of the soil is dry (like really dry), water until water is seen coming out of the holes of the pot. After that, do not water until the top layer is very dry again. Take care not to get water on the cactus plant; if water gets stuck on the plant and does not dry in time, it might cause the cactus to spoil, I’m not sure if ‘spoil’ is the right word. The cactus will become soft and start to rot and you’ll end up sad that now it has a permanent scar. Yes, once a cactus has a scar, it will keep it for the rest of its life to remind you of your mistake. In case you watered too much, quickly remove your cactus from the pot and let it dry under the sun, and if you are lucky it will survive.

Lastly, food is of course important too. It benefits to feed your cactus with fertilizers specially made for cactuses. I heard that normal fertilizers do well too, but I’ve yet to try them out. If your cactus bends towards the sun or has a small/thin unusual growth that tries so hard to grow towards where the light is at, then you will know that it needs more sun. Change the location and it will be fine.

I guess that’s all I can share with you for now. I hope we (the people who fail at gardening and lastly resort to cactuses) will become successful at out new hobby. Happy gardening people!

Pokemon and the Environment.

Pikachu, some say it looks like a pig. I think it's a mouse.

I was playing with the Pokemon Emerald video game and found out that it has some lessons to be learned by players of the Pokemon series, especially for the younger audience. The Pokemon universe is much like ours, filled with other life forms besides humans. This includes Pokemon that look like rats, rhinoceros, cat, dog, pig, butterfly, flowers, mushroom, octopus and so much more. But of course, they have dragon type Pokemon too that only exists in myths in our world.

Vileplume- Definitely a Rafflesia

Now, I’d like to point out that catching a Pokemon and keeping it in a Poke Ball feels barbaric, it’s like catching an animal and putting it into a very tiny cage. Secondly, making your Pokemon obey you and fight for you is not nice at all, even though the fights are not fatal (something like a betta fish fight). But of course, these are not the impressions that the developers want us to have of the Pokemon series, they never meant that. I’m just pointing out what I see. Maybe there are reasons behind this; maybe inside these electronic Poke Balls are huge compounds where the Pokemon can live and rest properly, which aren’t mentioned in the video game, just maybe.

Marill- A mouse

In the game though, the NPCs (Non-player characters) were actually programmed to say some really nice things about the Pokemon, like how much they love them and how close they are to their Pokemon pet. There was one part of the game where a guy was complaining about the sounds made from the activities of excavating the caves. “He” said that the noises were making the Pokemon cranky and uncomfortable. Is this a reference to the sound pollutions in our world? There was another NPC that could check the level of happiness of your current Pokemon. You can raise the happiness stats of each Pokemon by bringing it around in your active party, feeding it vitamins or sweets, or even better, bring it to a Pokemon spa. Some Pokemon evolve and become a stronger version simply by being happy. This I think could encourage children to treat their pets nicer (Remember to feed your pet and give them lots of treats and spending time with them, and this will result in a better pet, just like in the game). Another part of the game had me picking up berries and then replanting them, the NPC reminded me to plant them back after i destroyed the tree. Is this a reference to the deforestation issue?

Goldeen- A goldfish

Some of the game’s characters, or antagonists, care for the well being of the Pokemon, although for the antagonists, the methods shown is a little more selfish. For example, trying to expand the sea so that more sea Pokemon get to live; while the others try to explode a volcano in order to make more land available for surface Pokemon.

Dustox- A moth

I can’t help but to think that the Pokemon Universe is so similar to ours and that they emphasize on the Pokemon (which I think really resembles all the animals and plants of our world). I wonder what the other players think, do they feel that the Pokemon games or anime are more than just the fights and ‘Gotta Catch Em All’ theme that they had going? Do you think that the Pokemon games and concept bring awareness to the younger generations? This is just a thought.

Just Like an X-man, The Mimic Octopus.

I was browsing the net for interesting sea life when I came across this creature, the mimic octopus, as its name suggests, it can mimic the behavior and looks of other marine life. Isn’t that interesting? We already know that some (I’m not sure whether it’s all or just some) of the octopus have color changing abilities that allows them to camouflage themselves when they are in trouble or to conceal themselves to trick an unsuspecting prey. Some take the shape of a rock while others disappear beneath the gravel. For the other octopuses, relying on special poisons will get them out of the trouble.

