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prof-aster · 3 years ago

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Entry #1: Venusaur

I began my journey in Tsuchiura, a blooming city with flowing water and blooming flowers. As I left the airport, I followed my map to a place I had picked out before I even left the states: Cerulean Wildlife Rehabilitation center. After all, why not start with a place that will have people who already know the local wildlife.

As I approached Cerulean’s yard, overflowing with weeds, I noticed that there didn’t seem to be many outdoor structures. And in fact I realized when I got inside and got a look around the place that they, for some reason I don’t personally understand, mostly deal with mice. Seems odd but what do I know about running a wildlife rehabilitation center. But if all they had was mice I would not be writing this entry now would I.

What I found living in and around this facility is a creature that sparked my curiosity. Both an ugly reminder of the unethical science likely being conducted each day yet a shining example of nature’s proclivity to adaption.

It might just be easiest to show you a picture of them

That’s right. This reptile has a plant growing out of them. I spoke to Midori, the woman who runs this center, about just exactly what I was seeing.

According to her, she found this lizard when it was just a hatchling. It seemed to have had surgery done on it. Indeed it appeared that a seed had been planted on its back at birth. She assumes that perhaps some local wannabe mad scientist decided to experiment on their newly hatched lizard and gave up by releasing them. Midori wasn’t sure how well they would recover from this, but they seemed to heal just fine. In fact, the plant began to sprout and grow alongside the lizard while it was still a hatchling. The seed must’ve somehow taken root inside the body of the lizard without damaging them much. In fact, from what Midori could tell, this artificially created symbiosis seemed to be far from harmful. The lizard could go for days without eating a single morsel as it seemed as if the hatchling was able to store energy in some way in the bulb that had grown on their back.

It is at this point that I should probably mention that, I have no idea what species the plant or the lizard is. Both seem to have affected the other’s growth in a way that renders them unrecognizable from their original species. Just looking at the plant, I am reminded of Ivy, yet other parts almost look reminiscent of a Venus Fly Trap (minus the famous “mouth” of course). In fact, Midori even decided to give this specimen the name Venusaur because she was reminded of the well known carnivorous plant. I know that this blog is dedicated to studying local living things in the areas I visit, and it is quite possible one or both sides of this symbiosis are an invasive specimen, but I feel the need to share such an interesting find regardless.

Anyways, back to Venusaur’s story. As Midori told me, as they grew into an adolescent, the bulb on its back grew large and the lizard appeared to lose its ability to stand on its hind legs (likely due to the weight the bulb). At this point it seemed that bulb began to grow by drawing energy from the lizard in some way (we are unable to know without dissecting a body, but it is possible their internal systems were able to become connected in some as they joined at such an early developmental stage). The bulb gave off an aroma not long before blooming.

Now that it has reached the stage it is at now, the plant is seemingly able to gain some of its sustenance independently via photosynthesis. Yet it may still benefit the lizard in some way, they are on the move in and around the center throughout the day in order to keep itself in direct sunlight. Midori says that taking care of Venusaur has been fairly low maintenance so far. There’s certainly the waste to clean up after, but Venusaur mostly just needs water refilled, time outdoors, and only needs to be given food a few times a week.

Unlike some of their other residents, Midori doesn’t see a future where Venusaur can be set free into the wilderness. She fears that such a unique specimen may be unfit to survive in the wild, but the opposite could be true as well. It may have a negative effect on the local wildlife, upsetting the balance of things. There’s no way to know without letting them go and she has no intentions of finding out this way.

Another interesting note: the plant appears to be poisonous. Once, a leaf fell off and a mouse that had gotten out of its cage took it for a snack, but soon after was found dead. So this may be another good reason to keep Venusaur from the local ecosystem.

All in all, I’m glad I met this beautiful creature. They may be the result of unethical decisions, but from the way their live their life, they don’t seem to mind at all.

Keep on keepin’ on Venusaur. I’m rooting for you

#symbiosis #plant #flaura #reptile #lizard #poisonous plant #poisonous lizard #Pokémon #Venusaur

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