Fauna


          The Philippines abounds in animal life. Most useful of Philippine animals is the carabao (water buffalo), the farmer's best friend. Gentle as a domestic and slow as a turtle, it is a reliable work-animal like the elephant and is used for tilling rice fields.

          More than 750 species of birds, more than those in Australia, Japan, or any other country of Southeast Asia, are found in the Philippines. The biggest Philippine bird is the Sharpe's Crane (Crus antigone sharpei), known as tipol in Luzon and labong in the Visayas. It is a wading bird, with very long legs and neck, and is almost as tall as a man. Its color is pearl gray, with bright scarlet plumage on its upper neck. The largest eagle in the world, called the monkey-eating eagle (Pithecopaga jefferyi), is found in the jungles of Luzon and Mindanao. It is the "King of Philippine Birds". When full grown, it measures five and a half feet in height with a wing span of seven feet. As one of the endangered species of animals in the world, it has attracted the attention of conservationists, notably Dioscoro Rabor of the Philippines and Charles Lindberg of the United States. Now, it is the national bird of the Philippines.

          Other interesting birds in the Philippines are the kalaw, which the Spanish colonizers called "the clock of the mountains" because it makes a loud call from the mountains at noon daily; the wood-thrush, sweetest troubadour of Philippine skies; the katala, which talks and sings like a human being; the tiny Philippine falconet, measuring only sic and a half centimeters long, said to be the world's smallest falcon; the Palawan peacock pheasant which struts gracefully like an adagio dancer; and the limbas, a hawk which screams as it soars into the sky, "tik-wee, tik-wee".

          Four unique animals in the world are found in the Philippines, they are the tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) of Mindoro, which looks like a dwarf carabao and is fierce like a tiger; the tarsius of Bohol, which is reputed to be the smallest monkey in the world; the mouse deep (pilandut) of Palawan, which is the world's smallest deer, and the zebronkey, half-zebra and half-donkey, which was bred at the Manila Zoo in 1962.

          There are about 25,000 species of insects in the Philippines. The largest Philippine insect is the giant moth (Attacus atlas), which has a wing span of one foot.

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