ARECENT social-media post that went viral showed a frightened Philippine flying lemur being restrained by its captors.
Mistaken for aswang, a mythical evil creature, it is being blamed for the mysterious death of livestock.
While it is commonly called as kagwang, the Philippine flying lemur is not your aswang that feeds on human or animal flesh and internal organs, as the local folklore says. It neither sucks blood, nor destroys crops.
The flying lemur is also not, as many believed it to be, a bad omen or one that brings bad luck.
In fact, the Philippine flying lemur is considered a blessing to the forest, being part of the food chain and the diet of other wildlife on top of the food chain.
Glider, not flyer
Here is more. The Philippine flying lemur is not a flyer and is also not a lemur.
The country’s biodiversity office said it is a glider, which has the habit of jumping and gliding from one tree to another. Lemur is a primate endemic to Madagascar, which the Philippine flying lemur is not.
The Philippine flying lemur is a mammal that belongs to the order Dermoptera, said Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
More accurately, the Philippine flying lemur it is the Philippine colugo (Cynocephalus volans).
“The lemurs found in Madagascar and the Philippine colugo are not related,” Lim told the BusinessMirror.
The Philippine flying lemur is one of two species of flying lemurs, the only two living species in the order Dermoptera. It is the only member of the genus Cynocephalus. The other flying lemur is the Sunda flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus) found elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Endemic species
The kagwang is endemic to southern Philippines. While its population in the wild remains unknown, it is considered as threatened by the DENR because of the massive destruction of the forest and rampant hunting for food and trophy.
In 1996 the kagwang was included in the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable.
In 2008, because it proved to be resilient despite the massive destruction of habitats brought about by the increasing rate of deforestation in the last several decades, it was eventually listed under the “Least Concern” status by the IUCN.
This unique species used to thrive in Mindanao regions and Bohol, but because of its strange appearance and behavior, it is often hunted and killed on site.
Lim said the Philippine flying lemur is being hunted down being mistaken as aswang and a bad omen or harbinger of bad luck.
Some hunters, however, hunt it for food, sometimes ending up as pulutan or finger food.
According to the DENR-BMB, flying lemurs have been recorded on the islands of Biliran, Bohol and Leyte in the Visayas; and Maripi, Dinagat, Siargao, Tongquil and Basilan in Mindanao; and in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur provinces and Samar.
Plant, not flesh eater
The Philippine flying lemur lives in heavily forested areas and is not carnivorous or predator of smaller animals. These gentle creatures are folivore or herbivores, which eat young leaves and, occasionally, soft fruits, flowers and plant shoots.
As it has lived almost all its life up tall trees and glides from one tree to the next to feed, it moves awkward when on the ground.
This species is hunted by the Mindanao’s ultimate predator—the Philippine eagle.
Ecosystem indicator
According to Lim, the flying lemur is an ecosystem indicator, too. She said with its presence alone, one can say that the forest where it thrives is healthy and in excellent condition.
“It lives on trees in the forest. It glides from one tree to the other and would not touch the ground,” she said, underscoring the need to maintain a densely covered forest where the kagwang can glide in search for food.
“If we lose our tall trees in the forest, the flying lemur also loses its habitats. It will not be able to forage for food,” she said.
Various studies indicate that because of habitat destruction, these flying lemurs are often forced to relocate and invade agricultural plantations, particularly coconut, which further exposes them to greater risk of being killed by coconut farmers.
Cruelty to animals
The animal-welfare group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta-Asia) expressed alarm over people’s cruelty to animals like kagwang.
Jana Sevilla, campaigner for Peta-Asia, bluntly puts it as “ignorance” but seriously doubts that those who hunt them are simply mistaken about their true “identity.”
“People should know that flying lemur is not an aswang because they live in the area,” she said partly in Filipino.
Sevilla said it is also unlikely that the people also believed in stories that the flying lemur is behind the death of animal livestock.
“It is just being used as an excuse to justify cruelty to animals,” she said.
She said the ill-fated kagwang could be likened to the story of Lolong, the world’s largest saltwater crocodile that was hunted and captured by the people because of the report of the mysterious death of a young girl in Agusan del Sur.
“The same thing happened to Lolong. Because it was reported that it killed a young girl, the people decided to hunt it down. They know Lolong is a large crocodile and capturing it will break the world record. True enough, it did. It was sad that Lolong died because it was taken away from its natural habitat,” Sevilla said.
“The people should learn to respect animal wildlife like the kagwang and stop destroying their habitats,” she added.
Poor law enforcement, Information campaign
Hunting animals, whether for food or trophy, is unacceptable, Sevilla said. She blamed the failure of concerned government agencies like the DENR to educate the people about the Wildlife Act, which prohibits hunting of animals in the wild.
“This is a responsibility of the DENR. It should intensify its information campaign and call on authorities to enforce the law against hunting wildlife,” she said.
She said the DENR field offices should coordinate with people in upland areas and rally the people to help protect all wildlife against destructive human activities and cruelty to animals, whether pets or those in the wild.
Kikko Kalabud of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) said flying lemurs are the Philippine eagle’s “favorite” food and maintaining their population in the wild is crucial to ensuring the survival of the National Bird.
He said, like the Philippine Eagle, hunting flying lemurs is against the law and should be stopped.
The PEF is the DENR’s partner in the conservation of the Philippine Eagle, which, like the flying lemur, is listed as threatened.
Strange appearance
No bigger than the average household cat, the flying lemur is a highly distinctive animal, with unusually soft brown, gray or brown dorsal fur. When it glides, it is sometimes mistaken for a bat. Bats, incidentally, hangs on the branch of trees like the kagwang.
The male kagwang are darker than females. Its ventral fur is paler, thin and very soft.
Because it is a nocturnal mammal, it often glides at night, which explains why it is often mistaken for the dreaded aswang.
Kagwang has a gliding membrane that extends between its hind legs (enclosing the tail entirely), between the forelimbs and hind limbs, and between the toes of the forelimbs.
Its six lower incisors are comb-shaped, and it has a broad gap with no teeth between the outer upper incisors which are small and pressed against the canines.
It is also mistaken for Mindanao flying squirrels (Petinomys crinitus) because it is of the same size.
According to Lim, some of the country’s protected areas are known to host flying lemurs, such as the Raja Sikatuna Protected Landscape in Bohol, underscoring the need to strengthen the protection of the key biodiversity areas and wildlife refuge.
Lim said, like most animal wildlife, kagwang poses no threat or danger to humans or their livelihood.
“It is better off left alone in the forest because that is its natural habitat. People should stop hunting it and they should also stop worrying about kagwang as a sign of bad luck or bad omen, as it is not.
“It is not aswang, which we should not be afraid of, and it should not be eaten,” Lim said.
Image credits: Philip Godfrery C. Jakosalem, Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc.