Kulot and Unat

KULOT AND UNAT:  Human Adaptations in Tropical Forest Ecosystems

by Antonio C. Antonio

January 21, 2014

My research on human adaptations in tropical forest ecosystems brought me to three items that seemingly got stuck in my mind:

1.     That adaptation is a neutral term and that not all adaptations can be successful although maladaptation is also another form of adaptation.

2.     That adaptive processes are the long-term evolutionary changes that come about because of the recurrent use of adaptive strategies in a particular setting.

3.     That according to Yehudi Cohen, adaptive strategy refers to the economic production system of a social unit and that two or more unrelated cultures can be explained by their having similar adaptive strategy.

Cohen, in enumerating (1) foraging, (2) horticulture, (3) agriculture, (4) pastoralism, (5) mercantilism, and (6) industrialism as the six adaptive strategies, practically covered all possible adaptive strategies available.  Are there possibly more adaptive strategies out there?  It will be very hard to think of any addition to these already stated and accepted adaptive strategies.  Having stated that Cohen has already cover much of everything about adaptive strategies and for the sake of informative discussion, please allow me to venture into an outside-the-box adaptive strategy which I will simply call the “calibrated and sustained utilization of (food) resources” strategy.

The calibrated and sustained utilization of resources strategies, as I have personally observed, exists.  I experienced this when I was still working for government (as the Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator for the Province of Tarlac) sometime in 1989.  The western part of the Province of Tarlac (specifically the Municipalities of Bamban, Capas and San Jose) bordering the Province of Zambales is a mountainous area called the Zambales Mountain Range.  Here, as I learned, several communities of indigenous people live.  This is also the place where I also learned of this adaptive strategy.

Accompanied by two personnel from the PPD Office, I visited those communities and stayed there for three days to study and chronicle their needs.  I discovered that they are generally tribes of hunters and gatherers.  To sustain a steady supply of food in their mountain environment, they move from place to place to allow fruit trees to maintain productivity and vegetables to grow.  Their nomadic nature also allows for communications and the development of interrelations between and among the different tribes.  The exchange of culture happens when they occasionally meet up or when their paths cross.  As a daily routine, the males leave their make-shift community camps and temporary dwellings and venture out to hunt for wild animals (boars and a local deer called “usa”).  They depend a lot on fruit trees for food on these hunting activities.

One night, I had the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with an old man, named Tatang Ambo, who was part of the council of elders for one tribe.  He gave me insights on their culture and ways of life.  He also lamented the intrusions of the “unats” (straight-haired lowlanders) who often go up to the mountains and harvest fruits from the very trees they also gather food from.  (It should be noted that in that part of Tarlac the upland dwellers are called “kulot” while they lowlanders are called “unat”.)  In areas where fruit trees are “raided” by the “unats” successful hunting sorties becomes a must for the “kulots” or else they will go back to their tribe and families empty handed. I still remember distinctly what he said:  “Nung deng diretsu a bwak deng mumunta keni, gigisanan da la reng bunga da reng tanaman ampo reng dutung.  Ala lang tatagan para apangan da reng aliwa.” (When the “unats” come to our place, they gather all the fruits of the plants and trees.  They leave nothing for the others to eat.)  When I suggested that they do the same to protect the food supply for the rest of the tribe, he answered:  “Ali mu ikaming kulut ing mangailangang pamangan.”  (It’s not only us curly-haired who are in for food.)  He went on to say that they only consume what is necessary and make sure more is left for others to eat.  And that this is being practiced by all the tribes living in the Zambales Mountain Range.  These words from Tatang Ambo had a profound impact and influence to my way of looking at things now.

It is just amazing how the poor tribesmen in the mountains think more about the survival of everyone when others exhibit less concern for others.  In their simple and survival-mode lifestyle, they still find the need to sustainably conserve food resources with the survival of other tribes as the prime consideration.  Even when the resource is all there for the taking, they would calibrate their consumption to allow food security for others.  Unwittingly, Tatang Ambo just added the a 7^th adaptive strategy to Cohen’s 6… the “calibrated and sustained utilization of (food) resources” strategy. 

Just my little thoughts…

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