Do you know what the National Animal of the Philippines is? It is the Carabao. Now, let’s get this straight… a lot of foreigners think that it is pronounced “Caraboo” and many also think that it is the animal called the caribou, which is a type of deer that is found in extreme northern latitudes where it is quite cold. There are many caribou in Alaska and places like the Nordic countries. But, it is a totally different animal! And, it is pronounced “Care a bow”. Actually, in English, a Carabao is named a “Water Buffalo” and is a relative of the Bison in North America, also known as a Buffalo.
Here is a photo of a Carabao here in the Philippines (note that he just came out of a mud hole and is covered in mud!):
I have a special name that I call Albino Carabaos – I call them “Kanobao’s”. You see, foreigners are called “Kano’s,” which is short for Americano (although it applies to any foreigner, really). Since Albino Carabao’s are white, I call them “Kano-bao’s” which is just sort of a joke!
Did you know that the Carabao is protected by law in the Philippines? It’s true, there are laws about the way you have to treat the Carabao. I am not familiar with the exact laws, but I know that as a work animal it is not supposed to be eaten (although Carabao meat is readily available), and also cruelty of Carabao’s is not allowed.
Don't tell me you have never ridden on the back of a carabao? They put a rice sack on his back and I jumped on just like the old turn of the 1900s picture of the early us president. I had to wash my pants after that picture taking adventure. I like the tast of beef better thank you very much. Every time I go to the pi I always pat the side of the caraboas when the farmers bring them back from the fields at night. One night we had games for the kids and one of the find games asked for a carboas in front of my inlaws-the prize was 100 pesos. In five minutes a farmer was dragging his half assleep animal there and he was happy to get the 100 note! The whole crowd had a good laugh at that one. By the way have you ever seen tomato dancing? haha Oh the stories I could tell…….
Hi Don – I have yet to ride a Carabao! It's something I've wanted to do, but just have not had the right opportunity yet.
I enjoyed hearing about the game playing with the kids! I can just see that Carabao coming up the dirt trail in the middle of the night! Ha ha….
Carabao are verry important to farmers, especially in the mountians, since in recent years, the farmers in the lowlands are suing more tractors. We just heard from our friends, who are Higaonan, that their carabao died of a snake bite. This is serious, as now they cannot plow. They have a one year old, but carabao can only work after they are three. After the Carabao died, the village cooked at it, all except the leg bitten by the snake. Normally they eat root crops and leaf crops with whatever fish they can get fromt he rivers and wild game, along with what rice or corn they can grow. Rats and wild pigs are a constant threst to the grains.
By the way, the side bar covers a good bit of the comment box, so I can't see any typos I make hat fall in the part of the box. I only know the mistakes after I hit 'submit'!
Hi AmericanLola – Thanks for sharing the story about the carabao, very interesting. I don't hear stories of carabao being killed by snakes, does it happen often in your knowledge?
Regarding the sidebar, hmm… very strange. I have no such problem, and have tried several different computers to see if I can duplicate that. I'd be glad to fix it if it is a problem on the site, but without being able to duplicate it, I don't know what is causing the problem. I wonder, does anybody else see this problem when they visit the site? If so, maybe somebody could give me more details?
Nope. My sidebar is on the side (where all good sidebars should be!).
There are cobras around, and I don't know if there are any other poisonous snakes way up in the mountains where this family lives. Now that I think of it, I know of a boy that was bitten by a water-snake of some sort that was poisonous, also way up in the mountains. It is also possible that they are guessing that a snake bite is the cause of the carabao's swollen leg, and later death, but I imagine they would know.
Yes, the sidebar thing is a puzzler! Right now, since it is farther down the page due to comments, it is not a problem. You were kind enough not to say it was a Mac problem, so I will say it might be Safari, my browser, but no other site have had this happen. Wierd!
Hi AmericanLola – Ha ha.. you have me laughing hard, because after taking care of my blogs and e-mail this morning, we went to Buda to visit Father Franco for the day. On the drive up there, I got thinking… "oh… AmericanLola is using a Mac, that must be the problem!" Haha… now, I just got home and you said that I was "kind enough" not to blame the mac….. Thanks for the good laugh! 😉