Underground Orchid

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Underground Orchid :: Rhizanthella gardneri
Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 006

The Underground Orchid is a critically endangered flowering plant, native to Western Australia.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (15:33) Citations
  • (16:33) Music
  • (28:34) Pledge


Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Underground Orchid.



Species Information 02:05

The Underground Orchid is a critically endangered flowering plant, native to Western Australia. 

The Underground Orchid is a species of extraordinary adaptation, a flower that lives mostly underground. It lacks chlorophyll, does not photosynthesize, and therefore has no leaves or green coloration. Its main body is a horizontal underground stem called a rhizome, that stores water and nutrients, that generally measures 2 to 5 inches long. Leaf-like structures, called bracts, and clusters of tiny 1/8 inch flowers sprout from the rhizome at or just above ground-level. The cream, purple and pink-ish leaf-like bracts cup and curve over the red flower clusters, looking a bit like a tulip half-buried in the earth. What appear to be flower petal are in fact the leaf-like bracts, and what appear to be stamen, are in fact the whole flowers, themselves.

Since it does not photosynthesize, the Underground Orchid relies on a complex of symbiotic relationships with a fungus and the broom honey myrtle shrub. The fungus colonizes the orchid’s roots, acting as a conduit for essential nutrients and in return, the orchid provides the fungus with a suitable habitat. This same fungus also forms a relationship with the roots of the broom honey myrtle shrub, assisting the shrub in nutrient and water uptake. The shrub, in turn, provides the fungus with carbohydrates produced through photosynthesis, and the underground orchid indirectly benefiting from the broom honey myrtle’s photosynthetic output via the fungus.

The Underground Orchid reproduces both sexually and via asexual vegetative propagation. Its sexual reproduction involves flowering, then pollination, likely facilitated by small underground or surface insects like ants and termites), and then once fertilized, seeds are produced in fleshy fruits which take several months to mature. The exact mechanism of seed dispersal remains unknown, but the fossil record suggests that small mammals like bandicoots or potoroos may have contributed to seed dispersal through consumption of the fruits.

The Underground Orchid also reproduces asexually through the extension of the rhizome, growing new off-shoots, effectively cloning the parent plant. These cloned offspring cannot fertilize each other or the parent, so though short-term survival can occur through this means it is not a viable longterm population growth strategy.

The Underground Orchid is native to Western Australia in the Corrigin area east of Perth. This is a semi-arid bushland with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The landscape consists of plains and hills with sandy or sandy-loam soils. Annual rainfall is less than 15 inches per year on average, with most of the rain falling during the cooler months. The orchid exclusively grows within thickets of broom honey myrtle, often interspersed with scattered Eucalyptus and Acacia trees. These thickets provide the shade and microclimate necessary for both the orchid and the myrtle’s success.

The Underground Orchid has developed several adaptations for its low-rainfall habitat. First, obviously, it mostly grows underground, shielding it from harsh sun and drying winds. The absence of leaves minimizes water loss. And the orchid’s flowering and seed production coincide with periods of higher rainfall.

The orchid shares its habitat with: Scrub-heath shrubs, Malleefowl, Gum trees, Berry saltbush, wallaby, cockatoo, skinks, Eucalyptus, possum, Acacia, lichen, snakes, geckos, kangaroos, of course the broom honey myrtle shrub and many many more.



————

In the dream, in the dark, the ever cool dark, in the dream our hands entwined, an intimacy, a giving, taking, holding and waiting and reaching and growing in concert harmony and dissonance, a crescendo a blossoming on a tiny dirt stage. fruiting in that sharp first light. In the dream.

————




Due to its highly specialized adaptations, the limited availability of suitable habitat poses a significant threat to the Underground Orchid population. Its intertwined reliance on fungi and thriving thickets of broom honey myrtle challenges its spread and growth even in a stable habitat. But of course human encroachment and human induced climate change are pressuring the orchid’s native ecosystem. 

A warming climate is reducing rainfall in the region, affecting the broom honey myrtle by decreasing its biomass and its leaf litter fall. This impacts soil nutrient cycling, moisture retention, and critical fungal activity. 

Local human development and agricultural practices risk chemical spray drift and are changing drainage patterns, reducing water availability and compacting and eroding the soil. Rising salinity in the watertable, also caused by agriculture, reduces fresh water availability for these plants

Human-introduced invasive species, such as rabbits and fast growing weeds, further threaten the orchid. While the exact impact of weeds is uncertain, they likely compete with the orchid, honey myrtle and its associated fungus for soil moisture and nutrients. And weeds increase the risk of fire, which is particularly detrimental to the orchid during its flowering period.

The Underground Orchid is protected by the Australian Department of Environment and Conservation who are monitoring and surveying plant numbers and impact of threats, including early intervention into any wildfires which may threaten the species. Two habitat sites have been set aside as nature reserves.

The Underground Orchid was placed on the Critically Endangered Red List in 2020, their population is currently in decline.

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 9 Underground Orchid remain in the wild.



Citations 15:33

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/97853037/97854226
Plants, People, Planet, Volume 1, Issue 3 – https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.45
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizanthella_gardneri



Music 16:33



Pledge 28:34

I honor the lifeforce of the Underground Orchid. I will never know or see it, and so instead I will carry its human name in my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our bright planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Underground Orchid I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of any kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Sumatran Rhinoceros

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Sumatran Rhinoceros :: Dicerorhinus sumatrensis
Bad at Goodbyes : Episode 005

The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a critically endangered mammal native to Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (15:57) Rhino Singing!
  • (28:53) Citations
  • (30:40) Music
  • (39:23) Pledge



Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Sumatran Rhinoceros.



Species Information 02:05

The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a critically endangered mammal native to Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia.

The Sumatran Rhino is of course a rhinoceros, a species that the fossil record suggests originated 55 million years ago. Then believed to have arrived in Asia about 20 million years ago and then the Sumatran Rhino diverged from its immediate ancestor the long extinct ice age era Wooly Rhino in the Miocene period. So, as a unique species the Sumatran Rhino is roughly 9 million years old. For context, modern humans, homosapiens are only 300,000 years old.

An adult Sumatran Rhinoceros typically stands about 5 feet high, with a head to tail length of about 9 feet. Their weight averages roughly fifteen hundred pounds. The body is stocky and robust, characterized by a long head, a short neck, a thick torso, and a rounded rear with a thin short tail covered in bristly hairs that ends in a thick tuft.

They have short, stout, well-muscled legs, each ending in three toes. Each toe is tipped with a broad, hoof-like nail.

They have a long muzzle. Their eyes are small and dark, surrounded by wrinkly skin. Their ears are relatively large and fringed with hair, they can move and turn and perk them up, aiding in detecting sounds. Their nose is broad with nostrils spread far to each side of the face. They have a prehensile upper lip, prehensile means adapted for holding, seizing, grasping, that they use to grab vegetation. They are herbivores, so they pull greenery into their mouths and then their premolars and molars are specialized for grinding vegetation. They have two horns. The frontmost horn is significantly larger, typically 10 to 30 inches in length. The second horn is smaller, rarely exceeding 4 inches. Both horns are made of keratin, the same protein that makes up human nails and hair.

Though we think of rhinos as having a kind of specialized armored skin, theirs is the same as other mammals, just thicker. It’s primarily composed of three layers: the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis.

The outermost layer, the epidermis, provides a waterproof barrier and creates skin tone. In the Sumatran Rhinoceros, the epidermis is quite thick and covered in a sparse coat of bristly hair. This hair, though not nearly as thick as like the fur coat of other mammals, still provides some insulation and protection from the elements.

The dermis, the thick layer beneath the epidermis, contains tough connective tissue, hair follicles, sweat glands, and blood vessels that help regulate body temperature. This layer gives the skin its strength and flexibility.

The deepest layer, the hypodermis, is made mostly of fat and connective tissue. It acts as an insulator, conserving body heat.

Across all three layers the skin of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is adapted to a substantive thickness, three times what would be expected of a mammal of its size. It is believed that this adaptation is in response to now extinct predators, and to the density of the forest in its native habitat protecting it from puncture on branch or volcanic rocks.

Sumatran Rhinos are native to Southeast Asia, specifically the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Historically, they were found in a wider range, including China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia.

They are adapted to diverse terrains, ranging from lowland swamps and coastal areas to mountainous rainforests characterized by high biodiversity with ample precipitation and vegetation.

The climate is tropical, characterized by high humidity, abundant rainfall, and warm temperatures in the 80s year round. This region receives over 200 inches of rain on average.

Plant life includes dipterocarp trees, palms, Torchwood trees, Laurels, ferns, and orchids. Fauna includes fire-tufted barbet, tiger, tapir, graceful pitta, elephant, gibbon, Sumatran treepie and many many more.

The Sumatran Rhino shares its rainforest home with a remarkable and expansive biodiversity.

The Sumatran Rhino itself is a primarily solitary animal, living independently except for mothers with their calves, and brief in heterosexual pairs during the mating season. They establish home ranges, with males (called bulls) having territories up to 20 square miles, while females (called cows) occupy smaller ranges of 4 to 6 square miles. These ranges are spaced out for females with little overlap and interaction, but often do overlap for males.

Sumatran Rhinos are most active during dawn and dusk, primarily for feeding. During the day, they retreat to mud baths; scientists have named this behavior wallowing. It plays a vital role in regulating their body temperature and protecting their skin from parasites and insects. If no natural mud holes are available, they create new mudholes or deepen existing puddles with their feet and horns.

Research suggests that Sumatran Rhinos rotate between a few preferred wallows, using each for several weeks before moving on. They typically wallow in the middle of the day for two to four hours, and then venture out again to forage.

Sumatran Rhinos are herbivores with a diverse diet. Their preferred food sources include small trees, shrubs, and herbs. They are considered browsers, meaning they prefer foliage, rather than grazing on grasses like some other herbivores.

They are generalist herbivores and will sample a wide array of plants, but most feeding on leaves and twigs from saplings and small trees.

Using their prehensile upper lip, Sumatran Rhinos will grasp and pull vegetation into their mouths. They have specialized adaptations in their digestive tract to even break down woody branch fibers.

Although they have never been observed mating in the wild, Sumatran Rhinos are considered to be polyandrous, meaning the female will mate with several males during the breeding season. Females will indicate their fertility by vocalizing, scent marking, and raising their tails near males. Males will nudge the females and if she is receptive, they will mate. 

Pregnancy lasts 15 to 16 months, one of the longest among mammals. They birthing a single, reddish-haired approx 100 lbs calf. The new calf is entirely reliant on its mother who singularly provides food and protection for the first year and half of life and continues to nurture their offspring until they reach independence at roughly 3 years old.

Females reach sexual maturity around 6 to 7 years old, and males reach sexual maturity around 10 years old. Females give birth only once every 3 to 4 years, seeing their young to independence before mating again.

It is estimated that the Sumatran Rhino can live up to 45 years in the wild.

Though they are generally solitary animals, they demonstrate intricate social behaviors and communication within their species. They use a variety of vocalizations, including whistles, eeps, and whale-calls, so-named by scientists because it sounds a bit like a higher pitched whale song.

Let me drop the music out for a second and share a brief recording of Delilah, a 3 year old sumatran rhino calf at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia, she’s singing.

In that recording, Delilah is receiving a bath from her human caretakers, an event they report that she seems to truly relish; it’s hard not to imagine that she sings in her delight?



————

In the dream I bask in unspecified pleasure, it is barely containable, it is big and childlike, in the dream I am a child, and yet in the dream I still know that not all children have the privilege of joy and I so hold a bit of my wishings for you, that you too may have once known, or one day might know an abundant heartbloooming celebration that has no cause, no origin but that I am and I live, we are and we live and we sing it, in our own tongue for ourselves when we need, and for anyone willing to listen. In the dream.

————



Scientists believe vocalizations may serve to attract potential mates, warn others of danger and establish territorial boundaries.

They also mark territory by scraping the soil with their feet and leaving excrement. Scent marking through urine and dung also provides other rhino information about that individual’s sex, reproductive status, and individual identity.

They also communicate at a distance by bending saplings that they do not eat into distinct patterns. Scientists believe these are landmarks, to indicate a junction in a trail.

When in proximity, Sumatran Rhino appear to use body language like posture, facial expression, and ear movement to convey intentions and emotions.

This diversity and complexity of communication is significant because they are not aggressive about defending their territory; though often males will have ranges that overlap with other males they have never been observed fighting, they use non-violent behaviors to resolve resource and reproductive disputes.

In their interactions in the wild with other species, Sumatran Rhinos exhibit shyness and predator avoidance, particularly from tigers who occasionally prey on their young. Their keen sense of smell and hearing detect threats and help them evade encounters.

They share their habitat peacefully with other large herbivores like elephants and tapirs, with whom they may indirectly communicate through scent marking and vocalizations to avoid competition for resources.

The Sumatran Rhinoceros play a pivotal role in sustaining their ecosystem through habitat modification, nutrient cycling, and seed dispersal, which supports overall biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

As they range for food they create and maintain trails, forging corridors through inhospitable terrain. These trails are used by generations of rhino and also by elephant, deer, boar, and wild dog.

Their ability to dig for water leads to the creation of new waterholes, helping other fauna in their habitat by creating additional access to underground water supply.

Their wallowing behavior also contributes to nutrient cycling. When they roll about in the mud, the rhinos extract enriched sections of fertile soil that coats their skin and they carry these essential nutrients to other areas stimulating plant growth there.

Additionally, they act as seed dispersal agents. Which I love considering. We’ve discussed plant reproduction adapted for wind and water and gravity seed dispersals. Now, rhino dispersal. Their substantial daily dietary intake results in a lot of nutrient-rich dung containing a diverse array of seeds facilitating the propagation of plant species over considerable distances.

All of which directly and indirectly supports both flora and fauna in their habitat. I feel like we are learning this again and again each week: Everyone is vital in every ecosystem.

Threats to the Sumatran Rhino include immediate human encroachment on their habitat, the long term effects of human induced climate change, historical overhunting, and current poaching.

Human encroachment includes forest conversion into commodities and plantations, road development, and natural resource collection, like logging and fishing, all of which reduce the rhino available habitat and increase competition for the resources therein.

