Day 58 of Baby Strads: Nature Kick

Kauai is the least populated of all the Hawaiian islands (only about 59,000 people live here).  It's also the oldest.  Maybe this is why the jungles seem so jungle-y and primitive.  In other words, maybe Jurassic Park was filmed here precisely because dinosaurs did, in fact, once roam here.  After viewing the jagged-y, lush terrain, the thought of giant lizards filling the scenery isn't difficult to imagine.  Granted, one of the most popular movies of all time already did the imagining for us.  Let me check. . . .  Yea, so, once again, Hollywood lies.  Since the Hawaiian islands were formed 30 million years ago, and dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, the scenario of dinosaurs ever living here isn't likely.  This ruins my daily fantasy that the tour helicopters flying over head are actually graceful pterodactyls ready to take me for a ride.

Dinosaurs or not, Jonathan and I did catch a glimpse into ancient Hawaii at the Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden.  The garden was beautiful and I learned some really interesting things:

• When the Marquesas, Hawaii's first inhabitants, settled the islands around 200 A.D. they had a difficult time finding enough food. Very few of the native plants were edible and with the exception of flightless birds, there were no large land animals to hunt.  Looking around Kauai now, it's difficult to imagine that someone could starve here. Coconuts, bread fruits, and other tropical delights fall off trees year round.
• The first settlers, who travelled thousands of miles by sea in canoes, were able to flourish in Hawaii because they brought with them 27 of their most important plants (breadfruit, coconuts, taro, sweet potato etc.) and 3 important animals (jungle fowl, pigs, and dogs).  Ah...this is where all the hawaiian goodness came from.
• Of Hawaii's nearly 1,200 native flowering plant species, approximately 100 are already extinct and about 300 native species have 50 individuals or less remaining in the wild.  Hawaii isn't what it used to be.  
• Taro is grown like rice in terraced paddies.  Also, if cooked incorrectly, taro will leave lesions in your mouth.

Fascinating.  Here are the pics.