What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Goodbye n talangensis?

Hi fellow Nepaholics

I have been in Padang, in west Sumatra, for the past 3 days and returned only about 2 hours ago.
When I arrived the city was "recovering" from the shock of a series of fairly strong earthquakes that sent most of the people into the mountains as they were scared of the possibility of a tsunami.

At about 3PM yesterday someone sms'd me and said that Mt Talang had erupted! I was incredulous as I wasn't actually that far from it and I have been up it many times and to date haven't seen any evidence of volcanic activity.
It turned out to be true and this morning I met with some people from the University in Padang, who are specifically involved in surveying Nepenthes in west Sumatra, and they confirmed (much to my astonishment) that it is the "talangensis" Mt Talang that has erupted.

Apparently one side of the mountain now has a fuming great hole in it and obviously everything on that side is (literally) toast!
The local volcano people feel that "bigger things" are on the way and the University people are of the opinion that, even without much additional activity, most of the remaining habitat of talangensis is in danger of being destroyed from the ash that is spewing from the new crater.

I would recommend that anyone that has this plant might want to take extra care of it, get it into seed whenever possible and share the seed around as much as possible. There may not be a lot more where it came from.

Troy.
 
Unbelievable. This is a bad year for natural disasters hitting Nepenthes locations(ie Tsunami and the Viking plants).
Are the N.talangensis plants in cultivation all from similar clone stock, or are there some seed grown ones floating aroung, too?

Cheers,

Joe
 
Mine's from Borneo Exotics. They have 24 clones, I think.
tonyc
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (tonyc @ April 13 2005,1:02)]Mine's from Borneo Exotics. They have 24 clones, I think.
tonyc
I would say 24 is pretty good.

 Thanks,

 Joe
 
The thing is, is one of the clones female, and others male? As long as that's true, talangnensis has a pretty good hope of staying alive on it's own. If talangenensis is wiped out on the island, it can be reintroduced with these plants.
 
It could be re-introduced. However, it's not as if this habitat loss is due to human destruction. Volcanoes are a part of nature, and nature should be allowed to take its course. This plant evolved in this part of the world with volcanic activity and has survived many volcanic eruptions in the past, and has obviously recovered. It's sad to see a plant wiped out, but it's also part of natural selection. Now if the habitat destruction was human induced due to deforestation or pollution, then I could see a need for human intervention to protect or re-establish the plant.

Just my two cents.

JJ
 
but is it ethical to re introduce it if it goes extinct in the wild?

it's nature afterall.
 
Oh my. What terrible news. I have been hearing about the continuing earthquakes in the region. I feel so bad for the people there. The disasters just don't stop.

And I JUST got a N. talangensis. I will have give it extra special care.

Thanks for the news Troy.
 
  • #10
Troy, Thanks for the heads-up on the Talang situation via e-mail. I'll get back to you on that.

Joe, yes, we have 24 clones in tissue culture and I was just this month going to cull some of them - it doesn't make much business sense keeping multiple clones of similar looking plants in the lab but we'll hold on that for now. We also have some seed-grown plants as well which we'll hang on to as well.

Indeed a bad 6 months for natural disasters all round.

Rob
 
  • #11
Hi Rob
Cull them??? couldnt you send them out cheaply to nepenthes collectors
smile_m_32.gif

Bye for now julian
 
  • #13
Yes, that would be a marvellous idea; bring them to the Chelsea Show in May! I'm sure you'll get plenty of enthusiasts waiting 'til the final hour.
laugh.gif


Amori
 
Back
Top