Human induced climate change is affecting weather patterns in Sumatra, including unfamiliar shifts in the jet stream El Nino, resulting in decreased rainfall, increased wildfires, and increased risk of extreme damaging weather events.

Historical overhunting has led to a dire population bottleneck, resulting in inbreeding which affects the longterm genetic viability of the species.

Poaching is driven by the demand for the supposed medicinal properties of rhino horns and their male reproductive organs. Petty narcissistic idiot human men, think they will become better sexual partners though ingesting rhino parts, and there is lucrative international blackmarket trade in this foolish cruelty.

Fortunately the Sumatran Rhinos habitat falls within three Indonesian Protected Reserves: Bukit Barisan National Park, Gunung Leuser National Park, and Way Kambas National Park the last of which also houses the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. The Rhino has been legally protected internationally since the mid-1970s and Rhino Protection Units have been established by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry to actively combat poaching.

Captive breeding and release programs have been explored since the early 1980s with low success, though the Cincinnati zoo welcomed surviving calves in 2000 and 2013.

The Sumatran Rhinoceros was added to the IUCN Red List of Critically endangered species in 2019 and its population is currently in decline.

It is estimated that less than 50 Sumatran Rhinoceros remain in the wild.



Citations 18:40

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/6553/18493355
International Rhino Foundation – https://rhinos.org/blog/the-curse-of-the-unicorn/ and singing Delilah – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ-lQ4ABlCU
PBS’s Nature – https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/rare-millennia-sumatran-rhinos-brink-extinction/ and https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/rhinoceros-introduction/1179/
World Wildlife Federation – https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sumatran-rhino
Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan – https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Dicerorhinus_sumatrensis/
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_rhinoceros



Music 19:58



Pledge 29:01

I honor the lifeforce of the Sumatran Rhinoceros. I will endeavor to hold its name, a seed of awe and remembrance, gently on my lips. I am grateful to have shared time on our small bright planet with this amazing little being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Sumatran Rhinoceros I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of any kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Jellyfish Tree

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Jellyfish Tree :: Medusagyne oppositifolia
Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 004

The Jellyfish Tree is a critically endangered tropical tree native to the Seychelles Islands, in the Indian Ocean, roughly 900 miles east of the African continent.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (22:43) Citations
  • (24:29) Music
  • (33:13) Pledge



Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Jellyfish Tree.



Species Information 02:05

The Jellyfish Tree is a critically endangered tropical tree native to the Seychelles Islands, in the Indian Ocean, roughly 900 miles east of the African continent.

The Jellyfish Tree is a small tree, typically reaching heights of roughly 40 feet. Its trunk is slender, with dark, fissured bark. Branches are numerous and spreading, resulting in a dense, rounded crown of foliage. Its vibrant green leaves, that grow up to 3 inches in length, are glossy and leathery in texture, with wavy, slightly scalloped edges.

The Jellyfish Tree is andromonoecious, meaning male and bisexual flowers present on the same individual. These small, white blossoms measure about a half-inch in diameter, grow in downward hanging clusters and feature many long, thin stamens. Stamen are the pollen-producing male reproductive organ. So, the upside down cupped flowers have numerous stamens that radiate down and outwards, which do, in fact, resemble the tentacles of a jellyfish.

These flowers are primarily pollinated by the wind, though insects like flies and small bees may also play a role. The tree’s copious pollen production seems adapted for wind pollination, but the presence of some nectar in the flowers suggests an adaptation to attract insect pollinators.

The Jellyfish Tree has a relatively long reproductive cycle. Flowering and pollen-release typically occur in the late dry season, roughly September, October, November. After successful pollination, fruit development is gradual, with mature fruit appearing between 6-9 months later, late in the following spring, early summer.

The small, round roughly 1 inch fruits begin as green and gradually turn reddish-brown. When the fruit dries, its outer layer dehisces, meaning it splits open, at the top, into a kind of umbrella shape, a jellyfish-ish shape. So the fruit opens, and inside, the seeds are held within a network of fibers, and this structure aids in wind dispersal, like how an umbrella catches big gusts. The seeds have papery wings and when blown from the opened fruit, disperse widely. This dispersal process can take days or even weeks, depending on wind conditions and the distance the seeds travel.

In the wild, Jellyfish Tree seeds have very low germination rates. Scientists suspect they need very specific conditions, possibly involving high humidity, or particular soil microorganisms to successfully germinate.

The germination process is basically the awakening of a dormant seed into a new plant. For that process to begin, certain environmental conditions need to be met. These conditions vary from species to species, but a quick overview in general we’re looking for presence of water, optimal temperature, presence of oxygen, presence or absence of light, and soil conditions like depth, acidity, or nutrient content. So in the case of the jellyfish tree, scientists are uncertain what specific conditions are critical to triggering germination, though they suspect humidity likely plays a role.

Once initiated, germination begins with imbibition, where the seed soaks up water, swelling the seed, weakening the seed coat, and activating internal enzymes. Those enzymes break down stored food reserves within the seed, transforming them into usable energy for rapidly growing cells. The internal pressure from the growing cells causes the weakened seed coat to rupture. The radicle pushes through this opening, emerging into the soil. Radicle is the name given to the first part of a seedling to emerge from the seed, like the first embryonic root.

No matter from which direction the radicle emerges, it will grow downward. This adaptation is called geotropism, plant growth in response to gravity. This is so amazing. So a quick simplified explanation of this. Within the cells of the radicle are starch-filled statoliths and the hormone auxin which inhibits cell growth. The statoliths are heavy, starch filled and due to gravity sink to the bottom, displacing the auxin. The auxin accumulates on the upper side, prohibiting growth and so as the root cells grow and divide, they do so downwardly (away from the auxin).

This downard growth is critical in ensuring access to the water and soil nutrients necessary for survival. It also anchors the young seedling in the ground.

With the first roots established, the stem begins to grow upwards emerging from the soil. The first leaves soon follow initiating food production, photosynthesis. Food that powers further growth and gradual maturation.

After a few years, it reaches the sapling stage, a phase marked by strengthening of root, trunk, and branches. And eventually with time and the right conditions, the sapling grows into a mature Jellyfish Tree, ready to produce flowers and the seeds that will continue the reproductive cycle. This entire process, from seed dispersal to a mature tree capable of reproduction, can take decades.



————

In the dream, I am, as ever, a disappointing student. In the dream when I study in the shade of the deep green teachers, the lighteaters, the breatheworkers, my attention wanes. At first I am cherishing the slow language of wind carrying seed, and feeling inspired to open to our earths’ forces, inviting them to affect my path, and then I’m thinking about lunchtime. At first I marvel and imagine modeling a striving downward growth, a rooting, holding firm in place, and then I’m wondering about who might want to kiss me. And though I repeatedly fail my lessons, worrying about money, cranky when the train is stalled, my teachers persevere, remain encouraging with their foliage shimmering. And so I will, once again, commit to my studies and promise to be a better listener, in my days and in the dream.

