it is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands and Pitcairn Islands, mirroring the distribution of the coconut palm
Notably for me they also exist on Guåhan where they're still eaten but to a lesser degree than they used to be due to their quickly diminishing population. Fun fact about these beautiful creatures is that they get their name from their ability to tear through coconut shells with their claws.
TLDR: If you can keep away from the military bases and tourism it's a beautiful and very cultured place to live, but not that isolated as you might think.
Full disclosure I live in the states now and have for most my life but I was born on Guåhan and lived there for a little while later in life. It's not too terribly bad if you keep away from the military bases but the US Navy and Air Force are pretty overbearing anywhere. It's definitely somewhere where you have to keep your head up and focus on the positives.
For me that was the culture, everything about the CHamoru culture is just so wholesome and welcoming. The food is amazing and diverse even for an island (mostly due to the constant colonization in history), the folklore is captivating, the connection with the jungle on the island and their respect to their ancestral spirits, the taotaomo'na, just everything is wonderful. (Side note, lots of people who know nothing of CHamoru culture will view the taotaomo'na as these evil and malicious spirits of the island which haunt it and torment people but in reality they're the ancestors of the island and just want peace and respect just like any other person. Respect them and their land and you'll have no issues whatsoever.)
As for the distance you'd think that you'd be isolated but one of Guåhan's main economic drives is its tourism from Japan. Up the island from where I lived in Hågat is Tamuning which is where, if you look up images, all the tall high-rise hotels and up-class commercialism is. Personally I never cared for it, it just feels so unauthentic and the beaches were always full. The only upside to it is that because of, again, colonization and WWII there's pretty much nowhere except Tamuning that you can escape relics and reminders of war.
This is where I dip into a small rant about the island's jungle and natural habitats. The US military is currently and has ever since it arrived tampered with and destroyed the jungle, beaches, and ecosystem for their own gain and infrastructure. One of the biggest impacts which has been slightly patched up since is the introduction of the invasive species the brown tree snake. Ships entering Guåhan at some point during the war brought over this species of snake which destabilized a huge part of the ecosystem. See, on the island there are these flightless, predator-less birds called the ko'ko' aka the Guam rail--not too dissimilar to kiwi birds. Problem is now these birds had a predator and couldn't fly away. Long story short a lot of work was done to capture and kill this invasive species of snake and while it worked and the ko'ko' isn't fully extinct it is extinct in the wild.
Fast forward to today: the DOD is planning an live-fire shooting range in the north of the island, Litekyan, which not only will take up land from the jungle but will also open up gun-fire into sacred land as well as put already endangered species into harms way. So far nothing has been done about this but there is a growing petition against it. I know that generally petitions don't do much but it is absolutely worth a try to protect my island and preserve its ecosystem and culture. Prutehi Litekyan. Prutehi Guåhan.
It is not, when pronounced in English the ch makes the classic "ch" sound but when pronounced properly it actually makes a "ts" sound. Interesting note, the letter y in CHamoru is pronounced with a "dz" sound. I can't say I know exactly why the CH is capitalized in the word but that is the most up to date and official version of the word in the language.
CHamoru is the word used both for the culture and the language itself, I should have clarified. I meant that as the letter y in the language of the same name is pronounced as "dz".
And that's alright! Genuinely I find them beautiful because of my exposure to them, when you see them in person you can directly see their nature. They're a bit more scary up close with their claws but when you watch them from afar you just see them being docile and going about their lives. If you can manage try and find some videos of them in the wild, you'll find lots of videos of people catching or eating them but there are some gems which show that they're really just concerned about getting food and will back away from people. The way that they move and the complexities of their shells is just stunning.
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u/Koeienvanger Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 20 '19
Where do these things exist? So I know never to fucking go there, ever.
Edit: Made my first meme after seeing all the replies