Appreciation
I like to appreciate the organisers of this meeting. I appreciate the work Future Savers Initiative has been doing over the years to preserve our environment and preserving species through their numerous programmes. It is highly commendable. I hope we can have many more of this organisation and we would all be better for it.
Introduction
I’ll be talking briefly on Biodiversity: Superstition and Endangered Species. Let me quickly lay a foundation before I commence because I understand I have just a few minutes for this presentation.
Definition of terms
I like to define some key terms in the topic so that we all can be on the same page.
Biodiversity-According to an online dictionary, Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals in a particular habitat or a variety of plants and animals in the world at large.
Superstition: This refers to an excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural.
Endangered species: Endangered species are species of plant and animal that are seriously at risk of extinction.
Presentation
Now let me start with a short story I grew up to meet. I don’t particularly know how long this story is but I know it should be above 45 years. It happened in a village in the present day Ekiti State, South West Nigeria. It is actually my mother’s village, an agrarian community in the western rain forest.
There was an Iroko tree in the community so big and perhaps older than everybody in that village then. Naturally Iroko tree is one of the strongest trees in the rain forest or in the tropics. Characterised by its great height, strength and hard wood it produces, other trees are mostly shrubs around it.
Of course a tree like the Iroko provides shelter for a number of birds and other animal species. Somehow this tree was alleged to also be sheltering some evil spirits disturbing the well being of the village and a judgment was passed it had to be removed.
Several attempts were made to fall the tree that proved abortive which further buttressed the belief there were some strange powers supporting it. Then the whole village went spiritual; people called on God the several ways they knew. Eventually I don’t know which of the Gods answered the prayer and the saw carrying-men succeeded.
There was celebration across the village the evil tree was eventually felled. Well, I may not know how far it was true that some evil spirits were occupying the tree but one sure thing I know is that a lot of species and organisms were also displaced that day. These must include many birds some of which would lose their eggs, other animals must have also been rendered homeless because of some people’s superstitious beliefs. But nobody cared. Also while this massive tree fell, it must have gone down with other trees in its neighbourhood because of the space it occupied.
Nobody could enumerate the number of organisms that were affected which must also affect the ecosystem one way or the other.
Recently I read that a pangolin consumes about ten million insects daily, same with bats that must consume a large amount of insects overnight. Just imagine if these insects are not controlled and have to be unleashed on us daily, we may not be able to cope but nature has put some checks and balances in place regulating things. Imagine if these animals controlling insect population go on extinction.
Another important animal in the ecosystem which has been affected greatly by superstitious belief is the vulture. Most times nobody cares to know the importance of these large birds now gradually reducing in population.
Vultures are one of the cleaners of the environment. They mop up the remains of other animals and prevent the escalation of bacterial that could cause harm to man and other animals as a result of decomposing animals. Today these cleaners of the ecosystem are gradually reducing through the activities of man.
Poachers in the restricted game reserves are culprits in the killing of these birds. When they kill large animals illegally, they sometimes poison the remaining meat to protect themselves. Vultures must track any dead animal to feast on the remains which suggests to forest guards there is a kill somewhere. Vultures have continued to die in great number as a result and some individuals with traditional beliefs may see this as answered prayer.
Why superstition affects vulture is widely seen in the African folklore. These birds have been labeled as evil perhaps because of their feeding pattern. They feed on dead animals including dead vultures and perhaps their outlook is not so friendly to many.
They are associated with death and nobody wants to associate with that. According to discoverwildlife.com there are 23 different species of vultures and if we eradicate these species through superstitious beliefs we may be courting trouble because the human race would be overwhelmed by diseases these birds prevent indirectly.
Time would not permit us to go into other dangers superstitious beliefs have caused by pitching the human race against some helpers of the ecosystem strategically placed by Mother Nature.
It would be nice if we promote knowledge and save some of these animals and plants. Birds and cats are also affected in this struggle with beliefs. While some birds are migratory in nature, they are easily labeled while they only migrate for survival as they escape the winter into a warmer climate.
So when next you see some ‘strange’ birds in your neighourhood, most times they have not been sent to harm you but they have come for shelter in a warmer climate and would soon return to their natural habitat.
While they are in your environment, they also help to pick insects and sometimes pollinate your flowers so that life may continue for you, them and other species. Thank you.
Paper delivered by Dayo Emmanuel during an online workshop to mark International Day of Biodiversity 5th June 2020.
@dayoemmanuel2
