A Natural Miracle

 

 

In November 1994, in the Bahamas, the Convention on Biological Diversity opened its first meeting of the treaty countries. Here, the world not only focused on Taiwan’s biological diversity, it also hastened efforts toward its protection and research.

Occupying only 36000 square kilometers of land and taking up only 0.023% of the world’s landmass, what surprising natural ecological miracle could Taiwan possibly possess? Firstly, Taiwan’s special geography must be looked at.

Taiwan is located in the northern hemisphere, where the world’s largest continental plate, the Asian mainland, and the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific, meet. Its latitude and longitude are, respectively, 23.3 degrees north and 122.2 degrees east. Formed millions of years ago, when the Eurasian and Philippine continental plates collided, the island was slowly transformed into the topography seen today. Geologically, Taiwan is very young, and active. In the mountainous terrain which makes up two thirds of the island’s total area, there are more than two hundred peaks above 3000 meters. Because one can observe the mountains “forming from nothing, and changing into nothing”, Taiwan is called a “natural mountain-forming laboratory”.

In this active natural laboratory, the world’s commonly seen rock types can all be found, providing a rich geological landscape. Furthermore, as Taiwan is located where the subtropical and tropical zones meet, the seasonal rainfall changes quite drastically. Taiwan is also influenced by the East Asian monsoon winds. These factors combine to provide plentiful rain in the summer and strong northern winds in the winter, together acting like a sharp knife that has carved Taiwan into its multifaceted geographical contours.

Even though Taiwan is small, it has almost all the world’s visible landscapes: mountains, lakes, volcanoes, hills, plains, terraces, basins, rivers, deserts, and coasts. Among them are the breathtaking and majestic Central Mountain Range, Jade Mountain Range, Snow Mountain Range, Alishan Mountain Range, and the Coastal Mountain Range. Rising upward, straight into the clouds, and reaching a height of 3952 meters above sea level, Yushan, the highest peak in Taiwan, has also long been a cherished spiritual symbol of the Taiwanese.

In this land of miracles formed by compressed space, the people of Taiwan can experience drastically different environments within very short stretches. Starting from the coast and hiking up the mountains, passionate hikers, following the vertically occurring ecological distribution, experience a drastically changing environment like few other places on earth. All within a day, they can take in the sights of tropical, subtropical, temperate, sub-temperate, sub-frigid, and frigid-zones, and witness the wonderful species offered by this diverse ecosystem.

On the tiny island of Taiwan, dubbed “an ecological microcosm of the northern hemisphere”, there are an estimated 150000 different species of plants and animals. This diversity often amazes the world’s ecologists. Not only is Taiwan seen as “Formosa”—beautiful island—but also as a “treasure island of biological diversity”. For example, of the world’s five thousand species of mammals, Taiwan boasts eighty, twenty of which are indigenous, such as the playful Formosan macaque, and the brawny Formosan black bear. And of the 9900 different types of bird species, Taiwan has more than five hundred, twenty-two of which are indigenous, like the multi-colored Mikado pheasant, and the melodic Taiwan yuhina.

Besides being the “bird paradise” of the world, attracting annually migratory birds from all over the world for the winter, Taiwan is also known as the “butterfly kingdom”. It has more than four hundred butterfly species, including those from the tropical, temperate, and arctic zones. Fifty of these species are endemic to Taiwan, for example, the Birdwing butterfly, which has a wingspan of fourteen centimeters.

In Taiwan—a narrow and long piece of land measuring 394 kilometers from north to south, and 144 kilometers from east to west—three different types of butterfly valleys can be found. In one of these, the White Butterfly Valley in the mountains of Taitung County, amazing numbers of butterflies can often be seen flying in formation together along the river, a spectacular sight unique in the world. And situated in Meinong Township, Kaohsiung County, is the Yellow Butterfly Valley, where twice a year there are huge gatherings of yellow butterflies. The sight of thousands of these little yellow sprites flying vigorously together in the gorge can be quite breathtaking. As to Violet Butterfly Valley in Maolin Village, Kaohsiung County, it is the only other “overwintering butterfly valley” in the world, besides Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Valley. The butterflies, their translucent wings tinged with purple, gather en masse here for the winter, their numbers once reaching a recorded high of 600000.

Taiwan is surrounded by ocean on all sides, with its east coast facing the Pacific. A short forty kilometers from here, the sea floor plunges to a depth of more than 4000 meters, forming two distinct types of ocean environments—deep-sea and sea-shelf. Furthermore, three marine ecological systems—the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Philippine Sea—converge in these waters. These environmental and ecological factors explain why more than one tenth of the world’s marine organisms can be found in these waters, which offer a breathtaking underwater garden spread out on the ocean bottom. Taiwan’s marine organisms have been classified and are confirmed to currently number over 12000. Counting fish alone as an example, there are nearly 3000 species. Not only is there a rich variety, the number of new species is also ranked among the highest in the world, and the number of butterfly fish and angelfish rank number one in the world. Thus Taiwan not only enjoys the designation, “butterfly kingdom” on land, it also enjoys the designation, “butterfly fish kingdom”, with regard to marine organisms.

Due to its special natural environment, Taiwan possesses abundant plant life. In the high altitude forests, there are six giant tree clusters, with the Central Mountain Range at their center. These world famous giant trees are mostly over 2000 years old, with some even over 3000 years. The Taiwan Red Cedar and Taiwan Yellow Cypress, endemic to Taiwan, represent two of the world’s seven varieties of Chinese cypresses. They are “divine trees” in the eyes of the Taiwanese, as well as the “green miracle” of Taiwan’s natural world.

Taiwan is also a “fern paradise.” There are more than 12000 species of ferns in the world. Compared with 152 species of ferns in Europe, 406 in North America, and 456 in Australia, Taiwan has as many as 672 species of ferns, sixty of which are endemic to the island, easily the world’s leader. Taiwan is also the original habitat of the white garland-lily, which won the top prize at an international orchid exhibition as early as 1952. In recent years, this famous horticultural display flower, with its elegant shape, has been showing its loveliness all over the world, as Taiwan’s orchid exports have skyrocketed.

From a worldwide geographical perspective, Taiwan does not draw much attention, and is even neglected. But from an ecological perspective, thanks to Providence’s tender care, Taiwan shine in this meeting place of land and sea in the East. Beautiful Taiwan, with the miracle of its diverse natural ecology, appears dazzling, precious to the world!