EEP Crowned pigeon number 4

EEP STUDBOOK CROWNED PIGEONS
The second species: Pidgin: taro kong kong; scienftific: Xanthosoma sagittifolium), greens
like e.g. "Aipeka", "kumu", sugar cane (Pidgin: suga; scientific: Saccharum officinarum),
wild sugar cane (Pidgin: pitpit, scientific: Saccharum robustum) and yams (Pidgin: mami, or
yam; scientific: Dioscorea esculenta). June and July are the months of the harvest jam and the
dry season runs from September to December, which are the best months for hunting. The
three groups make limited use of sago (Pidgin: saksak; scientific: Metroxylon rumphii), which
is a staple food throughout much of the interior lowlands of New Guinea (Ruddle, et al.,
1972). Their most important tree crops are betelnut (Pidgin: buai; scientific: Areca catechu),
okari nuts, breadfruit (Pidgin: kapiak; scientific: Artocarpus altilis) and pandanus fruit
(Pidgin: marita; scientific: Pandanus sp.). The Kamea trade lowland products for pandanus
(Pidgin: karuka; scientific: Pandanus sp.), which is grown at higher altitudes.
The Kovio have a more typical lowlands subsistence economy than their neighbours, which is
based on hunting and fishing, harvesting sago and planting modest-sized gardens (some
Pidgin and all scientific names: Mihalic, 1971).
They make new gardens by cutting down primary forest. Firstly, they cut down the thick
forest. Then they clear the soil by burning the cut trees and branches, and shortly afterwards
they plant the food plants. In most villages women take care of the maintenance of the
gardens and the harvesting. After the fertility of the old garden has run out, the men start
cutting down new primary forest to make new gardens. The abandoned old gardens are left
behind, which then developed into secondary forest. Sometimes, after 15 or 20 years, they reuse
the same gardens.
In addition, the men hunt wild animals to sustain their proteïn intake. They use traditional
hunting methods like setting traps to catch wild animals and birds, using weapons like spears,
bows and arrows. The people of Okovai have guns, which could be acquired by the contacts
with the capital. Since 1996 it is not allowed to buy or sell weapons in Papua New Guinea,
because of the high crime rate, but people who already own a gun (and have a license) still are
able to buy bullets. Of course this decision makes the people without guns very angry, but for
the wildlife of Papua New Guinea this situation is very fortunate. For example, the
introduction of shotguns at Aibala (south of the Kunimaipa River in the Goilala sub-district,
Central Province) has depleted animals and birds like the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Hallpike,
1977). Local people borrow guns for a day for hunting and return them in the evening to the
owner. People using bow and arrow are hunting wild pigs, cassowaries, wallabies, cuscus and
fish. A few times they are also able to shoot a crowned pigeon, but the use of bows and
arrows can not be a threat to the birds of Papua New Guinea. On the contrary, people using
shotguns are able to shoot a wide variety of birds too, in addition to the already described
mammals: like a lot of crowned pigeons, blyths hornbills, brush-turkeys and cormorants. In a
wide range around a village where people are using shotguns, there is no big game anymore.
The use of shotguns clearly has reduced wildlife around the villages, but in the undisturbed
parts of the Lakekamu Basin, there are still a lot of larger animals.
Children also collect food from the rivers, like fish, eels and prawns. Sometimes they are able
to catch a tortoise. Sometimes the villagers shoot a cassowary with one or two chicks. After
shooting the mother, they catch the chicks and raise them like chickens in the villages. Once
they are grown-up and start acting aggressive, they are killed and eaten by the people. This
also happens to piglets if the mother is killed. Strange enough they do not domesticate pigs.
There are more animals being kept as pets, for a longer or shorter period, like cuscus and tree
kangaroos.
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