Teide Violet and other endangered wild flowers found on Mt Teide

Tajinaste Rojo (Echium wildpretii) Photo by Steve Andrews

Tenerife's Mt Teide is the highest mountain in the Canary Islands, and the highest mountain in all of Spain. Its very great height and volcanic nature have created unique environments in which some very rare plant species grow.

The Tenerife highlands are a real paradise for botanists who can hunt for rarities on the slopes of the mountain and the rocky scrub-land that is exposed to extremes in temperature and sunlight. Mt Teide usually has snow on its peak in winter, though none has fallen this year so far in the ongoing drought. Extremes of heat and cold and the very barren volcanic terrain offers a very unique habitat for the flora and fauna that live high on the mountain ranges. It can be freezing by night and baking hot by day and yet there are mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and many wild flowers and shrubs that live on Mt Teide's highlands.

Some plants such as the Teide Violet (Viola cheiranthifolia) and the Red Viper's Bugloss (Echium wildpretii) or Tajinaste Rojo are not found growing in the wild anywhere else in the world. These are two of the endemic rarities that can be found on Mt Teide. The Teide Violet is found very high on the mountain where no other plants are growing. The Red Viper’s Bugloss grows at lower levels near the Tourist Centre and hotel as well as by where the cable-car leaves from. This unusual flower, with its tall flowering spikes of red is often photographed and is the subject of paintings of Mt Teide.

Teide Violet and other endangered wild flowers found on Mt Teide

Aluna the Movie | Homepage

The Kogi tribe from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain in Columbia were in a documentary made by Alan Ereira entitled From The Heart of the World. It was shown back in 1990 and the Kogi gave a warning to the world that ecological disaster would happen unless we changed our ways. They have made a follow-up film entitled Aluna which will be screened in 2012.

The Kogi call themselves the "Elder Brother" and the rest of the world they refer to as the "Younger Brother". They believe they are the spiritual guardians of the planet and that our ways have put it in danger of ecological disaster. The Younger Brother failed to listen to their warning. The Kogi Mamas, who are the spiritual leaders or shamans of the tribe, had warned that we must stop mining, cutting down forests, drilling in the ground, creating dams, and other developments that are destroying the environment, but their warning has not been heeded.

The Kogi Mamas are experts in determining the health of the ecosystem they live in, and not only where they are but for the whole world. They could see that Climate Change was robbing the mountain peaks of the snow and ice that should be there. Without the water that comes from the melting snow and from the rains that the clouds bring they know that all life will die.

The Kogi believe that the world will come to an end unless the Younger Brother changes his ways and soon. Because they are so worried about the state of the planet they have agreed to make this second film to explain their views about the extreme environmental danger that has been created.

Aluna the Movie | Homepage

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Death on Mt Teide

Dead and dying vegetation on Mt Teide 11 January 2012

A dramatic title to grab your attention but I mean death to plants and probably animals too in the ongoing drought Tenerife is suffering! The higher reaches of Mt Teide, the highest mountain in Spain are normally covered in snow at this time of year and the island has usually had heavy rain from November onwards but not this time. Mt Teide did not receive is normal coating of white glistening snow that can be usually counted on for the winter and spring months. Something has gone very wrong!

The unique scrub-land vegetation that grows on Mt Teide is adapted to heat and cold and drought in summer but expects to get plenty of moisture in the autumn and winter. This year it has had very little and is dying or dead. It is brown and tinder dry and crumbles to dust. In turn insects that depend on the vegetation and lizards and birds that feed on them are deprived of a vital link in the food chain. There are usually many Canary Blue butterflies and honeybees that feed on the nectar from the wild flowers and flowering shrubs up on Mt Teide but if there are no such flowers they will have no food and will probably die.

Lower down the mountain there is usually a sea of clouds that bring much needed moisture to the pines, laurels and other trees and plants but even the sea of clouds has gone.

This could spell disaster for farmers. Most of the water for the island falls as snow and rain on the mountains. We need heavy rains and fast to save the ecosystem of Tenerife.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

How does Global Warming affect Tenerife?

Wilting Prickly Pear cactus

Global Warming or Climate Change, as it is now often called, though I prefer the former term, is making its presence felt here in Tenerife where clear skies and hot sunshine are drying up the land and causing plants as tough as Prickly Pear cacti to shrivel and wilt.

