Elegant Scops owls
Ecology
Elegant Scops owls are nocturnal birds and are endemic subspecies of Taiwan. Because they do not exhibit long-distance migration behaviors and only move regionally, their habitat is confined to Orchid Island. The primeval forests and woodlands near the tribal farmland are their main habitats. They select natural or semi-natural tree holes for nest-making, and they eat insects and other invertebrates for food. In addition to snakes, they have no natural enemies.
Culture
The Tao people call the Elegant Scops owl “toto’o”, and regard these owls as the incarnation of evil spirits. One reason for this is that the owls are nocturnal and mainly inhabit the deep forest; therefore, the Tao people associate them with evil spirits. The other reason is that Elegant Scops owls will perch on the Indian Barringtonia, and the Tao people regard this tree as a devil tree; therefore, the Tao people think Elegant Scops owls, which make their nests in devil trees, are evil spirits. The Tao people are not allowed to talk about toto’o in their residence, and they will also chase away a toto’o if it tweets near their residence. Because fear of the Elegant Scops owls is deeply rooted in their hearts and the Tao will go to great lengths to avoid them, the Tao people do not hunt Elegant Scops owls, and it is considered a breach of taboo to be near the owl’s habitat.
Tourism impacts
The natural enemies of Elegant Scops owls include various kinds of snakes. Because of cultural taboos, the Tao people do not hunt for, encroach on, or interfere with Elegant Scops owls; therefore, the indigenous people on Orchid Island are not a threat to the survival of Elegant Scops owls. However, the number of Elegant Scops owls is low, and they are listed as endangered. After an in-depth analysis of the reason for this, it was determined that the low number of Elegant Scops owls is highly associated with tourism activities. The impacts of tourism activities on Elegant Scops owls are derived from four aspects, including habitat destruction, roadkill, light exposure, and the loss of taboo, each of which is described in the following sections.
One of the main sources of destruction to the Elegant Scops owl habitat is the result of road widening activities. The public facilities on Orchid Island have significantly increased in recent years, and road widening has played a major role in this process. The original roads on Orchid Island were narrow and were unable to bear the tourist crowd in such poor condition. Therefore, many road sections have been significantly widened in recent years. Many of these widening projects are either within or close to Elegant Scops owl habitats, including their original living space and interfering with their activities. With wider roads, vehicle speeds also have increased, resulting in the increase of roadkill problems. Many Elegant Scops owls have died as a result of being run over by automotive traffic; hence, quickly moving cars have become a new threat to the Elegant Scops owl.
Ecological observations of Elegant Scops owls at night are an important aspect of tourism on Orchid Island. Tour guides, narrators, and bed and breakfast owners lead tourists to forests on the island, using searchlights to find the Elegant Scops owls. This tourism activity severely interferes with the routines of the Elegant Scops owls. The exposure to the strong light from the searchlight causes temporary blindness, preventing the birds from being able to fly away. This light exposure is predicted to harm the birds in additional ways, as well. For example, adult birds caring for owlets are likely to be frightened by the tourists and may leave their nests and never return, which would lead to the deaths of owlets.
Elegant Scops owls are regarded as the messengers of evil spirits and thus must not be hunted or interfered with. However, this cultural taboo is gradually loosening due to tourism activities. When promoting owl night visits and expecting eco-tourism to promote ecological conservation, the local tribe people have struggled with their perception of the owls as evil spirits versus sources of income. With assistance from ecological research experts in Taiwan, the Tao have been trained as ecological observation narrators for Elegant Scops owls. This process has made Elegant Scops owl observation the symbol of eco-tourism on Orchid Island. Because Elegant Scops owls have become tourism stars and ambassadors, many Tao people (especially young men and children) no longer regard Elegant Scops owls as devils and have even changed some stories and legends to cater to tourists. Eventually, even the Tao will no longer be able to identify whether these stories are part of their historical culture or not. Whether the transformation of taboos and traditional stories will have further impact on the conservation of Elegant Scops owls and the cultural changes of the Tao people remains for future in-depth observations and studies.
