sloth bear ...
it is a tree in a forest, am saying its a tree for sure because of the claw marks on it. saying its a forest because those claw marks are made by "sloth bears" which live only in the wild. am saying its a "sloth bear" because cats like tigers and leapords use four or five claws to parallel mark, because they are short. sloth bears have large and slightly curved hook-like ivory claws, that enable them to climb trees and dig for termites.
these markings were made while the bear was attempting to climb this tree for fruits, am saying fruits because this tree is either syzygium cumini/syzygium gardneri, no other tree has this smooth ashy well rounded trunk, in this part of the forest. so this is a rain forest !
syzygium is an important element in the rainforest ecosystem, being a food source for many blossom-feeding and fruit-eating animals. the fruit is commonly called as naaval, jamun, black plum, faux pistachier, indian blackberry. has a long tradition in alternative medicine. fruiting season starts after monsoon. presuming, the bear would have climbed sometime during november/december !
those white patches on the trunk are lichens (type-crustose), a symbiotic organisms made up by the association of microscopic green algae or cyanobacteria and filamentous fungi. the indian subcontinent has documented 2,450 species of lichens, out of that 210 are found only in this range of forests. lichens have medicinal value and antibiotic properties.
the whole exercise was purely meant for one reason, importance of awareness through knowledge, and we dont have enough knowledge to justify conservation/stop destruction of our natural resources.
as we are reading this ... hunters are seeking the prized gall bladder of the sloth bear, which is used as medicine in asia and the forests are being encroached.
thanks so much for your wonderfull comments ! will comment on what each one of you saw, tomorrow !
posted by wildpic at 11:54 PM
28 Comments:
thank you for the careful deconstruction and explanation. It was wonderful.
my dad could 'see' what was around him, but he didn't seem to have the words to share it. I often asked, but his responses were less than halting haiku, and I didn't understand. much of it he simply didn't have words for. he noticed, but didn't know the names of the trees. He knew what they could be used for and where they grew.
he knew who ate what, and when, but not always their names. he was a watcher.
Living in a seaside city I find much to watch. I watch the goldfinches and the crows, the diving ducks and the brown pelicans. But I always have a sense that I am missing far, far more than I am seeing. Seeing is understanding, and often the actions of the creatures around me seem to be a stylized dance that I can't follow. Perhaps ultimately he was the same, and it was why he couldn't explain to me. He knew enough to forage, trap and get by. It is much much more than I could do.
Hi! I found this all very interesting, I'll be back to reread it again.
Suresh, you could have given this informationin the previous blog itself, What is the point in asking the question what do you see ? There would be hundered interpretations of the question itself, and thousand ways of seeing it. Any tribal will tell you that an elephant has crossed exactly ten minutes ago. Entire forest, is littered with such evidences, every tree has a story to tell.
Please think before you write.
hi kathy, we have so moved on from our humble beginings, not only we dont care but we think its unnecessary anymore.
but current science has been highlighting so many reasons for us to protect our bio-diversity than ever before. hope the message reaches enough, on time, for a better future, for all.
hi hayden, am glad u liked it. your dad seems to be a person with a lot of experience and wisdom.
our brain uses so much area to see and visualise whats around us, we humans have one of the best sights in the world.
carefull observation is a delight as our knowledge base grows along with it.
the world slowly grows bigger and we turn ever so humble with our limited understanding of the world that we live in.
hello, skyeblue2you welcome... thanks for dropping by. see you around. cheers !
hi lorraine, a lot of times in the woods we see a thin film of lichens and fungi that are green, yellow, orange, white everywhere on the trees. so easy to mistake them for paint.
rauf, i understand your point but i simply want to see how each person perceives the same picture for which i plan to write a post.
1.it gives me a chance to explain with a prior knowledge of what the picture speaks to others.
2.it makes me see myself standing, how far away from each one.
