Plant Phenology, Animal Behaviour and Food-gathering by the Coastal People of the Ryukyu Archipelag

Abstract

Animal behaviour and plant phenology are directly affected by the weather. Traditionally, human foodgathering activitie swere also often dependent on the weather. The flying height of a hawk-eagle reveals the coldness of that particular day. The jumping direction of a dugong over the sea is also a good indicator to judge the weather of that day. The flight of a large swarm of a particular dragonfly over the sea indicates that a typhoon is imminent. The extent of bloom of a particular plant species is correlated with the degree of drought in that year. The flowering of some plant species teaches people to cultivate particular kinds of plants in the fields or gardens. Animal behaviour and plant phenology have been shown to be good indicators for planning subsistence activitie s(gathering, fishing ,hunting and farming) . The Ryukyu Archipelago is located in the southernmost, subtropical part of Japan. The weather here is much less seasonally influenced than in mainland Japan, and the Islands frequently suffer much more from the irregular occurrence of droughts and typhoons. Species diversity in the Archipelago is much greater than in mainland Japan. The Ryukyu Islanders are favoured with rich biological resources that help to predict meteorological disasters and anticipate physical changes in the natural environment. Accordingly their food-gathering activities are clearly closely related to behavioural characteristics in accordance with the phenological change of fauna and flora. The ecological-anthropological context of these correlationships is described and examined.