Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 31 deceMber 2018

At botanical garden in Mexico, natural species blossom again

By KIM CURTIS directors. cert and summer festival in
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Even so, the high tourist sea- July.
Mexico (AP) — Imagine son of November through El Charco, a nonprofit orga-
a botanical garden, and February is the park's busi- nization, receives no gov-
acres of carefully de- est time of year, Hernández ernment funding, and the
signed, highly manicured, said. bulk of its annual budget is
delicately pruned "zoos for "We're working with the Uni- drawn from memberships
plants" may come to mind. versity of Guanajuato on a and fees, Hernandez said.
But at El Charco del Ingen- study of the capacity of in- About 20 percent comes
io, a botanical garden and take. We're discussing how from private donations. In
natural protected area in much is too much," he said. addition to Hernandez and
central Mexico, the sprawl- "We can pack this place the board of directors, the
ing scrubland has been al- with people . but then its park is run by a team of 24
lowed to return to its unen- natural structure, which we full-time staff, including an
cumbered, wilder roots. guard as a treasure, would environmental engineer
The approximately 160- be highly affected." and two biologists, and 10
acre property, acquired In addition to its biodiver- volunteer tour guides.
from several different fami- sity, El Charco is culturally Andrew Goodell, a volun-
lies, had been overgrazed and historically significant. teer and engineering ge-
for hundreds of years, ac- Its name combines two ologist, said groups of stu-
cording to Mario Arturo Spanish words, "el charco" dents, ranging from pre-kin-
Hernández Peña, the park's or "puddle," and "ingenio" dergarten to post-doctoral,
director. or "mill." They refer to the have toured the park.
"Thirty years ago, people ancient flow of water in the "I want to give them an ap-
said the only thing that canyon, which originated preciation for nature and
grows here is stones," in a natural spring, long their heritage," he said. "I
Hernández said. But by since dried up, and the re- want to show them what
limiting access, protecting mains of an ancient mill or the land has looked like in
the soil from runoff, pruning waterwheel, likely used to the past, what the names
trees and controlling un- grind grain, which shows of things are and what
wanted species, the land This November 2018 photo shows Director Mario Arturo Hernán- up on a map of San Miguel they've been used for."
has blossomed, he said. dez Peña showing endangered cacti grown in El Charco's from 1580. Hernández's intentions are
greenhouse at El Charco del Ingenio in San Miguel de Allende,
In 1991, when El Charco first Mexico. Today's visitors also can even broader.
opened, volunteers and Associated Press see the remains of an 18th "We can have a much
staff had identified about century bridge, the ruins of larger impact if we focus
183 different species of ble from touristy downtown actly how Hernández and a 19th century hacienda not just on environmental
plants and about 130 spe- San Miguel de Allende. It's the board of directors like and a still-intact dam built education, but on cultural
cies of birds. Those numbers a few minutes by car or a it. in 1902. There are work- change," he said. "We can
exploded to about 600 and longer, uphill jaunt by foot. "It's an educational envi- shops and classes, guided just have tourists running
186 in 2007 and 2014, re- The park hosts about 50,000 ronment, not a park where tours in Spanish and English, through here and taking
spectively. visitors each year. About 70 you can have a picnic," ex- bird-watching excursions, off, but if people leave
"We're just helping nature," percent are Mexicans and, plained Naomi Zerriffi, the sweat lodge and full moon here thinking about their
he said. of those, about 35 percent only non-Mexican on the ceremonies, as well as an actions and their impacts,
El Charco is easily accessi- are students, which is ex- seven-member board of annual spring equinox con- that's real."q

Professor names beetle species

after 'Game of Thrones'

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A acter in the fictional work. ating new names becomes
Nebraska entomologist has Radcliffe said he's a fan of difficult. Naming rules rec-
named three of his eight the series, but ultimately ommend against using
newest beetle discover- chose the names to draw humor or insults, and are
ies after the dragons from attention to biodiversity particularly useful to avoid
This combination of undated photos provided by Brett Ratcliffe the HBO series "Game of and the amount of undis- having duplicate names,
in December 2018 shows, from left, Gymnetis drogoni, Gymnetis Thrones" and George R.R. covered species. he said.
rhaegali and Gymnetis viserioni beetles from South America.
Associated Press Martin book series "A Song "When you create names Ratcliffe said he went with
of Ice and Fire." like these, you do it to gain the pop culture reference
University of Nebraska- a little bit of notoriety and to have a little bit of fun.
Lincoln professor Brett Rat- bring public attention to it," "I've often thought that sci-
cliffe named the new scar- Ratcliffe said. "We're still dis- entists take themselves too
ab beetle species drogoni, covering life on Earth. One seriously," Ratcliffe said,
rhaegali and viserioni, The of every four living things "and this is a way to circum-
Omaha World-Herald re- on Earth is a beetle. We vent that."
ported . The names are haven't discovered them Drogoni and viserioni can
Latinized versions of Dro- all. We're not even close." be found in Colombia and
gon, Rhaegal and Viserion, Ratcliffe said he's named Ecuador, while rhaegali is in
three dragons owned by hundreds of species over the French Guiana. All three
Daenerys Targaryen's char- his 50-year career and cre- have orange features.q