Dark Park: Welcome (Underground River)

ambience: rowing through mangrove

Dark mossy forests, sandy beaches, limestone mountains and an underground river. We can find all of these ecosystems in one stretch of land on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. I’m Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet. Welcome to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Jaynee Tabangay is the program coordinator for Conservation International in Palawan. She’s taking us on a tour of the park, by boat!

“This is among the seven forest types here in the park. This is a century old mangrove area which has been preserved because of the cooperation of the indigenous communities living around the park Almost all of the forest types found in Southeast Asia are represented here in the park. So that’s how important the park is.
Because you have a different habitat types, therefore it can accommodate various ranges of flora and fauna. So you have a set of flora and fauna in a beach forest; you have a set of flora and fauna in a mangrove forest and another set of flora and fauna in the upper montaine forest.”

A recent survey of the plant and animal life in the park turned up 800 species of plants and around 90 species of birds, 30 mammals and 10 kinds of amphibians. One of those many creatures you can see and hear in the park is the Talking Myna bird.

ambience Talking Myna
“A Talking Myna is an endemic subspecies in Palawan. When you say endemic, it’s found nowhere else. So it is becoming threatened because of the growing demand in the pet trade. It looks beautiful. It’s golden and black, plus you can teach the bird to talk. “

In future programs, we’ll explore the caves of Puerto Princesa’s underground River. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.
music

Dark Park: Welcome (Underground River)

You are entering a land of talking birds and underground rivers.
Air Date:12/08/2005
Scientist:
Transcript:

ambience: rowing through mangrove

Dark mossy forests, sandy beaches, limestone mountains and an underground river. We can find all of these ecosystems in one stretch of land on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. I'm Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet. Welcome to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Jaynee Tabangay is the program coordinator for Conservation International in Palawan. She's taking us on a tour of the park, by boat!

"This is among the seven forest types here in the park. This is a century old mangrove area which has been preserved because of the cooperation of the indigenous communities living around the park Almost all of the forest types found in Southeast Asia are represented here in the park. So that's how important the park is.
Because you have a different habitat types, therefore it can accommodate various ranges of flora and fauna. So you have a set of flora and fauna in a beach forest; you have a set of flora and fauna in a mangrove forest and another set of flora and fauna in the upper montaine forest."

A recent survey of the plant and animal life in the park turned up 800 species of plants and around 90 species of birds, 30 mammals and 10 kinds of amphibians. One of those many creatures you can see and hear in the park is the Talking Myna bird.

ambience Talking Myna
"A Talking Myna is an endemic subspecies in Palawan. When you say endemic, it's found nowhere else. So it is becoming threatened because of the growing demand in the pet trade. It looks beautiful. It's golden and black, plus you can teach the bird to talk. "

In future programs, we'll explore the caves of Puerto Princesa's underground River. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.
music