3. this is my effort to give any little awareness over the status of conservation thru active participation.
i can say a lot, a tribal can say a lot, a scientist can say a lot, u can say a lot too ... but the variations are enormous. am trying to make what little i know as interesting as possible.
i guess am not a good thinker, am willing to doubt anything. how do u want me think rauf ? please help ?
Suresh why should be any variations for a plain and simple fact ?
Its coming in my next blog.
I have told you earlier suresh please think straight.
rauf, thats exactly the prolem ... plain and simple facts do not have any personal association to it, no joy, fear, entertainment etc.
plain facts have existed for thousands of years, look where we are today, never did we have this many laws and they are not working. we need smart solutions to simple problems.
plain telling has expired as a truth holding and enforcing mechanism. i have no problem thinking straight but i have a big problem living, expresssing it cos its not effective for my message.
i came onto this late. but i guess in this age of instant gratification we choose to notice only things that will give us just that.
speaking for myself,i decided to see more deeply only because you promised to comment on what we saw.
on a different note, i wonder if you would have got different responses if you had asked, what do you read in this picture?
hi chinna, yes i have commented about each ones comment under 'what is seeing ?' but i dint see your comment there ?
yes, i would have got not so different comments if i had asked "what do you read in this picture?" instead of my "what do u see in the above picture ?"
what happened to your want for participation in grass root conservation ? did u read my reply to yours ?
Suresh we have complicated things for ourselves, made our lives complicated by not engaging in plain and straight thinking.
Its coming in my next blog
Suresh, look at the west. Its a mess out there. Our Guru's and swamis are just feeding themselves on their complications. They have started following our philosophies to simplify their lives, we unfortunately have started following them. Look at our Ashrams its filled with europeans and americans. Giving up simple straight thinking is their major problem. Now they are learning from our gurus. Our gurus are having a ball.
ok. here goes.
i see an elephant. just below the horizontal line of greenish fungi, to the right is the eye. the elephant is showing us the right profile. one of the scratch marks delineates the ears and foreleg.
i guess because of the closely cropped pic one sees the whole thing as an abstract thing. maybe there's a lesson in conservation here!
as for the earlier comment on sending materials/money to help the conservators, i'm ready.
i'd much prefer to send the money and do a collection among friends rather than actually pick up materials myself (unless they are available only in chennai for some reason).
is it possible to work out a dedicated bank acct - this may get bigger than you think.
Hey Suresh. I, personally, like trying to see different things in photos. Letting your imagination run wild. If that's what you were trying to get people to do? I can see an elephant too.
I have a story. I have a photograph that I took when at the cemetery at night. The photo was of several fresh pink roses. For months, I've had this photo on my computer and looked at it many times. But, it was only when I was going back looking at these rose pictures, thinking about editing out just one of the roses for a photo, that I saw something, I'd never noticed before. I was zoomed in on the photo and looking at each rose seperately, when I suddenly said, "Ahhh!" There was this huge hairy brown spider next to one of the roses. I can't believe I never saw it before. You can see one of its eyes, bright, which caught the reflection of the flash.
I guess my story doesn't exactly relate, but it just proves that you can look at a photo 20 times and see only one thing and yet, that 21st time, from then on, you can see something totally different.
I think it all depends upon the photo and our minds, what we see or choose to see. Sometimes, if asked to think about what else we see, besides the original photo, we can see something new, but other times, the photo looks the same to us, no matter how many times we examine it.
So much truth in what you have written!
rauf, i agree and disagree equally ! as a person i keep my life as simple as possible cos it makes my decision making easier, my family and friends life uncomplicated.
but when it comes to innovation for the reason of sending a message across or technical innovation for the reason of improving our competition we need to think beyond a straight line.
would love to check your coming post on that.
when the innovation and genius increases so does eccentric behaviour and sillyness. if advanced (technically) societies think like all the other primitive societies we would not have advanced in technology, lets say internet and digital cameras ... a choice between writing snail mail/painting and internet/digital camera my choice is clearly technology, irrespective of its evils.
