blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The University of the Philippines Archaeological Studies Program (ASP) recently announced that scientists working on the Palawan Island Palaeohistoric Project have unearthed the fossil remains of tigers in Ille Cave in the Dewil Valley, El Nido, Palawan. This is an important discovery on the prehistory and evolution of Philippine biota. The Philippines has long been known known by biogeographers as a fauna that lacks major representatives of Asian animals. While we have a unique fauna, most of these are characteristic of oceanic islands. We have a high biodiversity of rats, since they rapidly evolved in the Philippines with the lack large predators. The largest land carnivore in the Philippines is the reticulated python while the largest aerial predator is the Philippine eagle. That was before this tiger discovery. Even then palaeontologists have long known that large herbivores such as elephants roamed the larger Philippine islands. Their fossils are often found and are on display at...