A Unique Natural Environment

Having been driven up from the ocean floor by tectonic movement, most of the Philippine islands have never formed part of any of the world's major landmasses. As a result, a significant proportion of the Philippines' plant and animals wildlife has evolved in glorious isolation, resulting in an immense diversity of species found nowhere else. Only Palawan is an exception to this rule, a land bridge having once joined it to Borneo, giving it a fuana and flora related to this part of Southeast Asia. Even within the Philippines, the various island groups have remained isolated from each other for so long that different, though related, species have evolved in each.

The Philippine Eagle is the king of the
Philippines rain forest. At over 1m tall
and with a wingspan of 2 m, it is one
of the worlds largest eagle.

Life In the Forest
As a wholly tropical country, tropical rain forest is the natural vegetation for pretty well the entire country, even at high altitude, and it is likely that at one time almost the whole of the Philippines was forested. Not surprisingy, the vast majority of the country's 12,000-plus plant species (including nearly 4,000 species of native tree) make up this environment, while the bulk of its animal wildlife is adapted to life in the Philippines rainforest.
Over 600 species of birds have been found in the Philippines, the great majority living in the forests, more than 190 of them unique to the country. Many are quite small and difficult to spot among the vegetation, but the largest and most spectacular is the magnificent Philippine Eagle, standing over 1m tall and with a wingspan of over 2 m making its world's second largest eagle.
And even higher proportion of the less mobile animal species are endemic. Three-quarters of the 190-plus species of mammal, for instance, are unique to the Philippines. Only one of the well known primates typically found across.

Left: The long-tailed or crab eating Macaque, 'Macaca Fasciculars', is widely found in Philippine rainforests and is one of the few large mammals to have made the lump from mainland Asia to the Philippine island.

Below: Huge Fruit-bats here seen roosting in a tree in rainforest in Subic Bay, northern Luzon, commonly live in mixed species colonies, they are widespread in Philippine lowland forests.

Southeast Asia is found in the Philippines and that is the Crab-eating or long-tailed macaque, which is frequently seen in forest across much of the country. Another primate that, though endemic, is related to one found in Borneo is the Philippine Tarsier. This tiny, cute animal, with a body bare 8cm long and a tail nearl twice that, is restricted to forests in Bohol and Mindanao. The largest of the Philippines' endemic mammals is undoubtedly the Tamaraw, a shy dwarf buffalo found only on mindoro, By contrast, the great majority of the country's mammals are quite small and inconspicuous. There are, for instance, many types of cloud rats, a rodent that exists as a number of species with very limited ranges in specific parts of the country. About 20 per cent of all the country's mammals are bats, ranging from tiny, hard-to-see insect eaters up to enormous fruit-eating species with the wingspans of almost 2 m. They are frequently seen in roosting as large colonies in their favourite rainforest trees.

Life in the Sea

Things couldn't be more different in the sea. Dive near any healthy coral reef and you are immediately surrounded by a cornucopia of animal life, not just the corals themselves, of course, but also a huge range of fish species. These creatures are not restricted to the Philippines as many of the land animals are: all the marine life found here is distributed across much of the Indo-Pacific region, from the tiniest coral species to the  largest shark or whale. Indeed, with 500-plus species of corals found in Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian waters, this region maybe the primary source of the corals found across much of the indian and Pacific Oceans. Mobile marine life is no less diverse, the nooks and crannies of a reef providing a home for a great range of invertebrates, such as shripms, crabs, lobsters and squid, while the surrounding waters are filled with an enormous stock of fish ranging from tiny, brightly colored clownfish up to tuna, sharks and the occasional manta ray.

Above: Sea fans are corals commonly found in the deeper water reefs, particularly on steeps walls where currents are strong. This one is a 'Melithaea' species, seen on Tubbataha Reef, off the coast of Palawan.


Left: A typical seen  on the crest of a coral reef, showing a dense mixture of different species of hard and sort corals. Seen on Tubbataha Reef, off the Coast of Palawan.

Fishermen, such as those seen here on Camiguin Island
Mindanao, have been finding it increasingly difficult to
catch enough fish to support themselves

Threats and Conservation

A replanted and steadily recovering mangrove swamp
in Subic Bay, Luzon, point to increasing efforts
to restore the Philippines' environment

Commercial exploitation and a burgeoning human population have taken a heavy toll on the Philippines' natural environment. Forest cover is probably little more than 10 per cent of what is 100 years ago and much of what survives is badly damaged. This loss of habitat has put not only a large number of endemic plants on the endangered species lists but also many forest-living animals. Foremost among these is the mighty Philippine Eagle, now Probably restricted to just a few hundreds survivors in the wild,  scattered across Mindanao and northeast Luzon, plus the islands of  Samar and Leyte.

The Philippines developed one of Southeast Asia's first Protected areas systems, established by the American colonial government during the early years of the 20th century, but after independence, gained in 1946, this initiative was largely ignored. Many supposedly protected areas where heavily logged and then settled by farmers. From the late 1980s onward, plans were set in motion to rescue the situation, a number of international funded and organized programmes being set up, aimed at rejuvenating the protected areas system  and safeguarding the best and  largest of the remaining wild areas. 

A number of home-grown environmental conservation movements also gained momentum, principally the Haribon Foundation of the Philippine. The latter took upon itself the task of saving the Philippine Eagle, initiating the first attempts at captive breeding, as well as undertaking conservations work in Mindanao's forest. For some time captive breeding proved to be almost impossible, but in recent years there has been considerable success and PEF is now engaged in experimental releases of captively bred eagles back into the wild. As on land, the marine environment is also in trouble. Most reefs are seriously damaged by over-fishing pollution and the indiscriminate use of dynamites. However, conservation measure are now having an impact. Reefs that have been long-protected either as tourist diving or university research sites continue in good health, while regeneration is starting to take place at those environments included in protected areas programmes. Instigation in the 1990s of small, highly localized marine reserves especially aimed at protecting reefs to boost fish stocks initially met stiff resistance from local fishermen. However, so successful were they in achieving their goals that fishing communities right across the country are now increasingly organizing their own reserves.

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