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Philippines - Plant and animal life

10-13 minutos

Although many of the mountain regions and some of the lowlands

remain heavily forested, the country’s forests have been shrinking
rapidly for decades. Between the mid-20th century and the early
21st century, the country’s forestland was reduced by more than
half—largely a result of logging, mining, and farming activities—and
now accounts for less than one-fourth of the country’s total land
area. Where forests remain in northern Luzon, the principal
mountain tree is pine. In other areas, lauan (Philippine mahogany)
often predominates.

Grassy and wooded islets near Marinduque Island (right-centre

background), off the coast of the Bicol Peninsula, southern Luzon,
Philippines.John Lewis Stage/Photo Researchers

Most of the Philippines’ vegetation is indigenous and largely

resembles that of Malaysia; the plants and trees of the coastal
areas, including the mangrove swamps, are practically identical
with those of similar regions throughout the Malay Archipelago.
Himalayan elements occur in the mountains of northern Luzon,

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while a few Australian types are found at various altitudes. The

islands are home to thousands of species of flowering plants and
ferns, including hundreds of species of orchids, some of which are
extremely rare. Tall, coarse grasses such as cogon (genus
Imperata) have arisen in many places where the forests have been
burned away.

The Philippines are inhabited by more than 200 species of

mammals, including water buffalo (carabao), goats, horses, hogs,
cats, dogs, monkeys, squirrels, lemurs, mice, pangolins (scaly
anteaters), chevrotains (mouse deer), mongooses, civet cats, and
red and brown deer, among others. The tamarau (Anoa
mindorensis), a species of small water buffalo, is found only on
Mindoro. Of more than 50 species of bats, many are peculiar to the
Philippines. Fossil remains show that elephants once lived on the
islands.

Philippines: Asian water buffaloAsian water buffalo,

Philippines.© yobidaba/Fotolia

Hundreds of species of birds live in the Philippines, either for all or

part of the year. Prominent birdlife includes jungle fowl, pigeons,
peacocks, pheasants, doves, parrots, hornbills, kingfishers,
sunbirds, tailorbirds, weaverbirds, herons, and quails. Many
species are endemic to the island of Palawan. The endangered
Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is limited mainly to isolated
areas on Mindanao and in the Sierra Madre on Luzon.

The seas surrounding the islands and the inland lakes, rivers,

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estuaries, and ponds are inhabited by no fewer than 2,000 varieties

of fish. The Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea were designated a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993 in recognition of their
abundance and diversity of marine life; in 2009 the boundaries of
the World Heritage site were extended to triple its original size. The
milkfish, a popular food fish and the national fish of the Philippines,
is plentiful in brackish and marine waters. Sea horses are common
in the reefs of the Visayan Islands.

A number of species of marine turtles, including the leatherback

turtle, are protected, as are the Philippine crocodile and saltwater
crocodile. The islands are home to a diverse array of reptiles and
amphibians. Water monitor lizards (Varanus salvator) of various
sorts have been prized for their skins. Skinks, geckos, and snakes
are abundant, and more than 100 species are endemic to the
Philippines. The country is also host to many types of frogs,
including several flying varieties; most are endemic to the islands.

sea turtleSea turtle in the Java Sea, off the coast of the
Philippines.© Tommy Schultz/Fotolia

People

Ethnic groups

The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are

called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population

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were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian

mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia. Contemporary
Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically
distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of
Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which
constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other
prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the
Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros,
comprising roughly one-tenth of the population each. The Waray-
Waray of the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and the
Bicol (Bikol) of the Bicol Peninsula together account for another
one-tenth. Filipino mestizos and the Kapampangans (Pampango) of
south-central Luzon each make up small proportions of the
population.

Philippines: Ethnic compositionEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Many smaller groups of indigenous and immigrant peoples account

for the remainder of the Philippines’ population. The aboriginal
inhabitants of the islands were the Negritos, a term referring
collectively to numerous peoples of dark skin and small stature,
including the Aeta, Ita, Agta, and others. Those communities now
constitute only a tiny percentage of the total population. From the
10th century, contacts with China resulted in a group of mixed
Filipino-Chinese descent, who also account for a minority of the
population. Small numbers of resident Chinese nationals, emigrants
from the Indian subcontinent, U.S. nationals, and Spanish add to
the population’s ethnic and cultural diversity.