Wilted and curled up House-leek (Aeonium urbicum) 

Succulent House-leeks (Aeonium species) which should be at their best now and getting ready to flower or already doing so are suffering the same problem. Many House-leeks are curling up their leaves in an effort to conserve moisture. They should be fleshy and green not reddened and dried up with curling leaves.
Usually by January we have had plenty of torrential rainfall in November and December that falls as snow high up on Mt Teide. Often the mountain's peak is covered in glistening white over the Christmas period and for the months afterwards but not this winter.
Usually in late autumn and winter the countryside springs to live and brown and barren semi-desert land and volcanic mountainsides get covered in green vegetation but not so this season. Ponds, of which there is a great shortage on Tenerife, are drying up not filling up. Those in the village of Erjos that normally fill in winter with enough to last them through until the following autumn's rains are looking more like they do at the end of summer.
So what does all this mean? Well, for tourists the hot sunshine is what they come here for so they will not be complaining but for farmers and for wildlife it is an ecological disaster. Rainfall in autumn and winter is essential for the success of crops and in recent years many farmers have lost their grape crops despite winter rains. Drought in summer is far more to be expected than drought in January!
Tenerife really needs some thunderstorms and as much torrential rain as possible over the rest of this month and February or I dread to think how the island will get through this. Some people still don't believe Global Warming is really happening but I think the state of the countryside in Tenerife shows that it most certainly is!

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Father Christmas and the Fly Agaric

Traditional Santa Claus

Father Christmas is always dressed in a red and white suit and so too is the hallucinogenic Fly Agaric mushroom. Both are associated with reindeer too. Santa Claus has reindeer pulling his sleigh and reindeer eat Fly Agaric mushrooms. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer has a red nose as well. It all seems too much of a coincidence don't you think?

Several authors have theorised that the Santa Claus myth came about because in Lapland and parts of Siberia the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) was used by shamans because of its hallucinogenic properties. Not only that but reindeer eat the fungus and their urine could be drunk, as can that of humans who have consumed the red and white toadstools, in an effort to become in the visionary state of intoxication it provides. There is simply too much of a coincidence that the Fly Agaric is bright red and white and that the costume that Father Christmas wears is the same colour scheme.

Author and filmmaker Chris Everard has written extensively in his new book Stoneage Psychedelia about the uses of the Fly Agaric. Everard also puts forward the view that many religions were based around the use of this hallucinogenic fungus and other herbs that have mind-altering properties.

In hallucinatory states the user of a shamanic substance, such as the Fly Agaric, may well feel they are mentally flying or voyaging to other realms. In the Santa Claus story he is helped by reindeer that enable his sleigh to fly through the sky. It all seems far too much of a coincidence dont you think?

Read more here: Father Christmas and the Fly Agaric

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Catfish are the bottom-feeders

Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus) 

There are very many fish known as catfish in the world and most of these have whisker-like barbels that have earned them the name. Lots of the species found in the tropics are popular with tropical fish enthusiasts who like to keep them in their aquariums as pets. There are some really weird species of catfish such as the Walking Catfish and the Glass Catfish, and yes, the former travels over the ground and the latter you can see through!

I know that when I was younger and had a whole lot ot tropical fish tanks that I had a growing collection of various types of catfish. They fascinated me because of their unusual appearances and behaviour. I never saw any types of catfish as ugly though I am sure many people might view them that way.  On the contrary I find their whiskery faces rather cute.  I also really enjoy watching catfish rummaging around looking for food, food that other fish have missed out on.

Many people think that catfish will keep a tank clean and that they live on the dirt that accumulates but this is not true. Catfish need proper food just like other species of tropical fish. It is just that many types of catfish are adapted to search in the bottom substrate for food that may have escaped into it. This is where their barbels come in handy. Some types of catfish have sucker mouths that are used for grazing on the algae that grows on rocks, plants and the glass sides of an aquarium. 

Catfish are the bottom-feeders

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Livebearers are tropical fish such as guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails

Sailfin Molly (source Wikipedia) 

The Guppy is a very commonly kept tropical fish, as is the Platy, the Swordtail and the Molly. All of these fish are livebearers which means that the females give birth to baby fish unlike most types of fish that lay eggs.

This makes the live-bearing tropical fish easier to breed and keep. many fancy varieties have been selectively bred and you can get Veiltail Guppies, Red Swordtails and Black Mollies. In the following hub I take a look at all the different types and some of the more unusual livebearers too, such as the Halfbeaks.

As a boy and in my teens, I used to have a lot of tropical fish tanks, and keeping livebearers was a very important part of my hobby as well as keeping the egg-layers. I think that, like many people, I started out keeping Guppies and Platies and the other easier types of fish to keep and breed. It wasn't just that they were so easy to breed because I found them fascinating to watch too.  And, of course, many of the livebearers, such as the fancy guppies, have spectacular colours and fins too. Some types, such as the already mentioned, Halfbeaks, certainly wouldn't win any fish beauty contests, but their very unusual appearance guaranteed them a place in my tank.

It was exciting watching the pregnant females of my livebearer tropical fish get bigger every day because you knew that soon they would have their babies. Taking precautions so that the tiny fry didn't get eaten was another important part of it all.

Livebearers are tropical fish such as guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.