Birdwing butterflies
Ecology
Birdwing butterflies are the largest butterflies of Taiwan; they are only distributed on Orchid Island and are a protected unique species of butterfly on Orchid Island. The larvae only eat Aristolochia ovatifolia and Aristolochia zollingeriana for food. The distribution of Birdwing butterflies covers the entirety of Orchid Island; their breeding areas and the larvae’s growth areas completely overlap with the distribution areas of Aristolochia. The adult worms are usually found at the edge of shrubbery and forest in close proximity to the beach.
Culture
Tao people call Birdwing butterflies “pahapahad no anito”, which means the soul or messenger of evil spirits. The larvae of Birdwing butterflies only eat Aristolochia; in the past, many Aristolochia zollingeriana have been planted in the graveyards of Orchid Island. Therefore, many Birdwing butterflies lay their eggs in the graveyards. The adult Birdwing butterflies preferentially feed on the white flowers of Sea Mango trees; this plant is also usually present in the graveyards of the Tao people. Because the Tao people have observed that Birdwing butterflies commonly fly around the tribe’s forbidden areas, they regard them as souls or messengers of evil spirits. They believe that people who are close to them or catch them will be possessed by evil spirits and will bring misfortunate.
Protected by taboos, Birdwing butterflies originally did not face the danger of extinction. However, affected by the collecting craze of domestic and international butterfly collectors, Birdwing butterflies were captured in large numbers during the 1970s and 1980s. Therefore, at one point in time, these butterflies were endangered. When the population numbers were significantly reduced, the Tao people did not actively enact any Birdwing butterfly conservation programs due to the restriction of cultural taboos; they even rejected conservation assistance from outside institutions. Luckily, after long-term communication and the continuous investment of conservation funding, the current population numbers of the Birdwing butterflies on Orchid Island have increased.
Tourism impacts
Although the population of Birdwing butterflies already has increased, they are still endangered, protected by the “Wildlife Conservation Act”. The Birdwing butterfly also is a protected species subjected to limited trade under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). These restrictive conservation regulations indicate that the survival of the Birdwing butterfly population still suffers a high degree of threat. Currently, Taiwanese government strictly limits the collection of Birdwing butterflies, indicating that Birdwing butterflies are subject to other threats, such as tourism activities.
Recent studies have indicated that the main reason for the disappearance of Birdwing butterflies is the disappearance of Aristolochia zollingeriana, the main food source for their larvae (Fang et al.,1998,2001). The wild population of Aristolochia zollingeriana is too scarce; currently, the Council of Agriculture has listed the plant as endangered in the wild according to the evaluation standard for species conservation of IUCN. Road construction is one of the primary causes of the rapid decrease in Aristolochia zollingeriana habitat. The tourist activities in the habitat of Aristolochia zollingeriana include ecological observation, hiking, and passing through, which also affect the growth of Aristolochia zollingeriana. Thus, although tourism activities do not pose a direct threat to Birdwing butterflies, they affect the growth of the plant consumed by their larvae, thereby threatening the overall propagation of Birdwing butterflies.
The collapse of the traditional taboo culture also has been impacted by tourist activity and should not be ignored. Because of the prevalence of tourism activities, Birdwing butterflies have become a star species of eco-tourism on Orchid Island. This change has removed the taboo that Birdwing butterflies are messengers of evil spirits. Whether this change is good or bad for Birdwing butterfly conservation remains to be seen. Although Tao people enjoy the benefits of Birdwing butterfly conservation resulting from the tourism revenue, the weakening of the Birdwing butterfly taboo also may weaken the Tao people’s restriction of using Birdwing butterfly habitats. As the tourism activities have become more frequent, the influences of taboos have grown weaker; therefore, the conservation of Birdwing butterfly habitats is even more important today.