Languages

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Estimates of the total number of native languages and dialects

spoken in the Philippines differ, but scholarly studies suggest that
there are some 150. Most of the country’s languages are closely
related, belonging to one of several subfamilies of Austronesian—
more specifically, Western Malayo-Polynesian—languages. The
major languages of the country generally correspond to the largest
ethnic groups. Tagalog is the most widespread language of the
Central Philippine subfamily, with the bulk of its native speakers
concentrated in Manila, central and south-central Luzon, and the
islands of Mindoro and Marinduque. The national language of the
Philippines, Pilipino (also called Filipino), is based on Tagalog and
shares a place with English (the lingua franca) as an official
language and medium of instruction. Tagalog (including Pilipino)
has the most extensive written literature of all Philippine languages.
Cebuano, also a Central Philippine language, is used widely in
Cebu, Bohol, eastern Negros, western Leyte, and parts of
Mindanao. Ilocano is the most commonly spoken language of the
Northern Luzon subfamily, and its speakers constitute the third
largest language community of the Philippines.

Bamboo manuscript roll (1904–05) from Mindoro, Philippines,

incised with songs in the Hanunóo Mangyan dialect and texts in
Tagbanua. The roll is to be read vertically from bottom to top.The
Newberry Library, Gift of Edward E. Ayer, 1911 (A Britannica

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Publishing Partner)

Other prominent languages of the Central Philippine group include

Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray, both spoken in the Visayas, as well
as several varieties of Bicol, spoken in southern Luzon. The
language of the Tausug is widespread in both Palawan and the
Sulu Archipelago, where it is used in Tausug as well as many non-
Tausug communities. Similarly, the languages of the
Kapampangans and Pangasinan, both of the Northern Philippine
subfamily, have many speakers in central Luzon. Notable
languages of the Southern Philippine subfamily are those spoken
by the Maguindanao and Maranao of western Mindanao.

Religion

Some four-fifths of Filipinos profess Roman Catholicism. During the

20th century the religion gained strength through growth in the
number of Filipinos in the church hierarchy, construction of
seminaries, and, especially after 1970, increased involvement of
the church in the political and social life of the country. Jaime
Cardinal Sin, archbishop of Manila, was one of the country’s most
politically outspoken spiritual leaders of the late 20th century.

Philippines: Religious affiliationEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Adherents of other denominations of Christianity constitute roughly

one-tenth of the population. The Philippine Independent Church
(the Aglipayans), established in 1902 in protest against Spanish
control of the Roman Catholic Church, has several million
members. The indigenous church called Iglesia ni Cristo, also
founded in the early 20th century, has a smaller but nonetheless
significant following.

Islam was brought to the southern Philippines in the 15th century

from Brunei (on Borneo), to the west. The religion was already well
established in the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao by the time of
European contact, and it had a growing following around Manila.
Contemporary Muslim Filipino communities, collectively known as
Moros, are largely limited to the southern islands and account for
about 5 percent of the population.

Small numbers of Filipinos practice Buddhism or local religions.

Buddhism is associated primarily with communities of Chinese
descent. Local religions are maintained by some of the rural

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indigenous peoples.

Settlement patterns

The plains lying amid the mountains—for example, the central plain
of Luzon and the central plain of Panay—have long had the
greatest density of population in the islands, except Cebu, where
the people have lived mostly on the coastal plain because of the
island’s high and rugged interior. In the nonindustrialized areas of
these regions, the cultivation of rice or corn (maize) and fishing
provide basic subsistence.

Philippines: Urban-ruralEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In the rural areas, houses are often small, consisting of just one or
two rooms, and are elevated on piles. The open spaces below the
structures are used to store tools and other household belongings,
as well as live chickens and other smaller farm animals. Especially
in the fishing communities of coastal regions, houses are typically
raised above the ocean, river, or floodplain to accommodate boat
traffic and the ebb and flow of the tides. There are often elevated
networks of walkways that connect the houses within the
community.

In addition to many smaller settlement units, there are a number of

major cities. Some of these, including Manila, Cebu, Jaro, Vigan,
and Naga (formerly Nueva Caceras), were granted charters by the
Spanish colonial government. More chartered cities were founded
under U.S. administration and since independence in 1946.
Metropolitan (Metro) Manila—an agglomeration consisting of
Quezon City, Manila, Pasay, Caloocan, and several other cities and

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municipalities in southern Luzon—is by far the largest urban area in

the country. Other principal cities include Davao on Mindanao and
Cebu in the Visayas.

In the urban areas, the wealthier residents typically live in two- or

three-story single-family homes. However, a significant proportion
of city dwellers live in poverty, often occupying any vacant piece of
land and building their homes from bamboo, wood, sheet metal,
and other scavenged items. The people in such communities
usually do not have regular access to running water and electricity
or to sanitary services.

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