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.

Clean Up or Go Home!

I’m sure most Malaysians are aware of Lynas’s problem in Malaysia, simply put it, they are not welcomed. Let me go for a little introduction here, Lynas is a rare earth processing company which process rare earth concentrates into elements that are used in the making of many electronics including smart phones, flat screen TVs, low-energy light bulbs, laser equipments and even missiles. Their rare earth is imported from their mine in Australia.

The issue is that Lynas does not have a proper way of disposing of its low-level radioactive wastes. No matter how low-level the radioactive wastes are, it’s still bad for our earth. Originally, Lynas intended to start their processing plant in China (China produces 90% of the world’s rare earth), but then decided to do it here in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. All in all, the government has rushed things with this and allowed Lynas to start their business early this year. This is bad as the rakyat has been trying hard to oppose the building of their plant here and yet the government helps to grant them access as fast as they can and even granted them a temporary operating license.

At some point, it looks like the government is begging for us to hate them. This matter has also attracted the attention of the opposition parties, and the next election is coming very soon. Why is the government not listening to the people? They heard our voices, they turned us down, they made us look like idiots even though we have scientists backing us up with proof that Lynas is doing harm to Malaysia. I hope this post ignites a flame or desire in your heart to learn more about the problem and will do your best in supporting what is best for the environment.

This is Malaysia, and Malaysia is our home. We should fight for the safety of our home no matter what the cause. Keep Malaysia clean, keep Lynas out!

 I did not go into the details of the situation, so if you are interested, click the link below to learn more about ‘Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas’. Please do your part as a citizen, read on to learn more!

http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com/