In addition to volcanoes and strong men, Tonga also has these things you have never seen

Before this volcanic eruption, most people's impression of Tonga was probably still the half-naked, shiny flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Masks must be worn, but the style cannot be changed / CCTV.com

With the nationwide Internet outage in Tonga, the collective "disconnection", and the popular saying of "year without summer" on the Internet, this place that is far away and unfamiliar to us has suddenly attracted widespread attention. What kind of country is Tonga? These creatures from nature may let you understand it from a new perspective.

The Kingdom of the Islands

The Kingdom of Tonga is located in the South Pacific Ocean, west of the International Date Line, and is an island country consisting of 173 islands. Tonga's land area is only 747 square kilometers, which is only 2/3 of Hong Kong's land area and not much larger than the area within the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing (667 square kilometers); while Tonga's water area reaches 259,000 square kilometers.

Among Tonga's many islands, only 36 are inhabited, with a total population of about 104,000. Among them, Tangatapu is the largest island and the location of Nuku'alofa, the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. The volcano that erupted this time is 65 kilometers north of the island.

Tonga has three main island groups, from south to north they are Vava'u, Ha'apai, and Tangatapu / util21.ro

Although the island where Tonga is located is far away from the mainland, Polynesians settled here more than 3,000 years ago. After several dynasties, Tonga became an independent country in the 19th century. The main industries here are agriculture and fisheries, and the survival of the people is closely related to the local ecological environment.

In Tonga, almost all inhabited islands are coral islands. The coral-based ecosystem is home to countless species in the tropical ocean. Tonga's spectacular coral reefs also attract diving enthusiasts from all over the world.

Tonga's coral ecosystem / pxhere.com

Visitors can admire more than 200 species of colorful tropical fish and crustaceans, as well as reef sharks, predators in the coral ecosystem, and occasionally sea turtles that come to feed. In the 1980s, Tongans began exporting tropical fish to aquariums abroad. Today, exporting tropical fish has gradually become an important industry in Tonga.

Of course, the highlight of diving in Tonga is "swimming with whales", and this is the only country that offers this tourist program. From June to October every year, groups of humpback whales migrate from Antarctica to the warm tropical waters to breed, and the waters near Tonga are one of the most important breeding grounds for humpback whales. Visitors can dive with these docile marine mammals under the guidance of local guides.

Swimming with whales / tongapocketguide.com

Animals we have never seen before

Tonga, located in Oceania, has many animals we have never seen before. For example, fruit doves, a pigeon species in the South Pacific Islands, seem to be very good at coloring games. On Eua Island next to the main island of Tonga, there is a rare multi-colored fruit dove (Ptilinopus perousii), whose feathers have an incredible color combination - the top of the head is red, but the wings are emerald green or bright yellow, and the rump is rose red.

The male Multi-colored Fruit Dove has a bright yellow back and wings | Aviceda / Wikimedia Commons

Another example is the blue-crowned parrot (Vini australis), which is also a model of colorful birds.

Blue-crowned parrots showing affection | TJ Lin / Wikimedia Commons

In addition to being a beautiful bird, the magpie is also unique to Australia. They never hatch their eggs by themselves, but lay their eggs in a pre-dug pit, put in plant litter, and then bury them. The heat released by the humus during the decomposition process is enough to hatch the eggs. The magpie (Megapodius pritchardii) living on Niuafo'ou Island in Tonga even adapts to local conditions - they bury their eggs in volcanic ash. The terrible volcano has become the "wet nurse" of the little magpie.

The pheasant in Tonga | Mary Bomford / Flickr

Even bolder than the pheasant is the sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus), a bird found throughout tropical oceans that usually lays a single egg directly on coastal rocks or gravel. More than 100,000 sooty terns once bred in the crater of Fonualei Island in Tonga's Vava'u Islands.