But for the mimic octopus, it copies the behaviors of other sea creatures to stay alive in the vast ocean. They live in the tropical seas if Southeast Asia, and can usually be found near the Philippines and even Malaysia too. They were only discovered during the year 1998, so the discovery is actually quite new. They can grow up to 60cm in length. The mimic octopus is a smart creature, being able to mimic the physical likeness and movements of more than 15 types of sea creatures, including the lionfish, sea snakes, sea shells, flounders, stingrays, flatfish, jellyfish, mantis shrimp, sea anemones, giant crabs and brittle stars.

If a damselfish is about to attack the octopus, it will try to mimic a banded sea snake. The banded sea snake is a predator of the damselfish. The octopus will do this by hiding its 6 arms and waving its two arms in opposite directions, it will also change its color to black and yellow. This will create the illusion that looks like a long banded sea snake and the damselfish will then hesitate to attack it. To mimic an anemone, it will lie on its back, with arms all swaying in the waters while facing up. It copies the jellyfish by swimming to the top of the water and spreads its arms evenly around its body and allows itself to sink slowly so that it looks like a floating jellyfish with stinging tentacles minding its own business. It can also swim very fast by using a jet-like propulsion when it is imitating a poisonous sole. If it is hungry and want to eat some crabs, it could mimic another crab and appear as a potential mate only to devour the poor little crab after that.

Isn’t it amazing that a creature has such a strong ability to mimic other marine life? What if we humans have this ability too, to change color to blend in with the wall? Or to hide from someone you don’t want to see. Will that make us a mutant like the x-men? 

If you are interested in watching the video of this octopus, I've included the link to a video. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8oQBYw6xxc

A Cake for Going Green

Front of the cake

I joined a cake decorating competition awhile ago. The theme of the cake was ‘go green’. Ideas immediately sprang up in my mind, so many ideas, so many things I want to show and express to the world. I can make this happen by making this cake work.

Then the environment came to mind, the beauty of it, the animals, the flowers, the fresh air. Then pollution, and extinction, and life would get worst by the year and finally ends. I needed a story to tell. And then I had made up my mind. I would make a cake about what will happen if no one recycled.

The idea was to divide the design into two parts, the clean and the dirty, the end result of what if you cleaned up, what if you didn’t. I would fill the happy part with flowers, trees and life; I would fill it with animals and a breath of fresh air. A river would do well too. And then for the sad part I would fill it with things we did not recycle, things we did not bother to care, I would make it into a filthy world where life is not worth living.

Back of the cake

So came the end result of the cake. I was happy with it even though I missed making the trees livelier, I did not include the bird, my river was not able to make its appearance all due to the limited time we were given. But my recycle bins looked great. My orangutan and proboscis monkey was smiling and happy, my rabbits were grazing the green grass. It was life and happiness which I created. The other part looked dreadful, with rats all over the place, boxes, planks, tins, barrels, sewers with bags of rubbish and trees without life. It was death I created and I was happy about it too. The cake was perfect; it had an idea in it. It had a message to the people, and most of all, it had a story.

The judges came and I was put to 1^st consolation. This was only the 4th placing. They said the theme was ‘go green’ and my cake is not green enough. But I was happy, the rest of the people had seen my cake, the message was delivered. There was a point to it, the judges had not seen it, but the people did and I was proud of myself. I did something for nature and that is all that matters.

From this experience that I share, do you see how ignorant people are to their surroundings? Do you see how little people understand about going green? Going green is not just about making the world greener, but it’s to make the world a better place to live, by changing our habits, by making us more sensitive to the things we’re doing to harm this world we live in, this home of ours. We need to open our eyes, we need to look and see what is around us and for once, care for it, love it, treasure it.

We need awareness!!!

The Man Who Lived Among Bears.

I was watching the television and came across a documentary titled Grizzly Man. What I did not know is that this film was critically acclaimed and directed by Werner Herzog. The documentary was based on a man named Timothy Treadwell. He was an amateur naturalist, environmentalist, an eco-warrior and also a documentary film maker. He was a unique person in my point of view, with such a strong desire to live among the dangerous grizzly bears for 13 summers, yup, you heard me, 13 summers! But at the end, his girlfriend and he died of a bear attack. The film was very sad and touching; I admire his passion to protect the animals especially the grizzly bears which he dedicated his life to.

