The fascinating secret lives of giant clams | Mei Lin Neo

109,391 views ・ 2017-10-12

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Back home, my friends call me nicknames,
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such as "The Giant Clam Girl,"
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"Clam Queen,"
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or, "The Mother of Clams."
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(Laughter)
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This is because every time I see them,
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I talk nonstop about giant clams all day,
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every day.
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Giant clams are these massive and colorful shelled marine animals,
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the largest of its kind.
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Just look at this shell.
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The biggest recorded individual was four-and-a-half-feet long
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and weighed about 550 pounds.
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That is almost as heavy as three baby elephants.
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South Pacific legends once described giant clams as man-eaters
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that would lie in wait on the seabed to trap unsuspecting divers.
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A story goes that a diver had lost his legs
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while trying to retrieve a pearl from a giant clam.
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I thought, "Really?"
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So out of curiosity,
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I did an experiment using myself as bait.
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(Laughter)
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I carefully placed my hand into the clam's mouth and waited.
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Hmm ...
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I still have my hand.
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It seems that these gentle giants would rather retreat
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and protect their fleshy bodies
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than feed on me.
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So much for those killer clam myths!
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Unfortunately, the reality is,
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we are the giant clams' biggest threat.
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Considered a delicacy throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans,
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giant clams have been traditionally fished as seafood.
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Fishermen are particularly interested in their adductor muscles,
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which are organs that hold the two shells together like a hinge.
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Just for their muscles,
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giant clams were almost hunted to extinction
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between the 1960s and 1980s.
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Clamshells are also popular in the ornamental trade
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as jewelry and for display.
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In the South China Sea,
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fishermen went out of their way to collect fossilized clamshells
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by digging through large areas of coral reefs.
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These were later carved and sold as so-called "ivory handicrafts" in China.
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Giant clams, dead or alive, are not safe from us.
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It's a "clamity!"
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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With the spotlight on more charismatic marine animals
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such as the whales and coral reefs,
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it is easy to forget that other marine life needs our help, too.
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My fascination with giant clams got me started on conservation research
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to fill in the knowledge gaps on their ecology and behavior.
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One of the discoveries that we made was that giant clams could walk
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across the seafloor.
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Yes, you heard me right:
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they can walk.
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To find out,
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we placed numerous baby clams on a grid.
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Now watch what happens over 24 hours.
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We think that walking is important for getting away from predators
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and finding mates for breeding.
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While it can hard to imagine any movement in these enormous animals,
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giant clams up to 400 pounds can still walk,
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they just move slower.
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During my PhD, I discovered more secrets about the giant clams.
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But there was something missing in my work.
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I found myself asking,
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"Why should people care about conserving giant clams?" --
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other than myself, of course.
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(Laughter)
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It turns out that giant clams have a giant impact on coral reefs.
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These multitasking clams are reef builders,
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food factories,
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shelters for shrimps and crabs
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and water filters,
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all rolled into one.
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In a nutshell,
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giant clams play a major contributing role
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as residents of their own reef home,
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and just having them around keeps the reef healthy.
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And because they can live up to 100 years old,
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giant clams make vital indicators of coral reef health.
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So when giant clams start to disappear from coral reefs,
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their absence can serve as an alarm bell
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for scientists to start paying attention,
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similar to the canary in a coal mine.
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But giant clams are endangered.
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The largest clam in the world is facing the threat of extinction,
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with more than 50 percent of the wild population severely depleted.
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And the ecological benefits of having giant clams on coral reefs
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are likely to continue only if populations are healthy,
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making their conservation paramount.
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So I stand here today to give a voice to the giant clams,
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because I care a whole lot for these amazing animals,
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and they deserve to be cared for.
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It is time for the giant clams to step out of their shells,
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and show the world that they, too, can be the heroes of the oceans.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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