An adult sooty tern and many chicks, photographed on the volcanic island where the eruption took place / bbc.com

The only bird species that is only found in Tonga is the Tonga Whistling Flycatcher (Pachycephala jacquinoti), whose melodious chirping can be heard in the tropical rainforest of Vava'u Island. However, in recent years, the number of rats on the island has increased, and they are nibbling crops and saplings in the rainforest, and also stealing bird eggs in the wild, which poses a serious threat to the Tonga Whistling Flycatcher.

Tongan Whistling Flycatcher | Mary Bomford / Flickr

The Fiji banded iguana (Brachylophus fasciatus) is a representative of Tonga's reptiles. This lizard belongs to the genus Brachylophus and is only found in Tonga and the Fiji Islands. All species are critically endangered. On Lifuka and Tabu Islands, there is also a type of giant brachylophus that can reach a total length of two meters. However, this type of lizard has become extinct, and they may have disappeared due to the persecution of farmed animals.

Fiji Banded Iguana | Leszek Leszczynski / Wikimedia Commons

Endemic plants and disappearing rainforests

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are about 260 species of plants in Tonga. However, the area of ​​​​primitive forests is decreasing year by year, and only on some uninhabited volcanic islands are there primitive tropical rainforests with relatively rich plant diversity.

"Heilala" is a famous local plant. Its Chinese name is Garcinia sessilis. This tall tree is the wood for building traditional houses and can also be used for carving. Tongans also use it as a medicine to treat morning sickness, rashes and stomach pains. Garcinia sessilis is regarded as a sacred royal tree by the locals, and its carmine-red flowers are the national flower of Tonga.

Flowers of Garcinia Tonga | Didier Descouens / Wikimedia Commons

Although Tonga has a small land area, it also has three endemic plants: Aglaia heterotricha, which is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, Dysoxylum tongense, a jiān tree only found on the island of Eua, and Podocarpus pallidus, a Podocarpus that is often used as raw material for wood carvings.

The flowers of the aster orchid are very small, only 2 mm in diameter | techieoldfox / Wikimedia Commons

In addition to being good at making wood carvings from various trees, Tongans also use bark to make a traditional cloth called Ngatu, which is made from Broussonetia papyrifera, a tree introduced from Southeast Asia.

Paper mulberry is also very common around us | Didier Descouens / Wikimedia Commons

People first peeled off the phloem of the bark and soaked it in water to soften it; then they used the starch in the rhizomes of the plants to glue them together piece by piece; finally, they extracted dyes from the mangroves (Rhizophira mangle) and autumn maple (Bischofia javanica) growing in the mangroves to draw exquisite patterns.

Tapa cloth requires cooperation of many people / tongatime

Making tapa cloth often consumes a lot of manpower, and Tonga is one of the few countries that retains this traditional technology. Nowadays, people only wear clothes made of tapa cloth when attending formal occasions, or give it as a gift to others.

The whole street was covered with tapa cloth at the king's funeral / tongatime

Small flowers born on volcanic ash

Although the power of the Tonga volcanic eruption may not cause the world to enter a "year without summer", the impact on local residents is self-evident. The volcanic eruption also brought a devastating blow to the surrounding ecology, but after repeated heavy blows, signs of life will always appear again.

In 2009, after an underwater volcano in Tonga erupted, volcanic ash gradually settled and solidified when it encountered sea water to form a small island - this island is the protagonist of this eruption, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai.

In 2014-2015, it experienced several eruptions again, and all the vegetation on the island was destroyed. But a few years later, when scientists landed on this young island, they were surprised to find that the land here was covered with purple flowers, the seeds of which may have been spread by seabird feces; sooty terns also flew from all directions and began to reproduce here.

The island is already full of small flowers / bbc.com

However, the endemic species of Tonga are not so lucky. It is far away from the mainland, and there is little chance for species to exchange genes. Many species are in a state of population isolation. These endemic species are like eggs in a basket. Frequent volcanic eruptions and increasingly serious human interference may overturn the basket at any time, leaving them facing a catastrophe. Many endemic species of Tonga have disappeared in the long river of history. It is unknown whether the few remaining species can survive this volcanic eruption.

But perhaps, sooner or later, new life will emerge from the volcanic ash.

Author: Jian Er

Editor: Mai Mai

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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