Wild Taiwan

Taiwan is an island like no other. Sitting abreast the Tropic of Cancer, this small slice of Asia hosts tropical beaches, misty forests and icecapped mountains. Life here is secretive and scarce, divided between the warm lowlands of the west, and the soaring mountains of the east. But during spring, as the snows recede on Jade Mountain and cherry blossoms paint the landscape pink, Taiwans unique creatures let-loose in a riot of life. In the warm lowlands, a splendid pair of Formosan blue magpies attack anything that approaches their nest, and squirrel-away excess food in preparation for the insatiable chicks that are about to hatch. The magpies share their forests with bizarre land-dwelling crabs and a troupe of rock-macaques, nursing babies of their own. These monkeys have their own way of safe-guarding excess food: storing it in expandable cheek-pouches like chipmunks! On the high mountains, the goat-like serow ght for their mates, while in the montane forest a beautifully-dressed Mikado pheasant woos his partner through the power of dance. Formosan black bears lurk in these misty woods, and the nationally- treasured Landlocked Salmon hides in icy steams, having abandoned the migratory instincts of its kin. When spring arrives in the mystical Marble Mountains, migrating swallows pause to nest in the gravity-defying canyons. All across the island of Taiwan, exotic creatures revel in the return of spring, putting on a spectacle seen nowhere else in Asia. (National Geographic)