Timothy’s mission to protect bears began after he survived a near-fatal heroin overdose in the late 1980s. He knew he had to do something about his life that would be more meaningful. So he travelled to Alaska with a close friend and for the first time that he saw those bears, he had found his calling in life.

Timothy spends most of the early season camping on the “Big Green”, an open area of bear grass in Hallo Bay on the Katmai Coast. He called the area “The Grizzly Sanctuary”. Timothy would name the bears he saw and consistently saw many of the same bears each season. His love for bears allowed him to develop some kind of relationship with the bears and he would even be so close to a bear that he could touch them and would sometimes play with bear cubs. This is a very dangerous thing to do because if a bear decides to attack you, it will kill you. During parts of the late summers he would move to Kaflia Bay and camp on an area with especially thick brush in which he called the “Grizzly Maze”. This is a place where bear trails are everywhere so the chances of seeing one will be a lot higher. As if his work was not dangerous enough, he had to wander off to someplace even more dangerous. In 2001, he managed to gain quite a lot of popularity from his work and attended shows and visited schools to educate children about bears, he was a good man I must say. His adventures weren’t easy with bears, but it was worst with the park’s rangers. He had violated many rules of the national park just to be with the bears. Among all the rules he violated, one I find most disturbing is that he refuses to bring weapons of any sort, not even fixing the electrical fence around his tent for security measures.

 During the year 2003, Timothy and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, visited Katmai National Park. The time of the visit was not usual as it was later in the year than he used to. That was the time when grizzly bears struggle to gain as much fat as possible before winter. The food was scarce that autumn and the bears were more aggressive. On October 6, 2003, Timothy and Amie were found dead near their campsite; their bodies were dismembered and disfigured. They were attacked by a bear. A tape recorder was recording at the time they were attacked, but only the sounds were recorded.

Rest in peace Timothy and Amie, we will always remember the both of you. Timothy’s work will always be valued by us nature lovers and your passion for the wildlife is immeasurable. You will always be an inspiration to us.

Thank you Werner Herzog, for your amazing documentary. I loved every moment of the film and it was a work of art.

A cow? A tiny elephant? A pig? Nope, it’s a tapir!

Love my camouflage?

The tapir which is chosen today is the Malayan tapir. I don’t recall seeing a tapir at the Zoo Negara or our local Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. Tapirs have very interesting looks in my opinion. These creatures look like a pig because of their build, they also look like a cow with their coloration, and maybe a baby elephant because of their proboscis (A proboscis is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts that are used for feeding or sucking, for example, a butterfly. In vertebrates, the term is used to describe an elongated nose or snout, for example, a proboscis monkey or a tapir.). But they are uniquely different; they have a bit of all the three.

The animal is identified by its markings, with light colored ‘patch’ that extends from its shoulders to its rear end. The rest of its hair is black except for the tips of its ears, just like the rest of the other species of tapirs. It can grow to about 1.8 to 2.4 meters in length and does not include its tail which is about 5 to 10 centimeters in length. They stand 90 to 107 centimeters tall and weighs between 250 to 320 kilograms. Some adults had been known to weigh up to 540 kilograms, now that is really heavy and almost 8 times my weight.

Just Chilling

 Tapirs are also known to have poor eyesight, but excellent smell senses and hearing. Tapirs have a gestation period of 390 to 395 days, which is very long compared to a human. Not only that, they will only give birth to one offspring at a time that usually weighs around 6.8 kilograms. Malayan tapirs are solitary creatures, using their urine to mark areas as their territory. They are herbivores and use their patterns to camouflage themselves, this causes the predators to not see them and mistaken them for a rock when they are not moving. They can even protect themselves with a strong jaw and sharp teeth. They are also great swimmers too, I wish I could swim like them!

Baby Tapir (These patterns fade after 4 to 7 months after birth)

These creatures are labeled as an endangered species. Due to their size, the Malayan tapirs do not have many predators. But they are decreasing quickly in numbers because of our human activities which includes deforestation for agricultural purposes, flooding caused by the damming of rivers for hydroelectric projects, and illegal trade. Protected status in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which is meant to stop deliberate killings of these animals, is not effective because it does not consider the issue of the loss of habitat.

I hope the government would look into this matter and watch where they bring their development projects to, they might be destroying the homes of the beautiful Malayan Tapirs.