Philippines Nature• Fauna• Flora• Agriculture

Wealth• Forest Wealth

Fauna Fauna is all of the animal life of any

particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota.

Carabao

Birds

Biggest bird: Sharpe’s Crane (Crus Antigone sharpie) –

• Tipol (Luzon)• Labong(Visayas) • Wading bird• Very long legs

and neck• Tall as man• Pearl gray• Bright scarlet

plumage on its upper neck

largest Eagle: Monkey-Eating Eagle (Pithecopaga Jefferyi)

• found in jungle of Luzon and Mindanao

• King of Philippine Birds

• Full grown – five and half feet in height

• Wings span of seven feet

• Dioscoro Rabor of Phil and Charles Lindberg of us

• National bird of the Philippines

Woodthrush

• Sweetest troubadour of the Phillipines skies

Kalaw

• Spanish colonizers called “the clock of the mountains” – loud call at noon daily

Katala

• Talks and ding like a human being.

The tiny Philippine falconet

• Measuring only six and a half centimeters long

• World’s smallest falcon

The Palawan peacock pheasantAdago Dancer **

** Adagio - Any dance to slow music; also, part of the classical pas de deux in ballet.

Limbas

• Hawk which screams as it soars into the sky, “tik-wee, tik-wee”

Land Animals

Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) – Mindoro• Looks like dwarf Carabao• Fierce like a tiger

Tarsius of Bohol

• Smallest monkey in the world

Mouse Deer/Pilandok (Pilandut) – Of

Palawan

• World’s smallest deer

Zebronkey

• Half-zebra and half-donkey• Breed at the Manila Zoo in 1962

Insects - Giant moth (Attacus Atlas)

• Wing span of one foot

Flora

Waling-waling Sampaguita

Chain of Love Gardenia

Banaba Flower Lady of the Night

Bougainville Kakawati Flower

Camia Kamuning Flower

Largest flower: Pungapung – Mindanao

• Diameter of one foot

1,000 Varieties of Orchids bloom in PH

Waling-waling (Vanda sanderiana)

– rare orchid

• Regarded as “Queen of Philippines Orchids”

Fruits

Lanzones : Queen of Philippine

Fruits

Sweet Mango : Czarina of Philippine

Fruits

Durian : King of Jungle

Fruit

Agriculture Wealth

Dr. Frank C. Carpenter (American traveler-author – “Agriculturally, the Philippine have among the richest lands on earth”

Fertile soil and favorable climate

potential farming area: 18 million hectares – 1/3 is cultivated.

Forest Wealth Forest lands total 16,633,000 hectares –

representing 55% of the total land area. Of this total forested area, 14,452,650

hectares are commercial forests 2,180,000 non-commercial forests In Asia, Philippines ranks third in

reserves, Indonesia (first) Japan (second)

3,800 species of tree

Construction Almon Apitong Guijo Ipil Red and white

Lauan Narra Tangile Tindalo Yakal

Dyewoods Medicinal plants Cutch (tanbark) Guttanpercha Resins Nipa Palms Rattan

Narra, Philippines National TreePterocarpus indicus – Queen of Philippine Trees – National tree of the PhilippinesGov. Gen. Frank Murphy – Feb 1, 1934• Height• Crown of golden

flowers• Massive trunk• Soft grayish bark• Exudes a scarlet

liquid of great value for dyeing and medical purposes.

Problem: Illegal logging Fires Slash-and-burn (kaingin) farming

Rate: 170,000hectares a year – one of the fastest rates of destruction, PH- could become deforested within decades.