Western explorers, Guam has a singularly small range of animal life. There are no indigenous quadrupeds on the island, and the only prehistoric mammals that naturalists have turned up are two species of native bats.
One of these two species is the large fruit-eating bat (the flying fox), called the fanihi by the Chamorros. In its daylight foraging, besides the fragrant fruit of the screw pine, it seeks several other cultivated and wild fruits (breadfruit drupes, guavas, custard apples, etc.) and has often been a source of real pestilence to the diligent, hard-pressed farmers who have been forced to keep constant vigil at harvest time against its destructiveness. However, its taste for these edible fruits has caused it to spread the seeds over the island. When possible, the fruit bat is caught, caged, fattened, and then eaten. Its fur emits a faintly musty odor, but its flesh does not hold this scent, and is a favorite delicacy of the Chamorros, although rather tough.
The other species of bat, a much smaller insect-eating bat called the payésyes in Chamorro, ventures forth at twilight to forage for food among the hordes of insects in the mountain areas and along the coast. It flutters about much like the common bat, American but in daylight hours it remains in secluded ruins or volcanic hillside caves and may be found there clinging in its sleep to the damp walls of deserted buildings or rough caves. According to Safford, it bears a resemblance to the tropical Samoan bat and seems to possess identical habits.
RODENTS
Rats and mice abound in Guam, despite post-World War II efforts to eradicate them. At one time the rat populace subsisted entirely on seasonal crops such as maize, cacao, and young coconuts, often ascending the trees and making nests in the heart of the palm. Nowadays, with the remnants of imported food more easily accessible in a frequently uncovered state, the rat is the plague of garbage dumps, dooryards, public kitchens, warehouses and restaurants. The innocuous mouse, seldom seen, is rarely responsible for damage and contents itself with living in unused drawers and boxes in habitable buildings.
ISLAND DEER
Before World War II, wild deer abounded in the hill country, causing great damage to tender young crops in the interior. The deer was supposedly brought to Guam by Don Mariano Tobias, an early Spanish governor of Guam, sometime between 1771 and 1774, probably with the idea that it would provide a handy source of food supply. Its flesh does have a fine venison flavor, and for a long time following its introduction it was a favorite meat staple of the islanders. At one period deer were so numerous that during their rutting season the strident cries of ardent bucks were heard at night near almost every island village, especially when the tropical moon hung low and full over the sea. Today the deer have been almost hunted out of existence; war decimated their number when they were sought as one of the few sources of fresh meat. But occasionally even now on passage through the southern mountains a deer will be flushed in the dense jungle thickets and go bounding down a hillside—and a lucky hunter may be able to take it in its flight. It seems logical, however, that deer hunting will one day be outlawed. Perhaps this will occur before the tawny, nimble animals become extinct.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Nearly all of the common domestic animals—cattle, horses, water buffalo (carabao), mules, pigs, goats, chickens, cats and dogs—have been introduced into Guam since the time of Magellan. The Filipino carabao, among the work animals, has proven most adaptable, partially because it did not have to undergo a change of climate. Its natural slowness, its strength and docility, make it a good worker, and the tropical humidity and benign temperature of Guam provide it with the moist comfort it must have to survive. Without water over its back and the chance to wallow in a warm mudhole or tepid stream, the carabao will rapidly sicken with fever, run amuck, and eventually die.
Guam cattle are not exceptional in quality, and even since the last war, with the careful selection of imports to improve modern dairy strains on Guam, the domestic propagation has not produced any really first-rate offspring. There has been talk of breeding the best American domestic strains with heat-resistant types from India, but it will probably be a long time before such a type will be sent to Guam. And in the meantime, cattle produce indifferent milk and meat.
A few wild hogs roam the inaccessible places of the island on the inner hillside jungles; they are considered tasty additions to the native diet, although they are as elusive to track down as the island deer. In some cases dogs and cats have gone wild, but with the present increased population and the abundance of half-eaten food, dogs and cats have found it wiser to live in and about the camps and villages of the island and to accept the plentiful handouts they now come by so easily. They seldom go wild today and no longer forage at night like the deer.
Chickens are kept by most Chamorro families and are a food staple. Specially groomed fighting cocks are the prized possession of many islanders, particularly of the post-war Filipino contingent who work under contract for private and government construction companies. On any Sunday afternoon cockfights may be held legally in many parts of the island, taxed, sponsored and protected by island law. In its way, cockfighting is to the Chamorros what the corrida is to the Spaniards, and one of the most colorful experiences on the island is attendance at one of these fight sessions.
SAFFORD'S LIST OF GUAM BIRDS
Guam's loveliest bird is the rose-crowned fruit dove. Its plumage is of a general green tone, and its head is capped rose-purple. The lower surface of its body shades from orange to yellow and into purple on the breast. The sexes do not differ greatly within this color range. When the fruit dove releases its typical dovelike crooning note it presses its bill against its breasts and swells the back of its neck in the typical manner of the familiar park pigeon. In captivity, kept in bamboo cages as they were by the aborigines, the dove cries plaintively all night long, but it does make a good pet and will take readily to a hand-fed diet of cestrum, orange berries, and the fruit of the ilangilang, showing its delicacy of taste.
Another fruit dove (Phelogoenas xanthonura) of less striking appearance is the red-brown colored bird; the male has a white throat and olive-green reflections. Altogether, Guam has several doves, all small, singularly marked, and quite gregarious.
The most remarkable bird in the Marianas is the megapode, named polio del monte by the natives. This bird is apparently quite similar to the megapode of the southern Palau Islands. The Australian jungle fowl or mound builder is also of the same genus. The habits of the Marianas megapode include heaping up a mound of earth with its thick, powerful feet, topping this with a nest of decaying leaves and debris, and then laying its eggs there. It is oddly marked with a reddish bald spot on the crown of its head, yellow legs and beak. Because of its rather clumsy shape it flies heavily. Not seen in Guam for a good many years, this bird still inhabits the less trafficked jungles of Rota and Agrihan and is noted there occasionally.
Guam has only one true bird of prey—a short-eared owl (Asio acciptrinius) called momo by the natives. This is an almost legendary bird, seen apparently only by islanders, who describe it as having a feline face and huge, predatory eyes. It is said to hunt at dusk and prefers a diet of small lizards.
Among the commonest Guam birds is the sihig (Halcyon cinnamonus), a small blue-and-tan insect-feeding kingfisher. Although not considered a bird of prey, it is reputed to eat very young birds and to pick out the eyes of baby chicks. It will also feed upon lizards, and its eerie night cry makes it likely material for native myth.
Guam boasts an edible-nest swift called golindrina (Collocalia fuciphaga) by the Spaniards. It makes nests of dry leaves glued together by a secretion from its mouth, though the nests are different from those of the Chinese bird which are such a delicacy in Oriental soup. On the island there is one real songbird (Acrocephalus uscina), a real warbler that in former times nested in profusion in the Agaña swamps but has now chosen the waist of the island near the windward valleys for its home. It had a song of singular sweetness, and its voice contrasts agreeably with the cacophonous chatter of the other island birds.
Shore
