And speaking of elephants, I’m reading parts of the new Lonely Planet Vietnam guide, because we’ll be travelling through there in a few months, north to south, and I found these two entries of interest. [Both places are near Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the former Saigon]:
BINH CHAU HOT SPRINGS
"Until about just over a decade ago there was wildlife in the area, including tigers and elephants, but it seems humans have nearly won the area over. In 1994 six elephants were captured near the springs, but after a few months of keeping them as pets their captors turned them over to the zoo in HCMC."
Catching elephants and keeping them as pets? CAT TIEN NATIONAL PARK
"Elephants are present in the park, but their presence has caused some controversy. In the early 1990s a herd of 10 hungry elephants fell into a bomb crater, created during the American War, just outside of Cat Tien. Local villagers took pity on the elephants and dug out a ramp to rescue them. Tragically, since then a number of villagers have been killed by rampaging elephants. Theoretically, the problem could have been ‘solved’ by shooting the elephants, but the Vietnamese government wasn’t willing to risk the wrath of international environmental groups. However, none of these organisations has come up with the funds for relocating the elephants, some of which were finally removed to zoos. In the longer term such conflicts are likely to be repeated because of the increasing competition between Vietnam’s wildlife and its growing population for the same living space."
Excerpts: **“The catalyst for the rat infestation is an ecological phenomenon known locally as mautam, which translates loosely into English as ‘bamboo death’. The phenomenon occurs approximately once every 50 years with the flowering of the Melocanna baccifera bamboo species, whose nutritious fruit attracts and increases the fertility of rats.”
“The rat infestation was predictable – or at least, it should have been. British colonialists recorded in the mid-19th century that the flowering of the bamboo fruit set off a deadly domino effect every 48 years. The last cycle, in 1958-9, led to the deaths of between 10,000 and 15,000 people in Chin State and the neighboring Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, which are currently 30% covered in bamboo forest.”**
“Just in time for Halloween, researchers have announced the discovery of a new, real-world ‘monster’ – what they are calling a ‘unicorn’ fly that lived about 100 million years ago and is being described as a new family, genus and species of fly never before observed.”
“DNA taken from 69 crocodiles housed in the moats of the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center showed nearly 50 percent were Siamese crocodiles, which until recently were believed to have become extinct in the wild.”