————



Based on genetic studies scientists estimate that the Jellyfish Tree diverged from its closest relatives during the Late Cretaceous period, around 60 million years ago. But the Jellyfish Tree has leathery, waxy leaves, that reduce water transpiration, suggesting it is drought tolerant, which is curious, because it lives on a wet island. Scientists hypothesize these adaptations evolved when the Seychelles islands were still a part of the mainland of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana which would make the Jellyfish Tree over 150 million years old as a species.

Let’s take a quick tangent into prehistoric plate tectonics. This is a simplified timeline of how the Seychelles formed:

Around 170 million years ago, Gondwana, the giant supercontinent, which encompassed modern-day South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia, began to split apart. The Indian subcontinent drifted away from Africa, and a fragment of continental crust broke off from it. This fragment eventually became the Seychelles microcontinent.

The Seychelles microcontinent, including the granite that forms the islands’ bedrock, continued to drift northward with the Indian subcontinent. But then approximately 65 million years ago, the Seychelles microcontinent separated from India as the Indian Plate continued to move northward. The Seychelles remained, now isolated in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Over tens of millions of years, the granite bedrock of the Seychelles was eroded and shaped by weathering and wave action leading to the formation of the diverse landscapes, beaches, and unique granite rock formations seen on the islands today. 

These rock formations are the Jellyfish Trees’ contemporary home.

The Jellyfish Tree is solely found in a roughly 25 square mile area, on Mahé island in the Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean, all populations growing less than two miles from the coast.

This area is the Seychelles’ Granitic Islands Ecoregion, which is characterized by lush, tropical forests, tall granite peaks, and expansive beaches. The climate is tropical, with warm temperatures year-round. Summer highs typically reach the mid-90s, while winter lows rarely dip below 75°F. Annual rainfall is abundant, averaging 110 inches of precipitation, with the wettest months occurring from December to February.

The Jellyfish Tree has adapted to a specific niche within this ecoregion. It clings to crevices and cracks on exposed granite slopes and inselbergs. Inselbergs are isolated hills, ridges, or small mountains that rise abruptly from otherwise flat plains, so like a single extrusion popping out from a flat landscape. These areas are characterized by shallow soils, intense sunlight, and occasional strong winds. 

The Jellyfish tree shares this habitat with Flying fox, pitcher plant, Stilt palm, Tiger Chameleon, magpie robin, Bamboo, scops owl, palm frog, Kestrel, Blue Pigeon, Brush-footed Butterfly, Tree fern, Vanilla orchid, and many more.

Soon after the arrival of first settlers on Mahé in the late 1700s, the forests of the island were exploited for timber and cleared for agriculture and plantations. By the late 1800s the viable habitat for native plants was greatly reduced with few patches of native forests remaining. Additionally the anthropogenic (meaning human-caused) introduction of alien species has impacted native forests over the last 150 years. Competition for resources like sunlight and soil-nutrient has restricted native species to less hospitable environs like the granite outcrops where we find the Jellyfish Tree today.

Since the early 20th Century, the species was thought to be extinct in the wild, until a stand of native trees were ‘rediscovered’ in the 1970s.

Today, habitat loss and invasive species continue to threaten the Jellyfish tree, deforestation for agriculture and development, and non-native plants that outcompete the Jellyfish tree for essential resources, hindering its growth and ability to reproduce. 

Additionally, human induced climate change, with rising temperatures, increased wildfires, altered weather patterns, and potential sea level rise pose further threat.

Jellyfish Tree propagation programs are ongoing at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Biodiversity Center Mahé, Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh. Three of the known native populations of the jellyfish tree are within the Morne Seychellois National Park, but the tree itself is not legally protected.

The Jellyfish Tree was added to the IUCN Red List of Critically Endangered species in 1998, and their population is in decline.

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 90 Jellyfish Tree remain in the wild.



Citations 22:43

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/37781/10072208 

Journal of Molecular Ecology: Volume 20, Issue 18 – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05228.x 

New Phytologist: Volume 171, Issue 3 – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01787.x 

International Journal of Plant Sciences: Volume 175, Number 7 – https://doi.org/10.1086/676984 

Aline Finger’s doctoral dissertation “Ecological And Genetic Processes Underlying Allee Effects Among Tree Populations In The Context Of Divergent Population Histories” – https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/handle/20.500.11850/153625/eth-5967-02.pdf 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusagyne 




Music 24:29



Pledge 33:13

I honor the lifeforce of the Jellyfish Tree. I will carry its human name in my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our bright planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Jellyfish Tree I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant or animal kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Red Wolf

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Red Wolf :: Canis rufus
Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 003

The Red Wolf is a critically endangered mammal native to southeastern North America, specifically the coast of North Carolina.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (29:06) Citations
  • (30:46) Music
  • (41:47) Pledge



Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Red Wolf.



Species Information 02:05

The Red Wolf is a critically endangered mammal native to southeastern North America, specifically the coast of North Carolina.

The Red Wolf is a medium-sized canid with a slender build, measuring roughly 5 feet in length and averaging roughly 60lbs. They stand roughly 2 feet tall, measured at the shoulder.

They have a long, narrow muzzle and a wide head with large, pointed ears. Their legs are long and slender, with large paws, four toes on each hind paws. Four toes on the front paws plus a dewclaw, which is a vestigial toe located slightly above the paw, that aids in traction and gripping prey. It has a digitigrade stance, meaning it walks on its toes, an adaptation that contributes to highly-agile movement.

The coat of a Red Wolf is a mix of colors, primarily brown, beige, and grayish black, with a red tinge often highlighting the ears, head, and legs. This coloration helps the wolf blend into its habitat. The fur is medium-length, providing insulation and protection from the elements. In winter, the reddish hues become more prominent.

They have a medium-size black nose, and their sense of smell is exceptional, allowing them to detect prey over long distances, identify pack members, and interpret scent markings left by other wolves.

Red Wolves typically have yellow or amber-colored eyes. Their vision, while not as specialized as their sense of smell, is well-adapted for both daytime and nighttime hunting. They possess good low-light vision and a wide field of view, enabling them to detect movement in potential prey.

They have large ears, in relation to their head size, and their hearing is acute, capable of picking up faint sounds from prey or other wolves.

Red Wolves are highly social animals, living in packs that typically consist of a breeding pair and their offspring from multiple generations. Within the pack, there is a defined hierarchy, with the breeding pair holding the dominant position, leading the pack in hunting, defending territory, and raising young. The social dynamics of Red Wolf packs are complex. Cooperation and coordination are essential and individual wolves take on different roles throughout their lifespan. 

Communication within the pack includes a range of vocalizations, body postures, and scent marking. Howling serves as a long-distance communication tool, used for territorial displays, rallying pack members, and maintaining social bonds. Other vocalizations include barks, whimpers, and growls, each conveying information about the wolf’s emotional state or intentions.

Red Wolf also rely on nonverbal communication, like nuzzling and licking each other’s faces as a sign of affection and greeting. This is particularly common between breeding pairs and between parents and pups.

Similar to domestic dogs, Red Wolf will wag their tail to express happiness and excitement.

And though subtle, Red Wolf also communicate through facial expressions such as ear position, twitching their noses, baring teeth, and narrowing eyes.

