04-APR-C-9

MY INAUGURAL LECTURE DAY, WITH THE TITLE:
”BIODIVERSITY: WHAT’S IT WORTH?”

FOLLOWING A DAWN CRUISE OF “JUTICA”

AND AN AFTERNOON VISIT TO “BADAJOS”

WITH EVENING OUTING FOR FISHING,

AND SPECTACULAR SUNSET OVER THE GIANT LILLY PADS

OF THE VICTORIA AMAZONAS

April 23, 2004

The day started at Jutica, JUTI= #* 39. 11 S, 64* 12. 01 W, where we got out into the zodiacs at 6:00 AM, with noticeably fewer people showing up for the rafts as successive early morning tours have taken off from the ship to watch birds or see the sights along the Jutica Waterway. We made it to the small river tributary to see a few of the wattled Jacana birds that walk with outsized feet and toes on top of the vegetations and water plants. We also saw the black-collared hawk named the “Old Man” since it has a white head. I asked the question of why there fishing hawks and eagles all seemed to have white heads—with no known answer as yet.

The most interesting boat we saw was a boat labeled the “piranha” and inhabited by a foursome of early fishermen who were already drying their nets. They had just dumped their catfish on the mid-deck of this derelict boat that looks like the “African Queen” of Humphrey Bogart. I saw the catfish and wanted to look some more. There were many of the vertically white striped catfish that I know already around here that they say are the best eating. The largest number of the catfish were this type. There was also a very large very flat silvery white catfish that had long whiskers. And, there was one they called “Eldorado” which had a yellow color along with the vertical bands. It was a very fascinating pile of fish, and the fishermen obliged us by hoisting up and showing off their catch—and I shot photos of them.

We had seen a number of the sloths which looked like they were fresh out of the water and dripping with lots of stuff as well as algae and beetles—one specimen had once been combed to find 900 beetles on one sloth. They are a slow moving ecosystem, making “slothballs” in the trees awaiting the rising sun action to warm them up to help them begin fermenting the brew of compost in their gut.

MY LECTURE TO THE LARGE MIXED GROUP

My lecture was entitled “Biodiversity: What’s it Worth?” And I began by speaking of the vulnerability of a monoculture. I pointed out one species not yet endangered but certainly threatened by homogenization—Homo sapiens. I used the Congo as an example of the idea that it was an extractive reserve for the likes of King Leopold, or the Amazon as a plundering ground for Rubber Barons. The group seemed to like stories, and stayed with me through some of the medical parts of it, to see how I might make the case that the environment may have created conditions for the survival of some groups and made it difficult for others. From the limited perspective of the people who are now pleading for a preservation of the Amazon to find the cure for cancer or the answer to AIDS, it is only because of the pressing problems of the presto that we would try to convert this into a utilitarian resource to fix problems of our own. It seemed to make people thoughtful and many enjoyed going still further, but I had already run over time and continued the questions afterwards. I may make the next session into an all-interactive session to get more of they input on what interests them.

John Howard followed with a story of the rubber boom followed by the “Zona Franca” when the Brazil government was worried that someone else might take the Amazon away from them as the treaty that had assigned the Antarctic to an international coalition. Now there is oil in the area through which we are going now which is being exploited and a gas pipeline is being built. We will see the excess of the rubber boom era from around 1896 when the Opera House was built at Manaus when we arrive there tomorrow.

I went to lunch at which people were still talking about my presentation and asking for more. So, I am packing up now for the afternoon excursion around the inlet that is the last stop we make before the relatively developed areas of Manaus.

FIASHING IN THE AREA OF BADAJOS,

THEN WALLOW IN A PAINFULLY SPECTACULAR SUNSET

OVER THE GILDED AMAZON AND THE GIANT PADS OF THE

VICTORIA AMAZONICA LILLY

I was surprised to hear my name called to board the fishing raft to go out and try our luck again to catch a piranha or tow. I had not signed up, so I suspect they had just added me. I caught a catfish or two and saw the nearby fisherfolk of the village of Badajos who had caught the giant pacu—the herbivorous piranha. But that was the beginning of a story that ended in a glorious flaming sunset.

We were chasing around amid the pink dolphin surfacing around us as the sun went down. Tonight, for some reason, the sunset was glorious beyond ability to describe it and almost painfully brilliant with the rainforest silhouetted and the foreground filled with blooming water hyacinths and the spectacular raft-size giant lily pads of Victoria Amazonica. I shot a few exposures, then realized that this is a lifetime sunset, and shot a few more. The lily pads themselves would have made the trip worthwhile, but here is the glorious background against which this setting is made unique. It is good to be alive!

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