Coconut crabs
Ecology
The distribution of coconut crabs is primarily on tropical islands from the Eastern Indian Ocean to the Western Pacific Ocean, including islands such as Fiji, Nauru, Okinawa of Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. IUCN listed coconut crabs as endangered species in the Red list categories in 1996. Taiwan also announced in 1996 that they are protected crustaceans according to the “Wildlife Conservation Act”.
The distribution of coconut crabs in Taiwan is primarily in the Pandanus forests of Taitung, Kenting, Green Island, and Orchid Island. The distances associated with coconut crab activities are limited; normally, coconut crabs do not venture more than 100 m. Coconut crabs lay eggs in the sea, where their larvae develop. Young crabs mainly live in coastal areas with high humidity and soft soil. Adult crabs mainly live in rock caves that are more inland, but they also sometimes dig their own holes at the base of the island. Therefore, there are significant differences in habitat distribution for young and adult crabs. Coconut carbs are omnivorous and saprophagous. They eat at night, and their food includes fruits and the rotted leaves of coconut, Pandanus, and peanut trees. On Orchid Island, one of the major food sources of coconut crabs is the Pandanus fruit; however, the Pandanus fruit is one of the most commonly used ethnobotanicals of Tao tribe.
Culture
Coconut crab in the Tao language is “tatos” or “mipeyso”, which mean “bare” and “walk backward”, respectively. The former refers to the appearance of the coconut crab, which means a shell-less hermit crab. The social norm (taboo) accompanied by “walk backward” in the Tao language is that pregnant women and their husbands are prohibited from eating coconut crabs; additionally, breast-feeding women are not allowed to eat coconut crabs. If a pregnant woman or her husband violates this taboo and eats a coconut crab, the labor will be difficult, the baby will crawl backward when learning to crawl, and the baby will walk backward, causing mobility impairments. Hence, to understand this taboo, it is important to reference the naming system on Orchid Island because of the deep social and cultural meanings.
Men on Orchid Island must change their names twice in their lifetimes, once at the birth of the first child and for the second time at the birth of the first grandchild. For example, if a man is named A after birth; when the first child of A is born and is named B, then A will be renamed as SymanB, which means “the father of B”. When the first child of B is born and is named C, then SymanB (whose original name was A) will be renamed as SypenC, which means “the grandfather of C”. Therefore, whether an individual is with or without a child affects the social status of a Tao person. If a child has difficulty moving, the reputation of his father and grandfather will also be affected. Therefore, the taboo of “mipeyso” ensures that pregnant women and breast-feeding women, and their family members, do not catch coconut crabs to avoid family shame.
Tourism impacts
The level of cultural taboo associated with coconut crabs is relatively low in comparison than those of the Elegant Scops owls and Birdwing butterflies; however, the level of impact of tourism activities on coconut crabs is higher than the impact on either of the other two species. The impact of tourism activities on coconut crabs primarily comes from road construction and roadkill. The construction and widening of the around-the-island highway cut and removed many Pandanus trees, which greatly decreased the food source of the coconut crabs. Road construction also separates the habitats of the coconut crabs, causing habitat fragmentation. Cement guardrails along the road significantly hinder the catadromous migration of the coconut crabs during breeding seasons, which worsens the future survival problems of the coconut crabs.
The widening of roads increases the frequency of coconut crab roadkill events. Coconut crabs move slowly; during the breeding season, female crabs returning to the beach to lay their eggs are frequently run over by cars and motorcycles. With wider roads, the time required for coconut crabs to cross the roads is increased, further increasing the chance that a crossing crab will struck be a vehicle. Additionally, vehicle speeds tend to increase with road width; therefore, cars are less able to avoid coconut crabs in the middle of roads, increasing the chance that they will run over coconut crabs. Therefore, road widening will worsen the roadkill phenomenon, which has become the primary cause of the decreasing coconut crab population.