Play behavior has been observed in both young and adults, which is thought to reinforce social bonds, establish hierarchy and to help young wolf practice important skills.

Red Wolves are monogamous, forming strong pair bonds that often last a lifetime. Courtship behaviors involve play, grooming, and scent marking. Mating and birthing typically occurs once a year, mating between January and March, with a gestation period of about two months, so birthing in April or May.

Den are carefully selected by the breeding pair, often in secluded areas like hollow logs, burrows, or dense vegetation, providing a safe haven for new pups, protection from predators and the elements. The female gives birth to a litter of 3 to 6 pups, although larger litters of up to 12 have been recorded. Newborn pups are blind and deaf, relying on their parents for nourishment.

Both parents play an active role in raising the pups, with the male often bringing food back to the den while the female nurses and cares for the young. Packs are alloparental, meaning other packmembers, usually older siblings from previous litters, also contribute to pup rearing, providing protection, grooming, and play. As pups grow, they begin to explore their surroundings and learn essential skills like hunting and social interaction from the adults.

Red Wolves reach sexual maturity around 1-2 years old, but they continue to develop physically and socially for several years. In this extended period of development they learn essential skills for survival, like hunting strategy, and complex communication and social interaction.

On average, in the wild, Red Wolf live about 8 years. 

Red Wolves are opportunistic carnivores, meaning their diet adapts to the available prey in their environment. Their primary food source is white-tailed deer. They also consume smaller mammals like rabbits, rodents, and raccoons. They are adaptable feeders, and their diet will vary seasonally depending on the availability of prey. They may also scavenge carrion or consume fruits and berries when other food sources are scarce.

Red Wolves employ a combination of stealth, speed, and endurance to capture prey. They often hunt at dawn and dusk, taking advantage of low light conditions to stalk their prey undetected. Working cooperatively as a pack, they can successfully hunt larger animals like the white-tailed deer, which a lone wolf would be unable to subdue. Once a kill is made, the wolves will consume the most nutritious parts first, such as the organs and muscle tissue. The Red Wolf occupies a top position in its food chain.

Historically, the Red Wolf’s native habitat once encompassed a vast area of the southeastern United States, stretching from Texas to Pennsylvania. Today they are restricted to roughly 250 square miles on the North Carolina coast, within the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, roughly 150 miles east of Raleigh.

This is the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain bioregion, a landscape characterized by low-lying terrain and abundant waterways including brackish marshes, hardwood swamps, evergreen shrub bogs, and pocosin wetlands. Pocosins, unique to the southeastern US coast, are shrub-covered wetlands perched atop sandy rises, forming a “swamp-on-a-hill.”

It’s a humid subtropical climate, with four distinct seasons, with hot summers and relatively mild winters. Summer highs reach the 90s °F, winter lows dip to just around freezing. The area receives 55 inches of annual rainfall resulting in lush greenery.

The Red Wolf shares this habitat with Barred Owl, fetterbush, scarab beetles, Black Bear, swamp lily, Common Yellowthroat, White-tailed Deer, bald cypress trees, Water Moccasin, Green Heron, American Goldfinch, River Otter, Resurrection Fern, Iris, Bald Eagle, Opossum, Swallowtail Butterfly, Rose Pogonia, Prairie Warbler, Eastern Box Turtle, Monarch Butterfly, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Wax Myrtle, Raccoon, Carnivorous Pitcher Plants, Great Egret, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, American Alligator, Spanish Moss, Yellow Fringed Orchid, Fireflies, Marbled Salamander, and many many more.



————

In the dream, there are no guns, in the dream there are no men with guns, that is all, that is the whole dream. A narrow dirt trail, through thick green woods, trod by generations of the pack. The long lingering scent of family.

And no smell of man, or of gunsmoke. That’s all, a forest path and no men with guns, in the dream.

————



The historic decline of the Red Wolf population stems from multiple overlapping anthropogenic activities, anthropogenic, simply means human-caused. 

Human encroachment is a major factor in the loss and degradation of their habitat. Extensive land clearing, throughout the Southeastern US, for agriculture, logging, and development has drastically reduced the forests and wetlands of the Red Wolf’s native environment.

From the late 18th through the early 20th century, private and government-sponsored predator control programs resulted in the widespread killing of Red Wolf. Wolves are often perceived as a threat to livestock and game animals, leading to their sanctioned slaughter via trapping and individual and organized hunts with firearms.

Relatedly, the overhunting of white-tailed deer, for food and sport, the Red Wolf’s primary prey, has also contributed to their decline.

Today, Human-induced climate change poses an imminent threat. Their current habitat rests just 3 feet above sea level and federal climate scientists forecast 2-7 foot sea level rise in this area of the North Carolina coast by the end of this century.

But currently the leading cause of death and population decline amongst wild Red Wolves are vehicle strikes and gunshots. Negligent human drivers running them over with their cars and trunks. And cowardly small minded human landowners with easy access to underregulated firearms illegally shooting them.

The Red Wolf was first listed as “threatened with extinction” under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967. With the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Red Wolf’s status was elevated to “endangered,” granting it even stronger legal protection.

At that time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a captive breeding program. Over 400 canids were captured from the remaining wild population. But only 14 were deemed pure Red Wolf and formed the foundation of the captive breeding program. Despite these efforts, the Red Wolf was declared extinct in the wild by 1980.

But in 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced a small group of captive-bred Red Wolf to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The animals began to establish territories, form packs, and successfully reproduce in their native habitat. This is a substantive conservation accomplishment, the Red Wolf was rewilded.

Throughout the 1990s, the Red Wolf population at Alligator River Refuge steadily grew and by the mid-2010s, the Red Wolf population had reached an estimated 120 individuals. 

In the last decade though, the wild population of Red Wolf has been in decline, due to, as mentioned before, poaching and vehicle strikes. To address these issues, the Fish and Wildlife Service has intensified law enforcement efforts, installed wildlife crossing signs and fencing to reduce road mortality, and increased public outreach and education programs.

The Fish and Wildlife Service continues to maintain the captive breeding program, systematically studying, tracking and reintroducing Red Wolf into the wild. I would like to share with you a few highlights from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s June 2024 Red Wolf Recovery Program Update. I found this report oddly moving, so I compiled five entries and will read them to you now, pretty much verbatim.

I should note that the Red Wolf wild population is all tagged by numbers, so the following numbers refer to specific individual wolves.

