Aired (August 6, 2023): Some of the farmers in Tayabas, Quezon are having a hard time getting rid of the golden snails because it destroys their crops. But surprisingly, the soft-shell turtles helped them. The golden snail serves as their food. Watch this video.
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00:00 In a vast rice field, something is moving
00:04 The golden kohol is constantly eating the rice
00:10 It can finish the rice in just a few minutes
00:15 And the other people with it
00:28 are doing the same
00:30 But there's something stopping them
00:41 The Chinese social turtle
00:49 Their number one enemy
00:55 is the Chinese rice
00:58 Kohol's movement is slow
01:11 But they multiply quickly
01:22 Every week, they produce 25 to 1,200 eggs
01:27 In 14 days
01:32 There are baby kohol
01:37 That's why farmers are in trouble
01:49 They are doing this to the leaves
01:52 They are destroying the leaves
01:56 Until it falls
01:59 They are just touching the leaves
02:03 In just one place, we can see 5 leaves
02:08 They are eating the leaves of a plant
02:12 The leaves are destroyed
02:15 The leaves are falling
02:17 Using their flat feet
02:23 They are following the white rice
02:26 To find the best rice
02:29 There are multiple rice to taste
02:44 If not bet
02:45 Change tankai
02:48 Wait
02:51 This one saw the rice that it will eat
02:55 It's really enjoying its food
02:59 Oh, it's just missing to finish in one round
03:13 Sometimes in a tankai
03:15 Not just one kohol is eating
03:18 And they don't care even if there are eggs in the rice
03:25 Using their flat feet
03:30 They pushed the egg out of the rice
03:33 In the Bukurin of Tayabas, Quezon
03:42 The golden kohol never stops eating rice
03:45 It can finish the rice in just a few minutes
03:50 But don't be too confident
03:54 What they are afraid of
04:04 Is that the kohol can crush it
04:10 It's the Chinese softshell turtle
04:12 Or more commonly known as ahas pagong
04:15 It can stretch its neck to bite
04:22 But for the farmers in Tayabas, Quezon
04:27 They are the star of the rice
04:31 Farmers like JR told me
04:36 They saw the effect of ahas pagong on kohol
04:40 They often see people looking for food at night
04:46 These two were caught at night
04:50 How did you discover that?
04:54 When we see a lot of rice like this
04:58 The rice is full of kohol
05:01 You can see kohol, one by one
05:04 But in the wide rice fields
05:07 The rice is depleted
05:10 It helps the rice because it eats kohol
05:13 You put the rice in the other rice fields?
05:15 Yes, they put it in the rice fields
05:19 They pay for the rice
05:22 In a way, the pest
05:25 The carnivorous
05:27 They eat food to grow
05:31 The leaves are thin
05:33 The leaves are like eaten by pests
05:37 Compared to the other, the leaves are lush and green
05:41 The leaves are thick
05:43 Ahas pagong often travel alone
05:47 There is no one to accompany them
05:51 But if someone wants to help them
05:55 He can stretch his neck and bite his defense
06:02 His victim is sure that he is not safe
06:06 JR is also careful when holding the ahas pagong
06:11 They bite like this, even themselves
06:14 Their jaws are lined with fine teeth
06:18 Even if they are together, they will bite
06:23 They can bite and fight
06:25 They can get hurt
06:27 So if you see this, don't touch it
06:31 Because you can't bite
06:33 And they can cause harm
06:36 When we went around the rice fields
06:39 We saw how the golden kohol bit the ahas pagong
06:45 No one has ever bitten kohol
06:50 Often, the ahas pagong are hiding under the ground
06:54 They just stick their heads out to breathe
06:59 Because they are hiding, they are also breeding there
07:05 Here in the Philippines, since basically our temperature and time
07:12 Same almost all year round
07:14 That's why they breed here so fast
07:18 And they don't have a predator
07:20 They don't have a known predator
07:22 Just humans
07:24 And even humans, not everyone can catch them
07:27 It helps in reducing kohol in their farm
07:32 Sometimes, they need to be caught and made food
07:37 How big is the biggest ahas pagong you've seen?
07:41 This big is the biggest
07:44 It weighs 2 kilos
07:47 And we buy it from the chickens when they are farmed here
07:49 Actually, both are invasive species to golden kohol and ahas pagong
07:55 They should both disappear
07:59 Because they shouldn't be in a place, a habitat
08:04 Where they are not native, they are not natural
08:07 What's scary is
08:10 If the Chinese softshell is running out of kohol
08:16 We'll see what's the impact of this on the native species
08:25 For now, JR's hunters are relying on ahas pagong
08:34 To help in their farm
08:37 Until the arrival of the nest
08:40 They won't fight
08:45 If you're not a friend
08:46 There's no reason for safety
08:50 Doc Fudge Threshold
08:52 Doc Nelson Donato
08:54 For the Blue Eye
08:55 [Music]
09:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]