Friday, April 18, 2008

Animal Resources

The animals in the Philippines came from the heartland of Southeast Asia, originally migrating by way of the prehistoric land bridges which formerly joined the archipelago to the Asian continent. In the country are found more than 60 species of bats, 3 species of deer, 5 species of monkeys, and various species of horses, carabaos, dogs, cats, pigs, squirrels, and goats.

Three unique animals exist in the Philippines:

(1) the tarsier, said to be the smallest monkey in the world and found only in the island of Bohol;
(2) the pilanduk, ( mouse deer), reputed as the smallest deer on earth and found only in Balabac Island, off Palawan; and
(3) the tamarau, a cross between the carabao and the deer and found only in Mindoro.

The Philippines has over 2,000 species of fish. The two smallest freshwater fish in the world are both found in Luzon: the nine-millimetre Pandaka pygmaea, found in the Malabon River above Manila Bay, and the sinarapan or tabios, a freshwater fish measuring only three or four millimetres long and found only in Lake Buhi in Camarines Sur. The world's largest fish-the harmless but frightful-looking whalesshark-is also found in the Philippines seas.

Aside from fish, varieties of turtles, chambered nautiluses, snails, crabs, shells, sponges, shrimps, and edible seaweeds are found in the seas of the Philippines. Of the 10,000 species shells found in the Philippine seas, the Gloria Maris cone and the golden cowrie are treasured as the rarest and most expensive in the world. Both the largest and the smallest shells in the world-the Tridacna gigas and the pisidium-are likewise found in the Philippine seas.

1 comment:

Joy0z said...

Ok to blog mo nato ah, Philippines as in all about pinas hehe salamat sa dalaw huh?