  • In January 2024, four of the wild Red Wolf pups (2499M, 2500M, 2502F and 2503F) born into the Milltail family group on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Spring 2023 were captured, fitted with orange collars with orange reflective material, and re-released. 
  • In February 2024, a wild female Red Wolf (2359F) was captured by private trappers and handed over to Red Wolf Recovery Program biologists. To try and create a new breeding pair, she was placed in an acclimation pen in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge with a male (2443M) born in at the Endangered Wolf Center as part of the Red Wolf Captive Program. They did not have a litter, so 2359F was released in June 2024. For now, 2443M will remain in the pen and future attempts will be made to pair him with a wild female and release them if successful.
  • On February 25, 2024, an adult wild female Red Wolf (2538F) was captured on private lands and added to the known population. She is estimated to be 7 years old. 
  • On April 8, 2024, a wild female Red Wolf (2280F) was captured after exhibiting uncharacteristic behavior for her, such as being visible close to open farm field roads, acting very lethargic, and appearing to have vision issues. She was diagnosed with an untreatable cancerous mass on her brain and the decision was then made to humanely euthanize her.
  • Last December, a wild female Red Wolf (2413F) was captured by Red Wolf Recovery Program biologists and placed in an acclimation pen with a male (2444M), born at the Endangered Wolf Center to try to encourage a new breeding pair. This was successful and this April the new pair had a litter of 5 pups in the acclimation pen and they were all released in late May 2024. The family group moved a few miles away from the acclimation pen and settled in; 2444M appeared to be transitioning well into the wild and as a new father. Tragically, his life in the wild was cut way too short and he was a vehicle strike mortality on Highway 64 on June 5. Monitoring of 2413F and the pups will continue, and feasible management actions will be taken to assist with survival of the pups, if possible, after the loss of their father.


Though there are many reasons to celebrate the Red Wolf conservation program as a profound and frankly species-saving success, nevertheless the species has been considered Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and their population is currently in decline.

Most recent counts estimate that less than 20 Red Wolf remain in the wild.



Citations 29:06

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/3747/163509841

Journal of Heredity, Volume 109, Issue 5 – https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esy020

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – https://www.fws.gov/project/red-wolf-recovery-program

National Wildlife Federation – https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Red-Wolf 

Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute – https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/red-wolf 

Journal of Biological Conservation, Volume 262, October 2021 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109321

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_wolf 



Music 30:46



Pledge 41:47

I honor the lifeforce of the Red Wolf. I keep its human name in my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our small bright planet with this amazing little being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Red Wolf I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of any plant or animal kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Chinese Swamp Cypress

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Chinese Swamp Cypress :: Glyptostrobus pensilis
Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 002

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is a critically endangered conifer native to southeast Asia, specifically south and southeastern China, Laos, and southern Vietnam.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (23:05) Citations
  • (24:50) Music
  • (32:56) Pledge



Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other, and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Chinese Swamp Cypress.



Species Information 02:05

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is a critically endangered conifer native to southeast Asia, specifically south and southeastern China, Laos, and southern Vietnam.

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is a deciduous conifer that reaches 65-100 feet in height with a trunk diameter averaging 2 feet to 4 feet, though a recently discovered stand in Laos had individuals whose trunks ranged from 6 to 11 feet in diameter and reached heights over 150 feet.

It generally grows in a pyramidal, or cone shape, like a classic christmas tree with spreading lower branches and upward pointed but drooping branches at the top giving the tree a kind of softened silhouette. The bark is thick, grayish-brown, and as it ages the bark presents vertical fissures revealing a rich red color from the cambium. The cambium is the cellular layer right beneath the bark, these are actively growing cells that differentiate into new bark or new sapwood.

Quick simplified cross section of a tree trunk:
The outer bark, which I think we all know (and love) is the tree’s protective layer. It keeps out excess moisture during heavy rain, and holds in moisture during dry spells. It insulates the tree against cold and heat, and protects against insects.

The second layer is the inner bark, which moves nutrients throughout the tree.

Then the cambium, which as mentioned, is the growing layer. It responds to hormones to either become new bark or new sapwood.

And then next, sapwood is the tree’s pipeline for moving water from the tree’s roots up to the branches and leaves. As cambium cells become new outer rings of sapwood, inner ring cells become heartwood.

So then the last layer is the heartwood, the sturdy central core of the tree. These cells are technically dead, but they do not decay and remain stable and strong as long as the outer layers of the trunk are intact.

So with the Chinese Swamp Cypress, as the tree ages its bark layers split, or fissure, in rough vertical lines, so we can see that red cambium layer beneath.

The root system of the Chinese Swamp Cypress grows pneumatophores, (commonly called Cypress knees) which are these woody structures that grow upward, vertically from the roots, extending above the ground in various shapes, ranging from small knobs to tall, pointed projections. Scientist are uncertain of the specific role these growths play, though there are three leading proposed hypotheses:

One, that cypress knees facilitate the exchange of gasses, primarily oxygen, between the tree’s roots and the atmosphere.

Two, the knees may act as anchors, providing additional support for the tree in soft, swampy soil.

Three, that cypress knees help trap and accumulate sediment around the base of the tree, so protecting the roots from erosion and creating a more nutrient-rich environment.

In the Chinese Swamp Cypress these knees can extend as far as 20 feet from the base of the trunk.

The branchlet system of the Chinese Swamp Cypress is dimorphic. Um, two terms to unpack from that sentence. Branchlet, picture a tree, its trunk, the branches that sprout from the trunk, and then twigs, stems, little bits that sprout from the branches are called branchlets. And then the other term, dimorphic, just means taking two forms. So the branchlet system is dimorphic, a single branch will have some branchlets that grow long slender needle-like leaves, and other branchlets that grow small, wider, overlapping scale-like leaves.

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is deciduous, meaning it sheds its leaves annually, this is unusual for conifers, and is particularly specialized in the Chinese Swamp Cypress based on the branchlet system. The needle-like leaves will transform into a really beautiful deep reddish-brown color in autumn and shed in the winter, while the smaller scale-like branchlets persist throughout the year.

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is monecious, it has both male and female reproductive organs flower on the same individual. Its flowers are inconspicuous, which is a botanical term for flowers that do not have showy bright colors or strong fragrances, they’re not adapted to attract pollinators like birds or insects. The Chinese Swamp Cypress is wind-pollinated. Male cones hang downward in tassel-like clusters and produce large amounts of light and powdery pollen, easily carried by the wind. The female cones, that bud in a 1in pear shape, have sticky scales that capture the pollen grains as they blow by.

Once fertilized, the female cones develop into seeds, gradually maturing, expanding and hardening into woody structures. Unlike many other conifers, the mature cones of the Chinese Swamp Cypress disintegrate, breaking apart to release the ripened seeds. These winged seeds are then carried, again by the wind, to new soil, where they have the potential to germinate, root, sprout and grow into new saplings.



————

In the dream, I am myself, um, sadly, I want to dream mysteriously, as other, expansively, and yet in this dream I am me, hairless thin skinned mammal more than halfway through projected lifespan, unlikely to reproduce. But, joyfully in the dream I somehow have a slower sense of time. Without impatience, without the phantom vibrate of my phone, I can watch the long windings of the wind and the pollen on it and the coneflower fertilized, green growing brown, woodening, and the months are passing easy now, without regret. And then the slow disintegration of cone to reveal fluttering seeds. Another journey on the wind, many scattered to the stream, many snack for spotted Wren, many fall on stone. Yet one into a soft soaked silt embrace; a kind of hopefulness I think. The kind worth waiting for, in the dream.

————



The Chinese Swamp Cypress is native to the subtropical and tropical regions of south and southeastern China and Laos and Vietnam. These are moist lowland and swamp biomes characterized by warm temperatures, high humidity, and abundant rainfall.

