science

Wildlife of the Philippines

Wildlife of the Philippines is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wildlife of the Philippines rather than just read about it. In short: The wildlife of the Philippines includes a significant number of endemic plant and animal species. The country's surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of marine biodiversity in the world.

Key takeaways

Wildlife of the Philippines belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wildlife of the Philippines to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wildlife of the Philippines from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The wildlife of the Philippines includes a significant number of endemic plant and animal species. The country's surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of marine biodiversity in the world. The Philippines is one of the seventeen megadiverse countries and is a global biodiversity hotspot. In 2013, 700 of the country's 52,177 species were listed as threatened. The Philippines has among the highest rates of species discovery in the world with 16 new species of mammal discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the degree of endemism in the Philippines has risen and will likely continue to rise. Some of the smallest and largest animals and plants are found in the Philippines. These include the smallest primate (tarsier), the biggest moth (Atlas moth, or mariposa in Tagalog), the smallest deer (Philippine mouse-deer or pilandok), the smallest fish (Philippine goby), and the biggest fish (whale shark).

Birds

There are 714 species of birds in the Philippines, of which 243 are endemic, three have been introduced by humans, and 52 are rare or accidental occurrences. The Philippines has the third-highest number of endemic birds, behind the much larger countries of Australia and Indonesia. There are 67 globally threatened species, including the rufous hornbill and the critically endangered national bird of the Philippines, the Philippine eagle or monkey-eating eagle. Until 1995, the national bird of the Philippines was the maya (which, in the Philippines, refers to a variety of small, commonly observed passerine bird). The Philippines is also home to Tawi-Tawi's blue-winged racket-tail, the most endangered parrot species in Southeast Asia, the Sulu hornbill, one of the most endangered animals in the world with a population of just 27, and the Calayan rail, the most endangered species of rail in the world, found only on a small island in the Babuyan Islands. According to the EDGE of Existence Programme of the Zoological Society of London, the Philippines has the highest level of bird endemism in the world. Six of the world's 50 most evolutionary distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) species are found in the Philippines. These species are the Philippine eagle (15th place, the highest from the Philippines), spoon-billed sandpiper (#19), black-hooded coucal (#22), Sulu hornbill (#41), Cebu brown-dove (#46), and rufous-headed hornbill (#50). Previously, in 2013, when the list was up to 100, the various bleeding heart dove species, found only in the Philippines, and the Philippine cockatoo were also on the list.

Amphibians and reptiles There are more than 111 species of amphibian and 270 species of reptile in the Philippines, of which 80% and 70% are endemic, respectively. Of the 114 species of snake, it is thought that no more than 14 are venomous. Several species of reptiles and amphibians remains undescribed. The Philippines also has 50–60 endemic Platymantis frog species, making it by far the most diverse genus of amphibians in the archipelago. The endemic freshwater crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis is critically endangered and is considered the most threatened crocodilian in the world. In 1982, wild populations were estimated to be only 500–1,000 individuals; by 1995 a mere 100 crocodiles remained living in the wild. The recent discovery of a population of this species in the Sierra Madre mountains of Luzon brings new hope for its conservation. Projects are being conducted in an effort to save the crocodiles. The Crocodile Rehabilitation, Observance and Conservation (CROC) Project of the Mabuwaya Foundation is active in carrying out such projects. Other threatened reptiles include Gray's monitor and the Philippine forest turtle. Of the three species of frugivorous monitor lizards globally, two occur in the Philippines: the Panay monitor lizard from the island of Panay and Northern Sierra Madre forest monitor from north east Luzon.

Marine animals

Among the seas of the Philippines' 7,107 islands there is great diversity of marine animals. Butanding, or whale shark, the largest fish, can be found in the province of Sorsogon. The dwarf pygmy goby or Philippine goby (Pandaca pygmaea), is one of the shortest and lightest freshwater fish in the world with a size of 9-11 mm; about the size of a grain of rice. The milkfish or bangus (Chanos chanos), can also be found in oceans and can be cultivated in freshwater of Hagonoy, Bulacan, and other provinces. Yellow-fin tuna, blue marlin, red snapper, swordfish, flying fish, parrot fish, puffer fish, jack, manta ray, and pink salmon are also found in the Philippines. The biggest clam, Tridacna gigas, is found in the Philippines. One of the heaviest bony fish in the world, the ocean sunfish (Mola mola), can also be found in the country.

Freshwater fish The Philippines has about 330 species of freshwater fish, including nine endemic genera and more than 65 endemic species, many of which are confined to single lakes. An example is Sardinella tawilis, a freshwater sardine found only in Taal Lake. Lake Lanao, in Mindanao, seems to be experiencing the country's most catastrophic extinction event, with nearly all of the lake's endemic fish species now almost certainly extinct, primarily due to the introduction of tilapia for the expansion of the fishing industry. Other exotic species were also introduced to the lake.

Insects and other invertebrates

About 70% of the Philippines' nearly 21,000 recorded insect species are found only in the country. In addition, about one-third of the 915 butterflies found here are endemic to the country, and over 110 of the more than 130 species of tiger beetle are found nowhere else. One of the largest butterflies in the world and the largest in the Philippines, the Magellan birdwing, can be found here. The largest moth, the Atlas moth, can also be found in the Philippines.

Crustaceans are very diverse in the archipelago. More than 50 species of freshwater crabs (in the genera Carpomon, Insulamon, Isolapotamon, Mainitia, Mindoron, Ovitamon, Parathelphusa, and Sundathelphusa) are known from the Philippines and all are endemic to the country.

Flora

See also List of extinct animals of the Philippines List of threatened species of the Philippines List of non-marine molluscs of the Philippines List of endemic birds of the Philippines List of mammals of the Philippines Environmental issues in the Philippines Wildlife of Palawan List of amphibians and reptiles of Cebu

References

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wildlife of the Philippines

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wildlife of the Philippines claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wildlife of the Philippines before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wildlife of the Philippines ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wildlife of the Philippines

In research: Wildlife of the Philippines appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wildlife of the Philippines in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wildlife of the Philippines is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biota of the Philippines, Wildlife by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wildlife of the Philippines outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wildlife of the Philippines in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wildlife of the Philippines means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wildlife of the Philippines out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wildlife of the Philippines in simple terms?

Why does Wildlife of the Philippines matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wildlife of the Philippines?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wildlife of the Philippines.