The Literate Orangutan
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
Trying to teach a red ape to write SEPILOK, Sabah, Malaysia What if we could communicate with other species? What could an orangutan tell us about her life, about her emotions when her rainforest is chopped down, about the rascally behavior of randy adolescent male orangutans? * * * * * I’ve seen orangutans in […]
Read MoreWho Gets Credit, Who Takes Credit, for Changing the World?
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
Did Darwin steal from Wallace? Attributing glory can be a tricky business TERNATE, Indonesia Who gets credit, and who takes credit, for changing the world? July 1, 1858 was a modest news day in mid-19th century London. Thirty-nine year old Queen Victoria went horseback riding, Madame Tussaud announced a wax image of United States President […]
Read MoreDreaming of Malthus
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
During a malarial fit, Alfred Russel Wallace has his eureka moment about natural selection TERNATE, Indonesia The economic theory of Thomas Malthus isn’t what most people suffering a malaria delusion would dream about. But Alfred Russel Wallace, the sweaty patient in question, wasn’t a humdrum guy. * * * * * Here’s what transpired. Alfred […]
Read MoreBruno and the Blowpipes
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Who will determine the future of Sarawak’s isolated Penan? BAREO, Sarawak, Malaysia Bruno Manser has disappeared in Borneo and is feared dead. Manser, 47, was last seen in May 2000 in the isolated village of Bareo in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, close to the border with Indonesia. The Swiss had illegally entered Sarawak to […]
Read MoreGod’s Own Pharmacies
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Asia’s sacred groves survive because they provide spiritual and practical benefits; with thanks to a flying monkey god KERALA, India Who has the answers to conservation conundrums? Goverments with their laws, or local people with their traditions? As a conservationist I have spent years encouraging governments to establish protected areas through legislation. Unfortunately, many modern […]
Read MoreWatch What You Say in Burma’s Sacred Forests
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
What’s a more powerful conservation incentive – a government jail or a spiritual punishment? ZEE O THIT HLA, Myanmar Myint Naing has one of the easier jobs in the Myanmar forestry department. Since 1999 his task has been to protect the Zee-O Thit-Hla sacred forest, which has been a government forest reserve since 1988. No […]
Read MoreReligions on the Wing
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Everyone in Irian Jaya wants a piece of Zakarias’s soul MINYAMBOU, Irian Jaya. When the fundamentalist Baptist missionaries in this isolated valley in Irian Jaya now West Papua] asked for contributions to build a new church, Zakarias chipped in with the most valuable thing he could find — a bird of paradise. The irony of […]
Read MoreBorneo Native Group Scores Land Claim Victory
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
How a poor Iban longhouse took on Big Timber and won; sort of RUMAH NOR, Sarawak, Malaysia “There is no greater sadness on earth than the loss of one’s native land.” Euripedes We park the car along the side of a rutted dirt road in the middle of an acacia tree plantation five times […]
Read MoreLife and Death on Shiva’s Beach
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Is a turtle worth risking your life? PULAU ENU, Aru Islands, Indonesia A newly-hatched green turtle wandered into my tent this evening, attracted, perhaps, by a lantern that the reptile thought was the reflection of the moon on the sea. A few hours later I wander the beach on the windward side of this small […]
Read MoreTo Cut That Tree, Cut Through Me
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Chipko women’s movement keeps on huggin’ RENI, Uttaranchal, India Any new-age nature-lover can hug a tree, and many do. But it takes a special kind of person to embrace a tree which is about to be chopped down, and challenge the woodsman “if you want to cut the tree you’ll have to cut through me.” […]
Read MorePrayer Flags Over Rio
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Environment
Should we trust the eco-bureaucrats or the farmer in Bhutan for eco-solutions? JANGTSIKHA, Bhutan I was cleaning up my office and stubbed my toe against the printed version of Agenda 21, some 700 pages, 2,079 recommendations, guidelines and treaties resulting from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio — the largest eco–bureaucratic gathering ever held. I […]
Read MoreUzi Fever
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
Letting the macho urges go out with a bang in Cambodia PHNOM PENH, Cambodia In this uncertain world of drive-by killings, high school massacres and gonzo postal workers, is there nowhere a guy can go to blast an Uzi for fun without being labeled a politically-incorrect barbarian? Well, there’s always Cambodia, where Taiwanese entrepreneur Victor […]
Read MoreThe God Who Flew Off With a Mountain
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
It takes chutzpah for an Indian villager to stay angry at one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon, but Padhan Patti wants her mountain back DUNAGIRI, India It takes a bit of Hindu chutzpah for a remote Indian villager to stay angry at one of the most popular gods in the pantheon, […]
Read MoreThe Sultan and the Mermaid Queen
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
A love story for the ages SOLO, Indonesia The instructions, given by a friend of Javanese nobility, were tantalizingly vague. If you look really carefully, and if the wind is blowing right and you are of good heart and you let yourself “switch mode” into a semi-trance, you just might see a tenth dancer. That […]
Read MoreSearching for Small Folk at the End of the Trail
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
A visit with three types of Hobbits on the isolated Indonesian island of Flores FLORES, Indonesia Imaginary short people fascinate us, and they take up an inordinate amount of space in literature and mythology. We’re all familiar with the Lilliputians who entrapped Gulliver, Snow White’s pals Dopey, Sleepy, Grumpy and the rest of the Seven […]
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