about the gurus, its just another job they are doing, if not them people might follow another cult, relegion or drugs. may be, may be gurus are better than psychiatrists/psychologists/drugs/fundamental relegion. yes the gurus are having a ball but so are all the other helps and drug dealers (leagal/illegal). 33% of the people are independant, 33% dependant, 33% dont know what to do. we need to support all the three and they do complement each other.
hi chinna, the power of suggestion is amazing, after u seeing that elephant, i can see one too ! patty sees one too, amazing !
yes, i was trying to send across a message in conservation by going a bit abstract with my picture as well as my question, pardon my ambiguity.
chinna, about the conservation bit, u do sound serious and nothing is better than that.
the reason i suggested sending materials was 1. u know it has served its purpose 2. we eliminate any middlemen.
if people are donating its worth having an 80G which gives tax benefits, i dont want to start another NGO. there are some real honest people doing good work too. i suggest 'nature care foundation' its a group of young wildlife bioligist.
one station is in valparai, run by my friends and they do rain forest afforestation on clear cut plots and educational programs. if the money is large sum then they would undertake the sort of conservation we specify.
this blog comment space is too restricted. you can e-mail me on sureshgana@gmail.com
will take it from there and will send you more details on other projects that need attention. will start a new blog purely for this.
thanks for your comment and your interests on conservation !
hi patty, you are right ... chinna on his comment saw an image of an elephant, his suggestion got me seeing one and u too. if not for the suggestion we simply dont see it ... inspite of how many times we look at it.
our vision and intepretation is quiet superior to a lot of creatures and that sophisticaton gets us tricked. there is so much to learn, how we think given the same situation.
thanks a lot patty for your comment ! cheers !
hello mbrown, i could have continued atleast another fold, but that would have been too long on a blog. never realised when i started how much information there is.
thanks a lot for reading and commenting ! cheers !
Suresh, if you ask hundred people you're gonna get hundred different views, I see what I want to see. A piece of cloud would different to different people.
Why we let things go out of hand ? why make our life complicated ?
We have given up simple and straight forward thinking. You know what these really gurus are, they are not doing any job. They are helping themselves. ONLY WHEN I CANNOT HANDLE MY AFAIRS things start going horribly wrong, and these gurus are thriving on it.
Rauf, I agree slightly with you. Yes, if we ask 100 people what they see in a cloud photo, we could get 100 different answers, but I think it is fun to ask, because it is interesting to see what people see, even though we already know we'll be hearing many different answers. I don't see it as getting out of hand or complicated. I didn't realize that we were supposed to look at it in a different way, so at first I only saw a tree with scratches, but when reading the comments, I went back & I could see the elephant. It is fun, that is just my opinion.
Patty,
I am afraid,I don't agree with you
You see a cat in a piece of cloud,
I see a dog, It may be interesting but a pointless debate. I am usung the cloud as a yard stick of complications. For me its simple, if the cloud is going to bring any rain or not. This straight line thinking makes my life simple and uncomplicated.
Every inch of a forest bears an evidence of some thing. Every tree has a story. If I have a piece of unusual information I would share it with you I would not ask the reader to speculate.
rauf, i get your point. this exercise does not challenge you. will formulate an exercise in my coming posts that would require intellectual contemplation than speculation. speculation and generalization can be damaging on any subject and undermine truth.
I don't think of imagination as debate, but, you do have very good points, Rauf. Until now, I didn't think trying to see different things in a photo was considered complicated, but I understand how it can be. Thanks for explaining how you feel.
patty, if all 100 people were to say n see the samething then we dont need to seek any communication.
life as such has no point, to make that point interesting we do many things and expect varied viewpoints so that we know where we stand in this abstract universe.
the fact that each one sees something different in a simple picture is a proof that all of us view what is what and how is how in a unique way, which then formulates our beliefs, values, right, wrong etc.
the freedom to choose what to see is what keeps us evolving and surviving, a singular truth would wipe all life forms.
fun, is an interesting subject and we humans need it for sure at many lelels. again we see and seek fun in many different ways.
this is the most beautiful post suresh! writing's come out cool n interesting!
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