The tree grows in and along the banks of slow-moving rivers, in flood deltas, and in swampland. These are wetlands, interspersed with patches of drier land with terrain that is generally flat or gently sloping; the water table is close to the surface. Soils are nutrient-rich, composed of loose clay and silt deposits and organic matter accumulated over time. Well-adapted to these waterlogged conditions, Chinese Swamp Cypress have been observed thriving in waters even up to two feet deep.

The climate of this region is characterized by hot, humid summers with temperatures reaching the 90s, and mild winters with temperatures rarely falling below 45 degrees. Annual rainfall is high, averaging roughly 70 inches per year, with the majority falling during the monsoon season, from May to mid-October.

The Chinese Swamp Cypress is a keystone species in this wetland environment, providing essential habitat and resources for a variety of life. Its foliage offers shelter and nesting sites for birds, while the submerged roots provide refuge for fish and other aquatic creatures. The cypress knees, which rise above the waterline, create microhabitats for organisms like algae and invertebrates. Its trunk, knees, and extensive root system stabilize the soil, preventing erosion. Its annual needle-fall contributes to nutrient cycling in the ecosystem.

It shares its habitat with Japanese Cedar, White-winged Duck, Hydrangea, short-tailed scimitar babbler, giant muntjac, Spotted Wren Babbler, Chinese Tupelo, red pine, fig, Wild boar, Annamite striped rabbit, Box-Leaved Holly, Japanese Winterberry, the recently described bovine mammal Saola, Cinnamon Fern, Red-collared Woodpecker, water gum, Magnolia, crested argus and many many more.

We have fossil record of the Chinese Swamp Cypress’s genus dating from the Cretaceous period, roughly 100 million years ago. Meaning dinosaurs grazed its branches and it survived the K–Pg extinction event, the asteroid impact and resultant climate upheaval 66 million years ago, which wiped out three-quarters of Earth’s plant and animal species including all non-avian dinosaurs. The Cypress survived.

It’s estimated that the oldest currently living wild specimen is over 650 years old.

Historically the Chinese Swamp Cypress has suffered severe population decline due to over-harvesting. The

The tree’s water-resistant, decay-resistant, scented wood has been extensively logged for building houses, furniture, boats. Today, though it is protected, it is still being illegally poached and is highly sought-after on luxury timbre black markets.

Human encroachment, both historically and currently, have profoundly diminished the tree’s native habitat: so things like agricultural expansion, urbanization, infrastructure projects. And, the resultant pollution contaminates surface and groundwater, affecting the tree’s growth and overall health.

Human induced climate change also poses a growing risk. Increasing temperatures and specifically changes in rainfall patterns are disrupting the wetland ecosystems the cypress thrives in.

The entire known population of Chinese Swamp Cypress in Laos is within the protected Nakai–Nam Theun National Park. The trees in Vietnam are protected in the Earal and Trap Kso nature reserves. There appear to be no remaining wild plants in China.

The Chinese Swamp Cypress was added to the IUCN Red List of Critically Endangered species in 2010 and its population is currently in decline.

It is estimated that less than 400 Chinese Swamp Cypress remain in the wild.



Citations 23:05

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/32312/177795446

International Dendrology Society’s “Trees and Shrubs Online Database” – https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/

The Gymnosperm Database – https://www.conifers.org/

Plant diversity; volume 41, issue 4 – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2019.06.007

Arnoldia; volume 78, issue 3 – https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/discovering-the-majestic-mai-hing-sam-of-laos/

US Forest Service’s “Anatomy of a Tree” – https://www.fs.usda.gov/learn/trees/anatomy-of-tree

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptostrobus_pensilis 



Music 24:50



Pledge 32:56

I honor the lifeforce of the Chinese Swamp Cypress. I will endeavor to hold its name, a seed of awe and remembrance, gently on my lips. I am grateful to have shared time on our small bright planet with this amazing being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Chinese Swamp Cypress I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of any plant or animal kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.




Sinai Baton Blue

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Sinai Baton Blue Butterfly :: Pseudophilotes sinaicus
Bad at Goodbyes :: Episode 001

The Sinai Baton Blue is a critically endangered butterfly native to north east Africa, specifically the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

  • (00:05) Intro
  • (02:05) Species Information
  • (23:30) Citations
  • (24:56) Music
  • (33:44) Pledge



Research for today’s show was compiled from



Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram. Please subscribe and rate/review Bad at Goodbyes Bad at Goodbyes wherever you listen to podcasts. Please help spread the word about the show, and about the species we feature. Please take care of each other and all of our fellow travelers.

A note on accuracy: I strive for it! These episodes are well-researched and built from scholarly sources, hoping to provide an informed and accurate portrait of these species. That said, I’m an ambient musician! I am not an academic and have limited scientific background. I may get things wrong! If you are using this podcast for scholarship of any kind, please see the cited sources and double-check all information.

__________

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Sinai Baton Blue Butterfly.



Species Information 02:05

The Sinai Baton Blue, is one of the world’s smallest butterflies, roughly the size of a thumbnail. Like look at your thumbnail and imagine a butterfly, it’s so tiny.

Its body is long and cylindrical, approximately a quarter inch in length, with a wingspan roughly three quarters of an inch wide.

It has a segmented body divided into three main sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen.

Two antennae are attached at the top of the head. These antennae are sense organs tuned to the smell of flowers, nectar, and to the pheromones of potential mates. They’re also thought to aid the butterfly in balance and directionality. Flying things have a different relationship to up and down compared to like walking beings. And so the antennae help the butterfly locate itself in space.

The butterfly has two compound eyes on the sides of its head. Compound eyes are made up of many small ommatidia, which are these clusters of photoreceptor cells that are pointed in slightly different directions. This allows the butterfly to see forwards, backwards, above and below themselves all at the same time, as well as interpret color and ultraviolet light. Their brain stitches all of this information together into a kind of fractured composite image of the world.

At the front underside of the head is the proboscis, the butterfly’s like mouth, mouthpart. It is a small wire-like structure that uncurls outward to drink liquids like water and nectar, like a straw.

The thorax is the middle section of the butterfly’s body, with six legs attached to the underside. These legs are for walking and climbing and balancing, and also for tasting. Butterfly feet, called tarsus, have specialized receptors that pickup chemical information from the surfaces they land on, like leaves and petals, which helps them identify potential food sources and promising host plants for their young.



————

In the dream colors, enormous. In the dream colors, enormous, kaleidoscopic, psychedelic, savory, and sweet. Magenta, Mauve, Blush, Primrose, Pinks, Pale, Antique, Cream, Candle, Whites, Kelly, Ecru, Emerald, Seafoam, Greens. And also all the new colors I now can see beyond and between the colors I’ve known. Color I can smell on the wind, color I can taste as I brush against it. In my language there is no name for the flavor of flower-petal against fingertip. There is no word for the taste of greenleaf on skin. Our earth holds a secret world of stunning abundance, much that I can never know. And so instead I dream. I dream.

————



Most butterfly, including the Sinai Baton Blue have four wings, two upper wings, and two lower hindwings, that are all attached to very strong thorax muscles that flap the wings in conjunction. 

The wings are covered in tiny, thread, or hairlike color scales. These scales, unique to butterflies and moths, present in three types: pigmented, diffractive, and androconia. Pigment scales hold colored chemicals that absorb some colors and reflect others. Diffractive scales, diffract light, like a prism resulting in iridescent and metallic colors. And the androconia scales produce pheromones, used for communication.

