"Animals in thePhilippines"

The good and bad things about cocks

Cocks can be both interesting and irritating!  For tourists, cocks can be irritating in the morning, because they wake you up at a time that you prefer to sleep for some hours more. But, if the tourists have the possibility to see the cock fighting's, many tourists take the opportunity to see this 'sport' and - often - gambling-event. The camera will take the hot shots for the family or friends in their home country! That's the good thing cocks can give.   

Cock fighting

"Mga sunoy", as the people in de Visayas call cocks, can be found in all parts of the world.

In many tropical countries, they are very popular in the life of families in the countryside. Many families have some of them on their compound. This is not specific in the Philippines, but common for many countries in Asia and Latin America. 

Cock fighting ("sabong" in the Cebuano language) is in the Philippines popular as a way of gambling, but it is also seen as a national sport. 

History of the national sport 

Already in a novel published in 1887, cockfighting was described as a popular activity, even more widespread than opium-smoking among Chinese!

The place where the fights happen is called the "cockpit". The people who can afford to have some Mga sunoy, will make a lot of efforts to train the cocks in agressivity.

If a cock wins, the owner earns money, just as the persons who visit the fights and put their money on the winning cock.

During the fight the fighting cocks wear sharp razor blades fixed on their legs. The duel will only ends by the death or (bloody) flight of one of the cocks'.

In the waters of the Philippines

there are more than 2000 different kinds of fish. Added to that figure, the country counts about 200 different kinds of reptiles and 25000 different insects. The smallest monkey and the biggest fish in the world, they both live in the Philippines! Spectacular is the colourful underwater-world. Every year many tourists come to the Philippines to one of the islands, where scuba diving brings them to this amazing underwater-world.  

The Philippines can show you what a typical tropical country can offer in species of animals. Of course, not all animals are rare or specific for the Philippines. That is for sure if you take the carabao, the cocks or the lizards. 

 

Mga Tokó, as the people in de Visayas call the small lizards, are living in houses and other buildings in every tropical country.