------Program code: NS-080825-02994 (what's this?)
Source:
08-25-2008 10:15
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The finest sand in the world covers the Taklamakan Desert. A breath of wind and the grains will take to the air. It’s March. The sun rises and the warm northeasterly wind blows. The sands have started a new journey.
The iguana has never left its home. It has spent the whole of its 20-year life in the same euphrates poplar. It’s a female tree, standing alone in the heart of the Taklamakan Desert. Here, there are no other poplars in sight. She needs the pollen from a male tree if she is to have any offspring to keep her company.
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The week in which she flowers is her only opportunity of the year. This blossoming tree in the desert awaits the wind that may signal a change of fortune for her.
The Tarim Basin resembles a great yellow eye in the heart of Eurasia. This is the Taklamakan, the world’s most fluid desert. The slush from the high mountains pours into the basin and converges to form the source of life in the desert – the Tarim River system. No permanent riverbed can be formed in the desert. The Tarim River at one time flowed across land 130km away from its current course. Wherever the river flows, euphrates poplars thrive.
Black storks silently skim past. Usually a black stork, when it reaches maturity, ceases singing. The storks make the difficult journey from the south to the Taklamakan to reproduce. The behavior is determined by their unique genetic code. The Taklamakan Desert is one of the world’s most desolate places. But it was once a lush wetland where long ago black storks also lived.
The black storks are born among the euphrates poplars downstream on the Tarim River. There is even less water in the river than last year. This creates a problem when it comes to feeding the baby black storks.
Sima Yi has lived in the poplar woods since he was a boy. The old man knows every resident and passer-by here. They greet each other, together welcoming the coming of a new spring.
The tall tree with the single branch is like a signpost at the edge of the oasis, showing the black stork the way back to the home it last saw six months ago. The tall tree with the single branch stands at the edge of the euphrates poplar woods.
The tree has stopped growing now that it has reached sixteen meters. Its thick foliage has withered. But still it’s the tallest and strongest tree in the area. The tree has been growing for eighty years. In that time it has aged steadily. But no new trees have bloomed around it. It’s been 40 years since the area was last flooded.
This year’s spring is especially dry. None of the trees has yet come into bloom. The odor of despair permeates the air.
The tall tree with the single branch is a male. The blossoms are its last hope for reproducing this year. It seems the coming year will also be full of hardship.
A subtle stirring in the trunk of the euphrates poplar awakens the small creatures underground.
The inchworm awakens from a ten-month slumber. It emerges from the soil ten centimetres under the tree and returns to the poplar woods. It will spend its last days above the ground. The inchworm is a male and is seeking a female to mate with. After its wings have dried, it will fly to the treetop with its mate.
A female inchworm doesn’t have wings. As soon as she emerges from the soil she heads straight for the tree. Tonight, she must climb to the treetop where she used to live.
The little worms will transform the appearance of the poplar woods this spring.
The spring ploughing has started. Thousands of inchworms in the soil have been stirred into action. The treetop is its destination. It moves forward instinctively. The euphrates poplars have not yet put out their full foliage.
The old man is praying under the tree, just as he does every spring. As always, he is praying for water.
It’s a tough journey for the female inchworm, creeping towards the treetop. She has spent ten months in the dark soil, waiting for tonight’s brief reunion. They spawn at the top of the tree so that the young inchworms can be fed the poplar leaves.
In the heart of the desert 100km away, the female tree is still waiting. The sands, having built up over many years and buried her companions, are now trying to overwhelm her. She responds by trying to strike deeper root. Doing so will not only support her, but also help her grow taller. The female tree has been waiting for pollen since the arrival of the warm weather and the northeasterly wind.
The flowers are moist and sticky, to attract the pollen that is carried on the wind. However, they will last only for seven days, during which time the moisture on the petals will steadily vaporize into the dry air. Eventually the pollen will no longer be attracted, and so no young tree will be produced.
The tall tree with the single branch consigns its pollen to the wind. The wind will carry the hope of new life in search of a female tree in bloom. The tiny pollen are flying on the wind across the desert.
The female tree smells the odor of life. The pollen, having flown across the oasis and desert from hundreds of kilometers away, reach her side. Five months later, it is possible that her young may fly back to the oasis.
The temperature increases, making the air even drier. The tall tree with the single branch has fulfilled its mission of transmitting the pollen. Every spring, there are always some old trees that fail to produce foliage.
The barren land has turned green and attracted interest from the woods.
On the treetop, the baby inchworms have started out on the prowl for the first time.
The baby inchworms eat almost the whole of the tree’s foliage within two days. They fly on the wind, helped by the silk they have spun.
The cattle prepare an ambush under the tree. Like all the other species in the desert, they can go without food for a long time, But then they quietly await the arrival of their prey.
The purple-winged starling is about to enjoy lunch. The young inchworm has sensed the danger. Quickly it camouflages itself as a piece of wood.
Editor:Yang