On the Sinai Baton Blue, the upper side of the wings, the dorsal side, displays a vibrant blue hue, diffractive scales. The ventral side, which is the underside, of the wings presents a complex pattern of white and brown and orange markings, with a series of black spots.

Those patterns are adapted to work as camouflage in the native habitat. And the then bright reflective side can be flashed open to surprise predators, or as a showy display to attract mates.

Butterfly wings also play an important role in thermoregulation. Butterfly are cold blooded, and will close their wings to retain body heat or in the sun, open their wings to direct warming light onto their thorax. And of course, butterfly use their wings to fly. 

All butterfly wings are, of course, like totally remarkable, and for me, the Sinai Baton Blue is a special case because it is so small, the tiny details in its patterning, the striking richness of its dorsal wing coloring, that it can like fly at all. So little and so so amazing.

Okay and the third segment of the butterfly’s body, the abdomen, holds vital organs. Its digestive tract, its respiratory system and its reproductive organs. Digestive tract processes nectar and expels waste. Butterfly breathe through spiracles which are these tiny holes, mostly clustered on the abdomen, that connect to tubes that spread oxygen throughout the body.

The Sinai Baton Blue reproduces sexually, there are female butterfly and male. Those reproductive organs are clustered near the tip of the abdomen.

Sinai Baton Blues have not been observed demonstrating courtship ritual, males simply attempt to mate upon finding a willing female. Females signal unwillingness by curling their abdomen, spreading wings, or flying away. But if the female is willing, the pair position themselves in a tail-to-tail orientation, with their abdomens joining at the tips.

The male possesses a specialized organ that transfers a sperm packet (called a spermatophore) to the female. The spermatophore contains genetic information (in the sperm) and nutrients that the female can use to nourish herself and the developing eggs. After copulation, which for the Sinai Baton Blue takes about an hour, the butterfly separate and the fertilized eggs gestate for about a day within the female’s abdomen before they are laid.

Sinai Baton Blue are extremely selective when it comes to laying their eggs. They exclusively lay 20-30 eggs on the budding flower clusters of Sinai Thyme plants. That’s T H Y M E, like the herb. Just want to underline that: They only lay eggs on the flowering buds of this specific plant, the Sinai Thyme.

Scientists have also observed a preference for flower clusters that haven’t already been used by other butterfly, and the mothers also seem to assess the developmental stage of the plant favoring those with more flower clusters, just starting to bud. So, very specific needs.

The eggs typically hatch within 3-7 days, depending on environmental conditions. The newly hatched larvae are tiny, less than a 16th of an inch, with a dark brown head and pale body. They eat their way out of the egg and begin to feed on the thyme buds. Larvae have only ever been observed feeding on Sinai Thyme. And they were never observed even moving between Sinai thyme plants, they come into adulthood, through stages of growth, molting, and metamorphosis on the same individual plant they were hatched on.

Sinai Baton Blue larvae have a highly specialized symbiotic relationship with two species of local ants: L. obtusa and M. niloticum. The larvae possess two organs singularity adapted to nurturing and communication with these ant species. One is a nectary organ, which secretes sugary droplets, a reward, for the ants, and the other tentacular organ, which releases signals of alert or danger, communicating with the ants when the larvae is threatened. So the Baton Blue larvae provides food for the ants, and the ants will come when called to provide protection for the larvae when it is threatened by predators.

After about 21 days of feeding and growing on Sinai Thyme buds, the larvae descend to the base of the plant and form pupae, entering a dormant stage that lasts through the winter. They later emerge in late spring, ready for reproduction, as fully adult butterflies.

That process from slow-inching larvae to sleeping pupa to flying butterfly is totally like miraculous and we’ve already covered a lot of awe-making material with the Sinai Blue, so I’m going to save the details of that that growth and transformation process which is similar across butterfly species, for a future episode. So, for now we’re just going to go with larvae goes in – It’s autumn, it’s winter, it’s spring, butterfly comes out.

Butterfly comes out at the roots of the Sinai thyme where it hatched, will spend its adulthood feeding on the nectar from the flowers of the Sinai Thyme, spreading the plants pollen, helping the thyme reproduce, and then before the end of its short roughly 6 day adult life, the Sinai Baton Blue will reproduce, laying eggs in the same patch of Thyme where it was born.

The Sinai Baton Blue butterfly is exclusively found on the slopes of Mount Sinai, in a roughly 5 sq mile, high-altitude region of the Saint Katherine Protectorate, a National Park, in south of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, roughly 200 miles SE of Cairo. This is a temperate arid biome characterized by mountainous terrain with deep valleys and steep slopes, with peaks reaching over 7000 feet above sea level.

Summer temperatures reach highs in the mid 90s °F with winter lows in the teens. The region sees less than 5 inches of precipitation, annually. Though in the winters, the mountains are blanketed in snow. That snow melts seeping into the ground and providing the area with almost all its water for the dry spring, summer and autumn months.

The Sinai Baton Blue shares its habitat with Nubian Ibex, Rosemary, Field Cricket, Sinai Primrose, Rock Hyrax, Horsemint, Red Fox, Sinai Agama Lizard, Sage, Mountain Hawthorn, Golden Spiny Mouse, Wild Fig, and of course Sinai Thyme.

The major threats to the Sinai Baton Blue butterfly are not to the immediate population itself but to their singular habitat, specifically their host plant the Sinai Thyme. It’s estimated that human induced climate change will result in 3-4 degree temperature rise in this region, leading to an additional month of drought each year, a reduction of viable habitat for the Sinai Thyme and loss of available resources for the butterfly, its larvae and its symbiotic ant partners.

The Sinai Thyme is also threatened with overgrazing by domesticated livestock, goats and sheep, and by overharvesting for medicinal purposes.

Fortunately the Sinai Baton Blue’s entire, albeit small, habitat falls within the Saint Katherine Protectorate, an Egyptian national park. And in 2009 a Saint Catherine-based two-pronged conservation and education program was initiated to reach out to both itinerant shepherds and local schoolchildren. To discourage overfeeding and inspire wilderness protection in future generations.

Nevertheless, the Sinai Baton Blue butterfly was added to the IUCN red list of critically endangered species in 2010, and their population is in decline.

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 2000 Sinai Baton Blue Butterfly remain in the wild.



Citations 23:30

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/195289/2376696

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory – https://www.cambridgebutterfly.com/all-about-butterflies/

Egyptian Journal of Biology, vol 8 – https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejb/article/view/56534

Wandering Through Wadi’s Third Edition by Bernadette Simpson – https://wanderingthroughwadis.com/

The Rufford Foundation – https://www.rufford.org/

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudophilotes_sinaicus 



Music 24:56



Pledge 33:44

I honor the lifeforce of the Sinai Baton Blue butterfly. I will carry its human name in my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our bright planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species.

And so, in the name of the Sinai Baton Blue butterfly I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant or animal kin or their habitat, by corporations and governments.

I pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Bad at Goodbyes Trailer

Thursday, September 19, 2024