Anhinga in Costa Rica - Faking Is Not All Bad

On a trip to Costa Rica last year, we had a most memorable experience in the Tortuguero National Park, watching an Anhinga fishing.

Let me quote you the description of this scene in my book The Cockroach Catcher:

“One of the most exciting birds to watch is the Anhinga. In Costa Rica, they are fairly easy to spot as they dry themselves on a branch or tree stump over the water after their fishing endeavour. The reason it has to dry itself is because it has no oil gland. Some commentators say that the bird is primitive and has not really evolved. Is that so? Without oiling its feathers like most other birds do, it can swim underwater without trapping air and causing a turbulence to slow itself down and to disturb the fish it tries to hunt. Why fix something when it is working well? Unlike the eagle, it does not need to be circulating on top of thermals. To be able to catch fish is more important than anything else.

Its ability to swallow fairly good size fish has been observed and with fish stock not always available, it has the uncanny ability of swallowing a fairly high number of fishes. However, they seem to prefer to kill the fish first. A struggling fish in the stomach may not indeed be the most pleasant thing even for the Anhinga.

There seems little the poor fish can do when faced with such advanced credential in the evolutionary war. That the Anhinga has survived without much evolving is a clear endorsement of its hunting skills. I wonder if its stripy wings mimic shoals of fish under water thus giving the real fish a false sense of comradeship.

In Tortuguero National Park of Costa Rica, we were fortunate enough to observe a catch by the Anhinga. A seven inch fish was the latest victim. The said Anhinga found a little piece of river bank and started to flick the fish. The neck of the Anhinga is strong. I suppose it has to be with all the work-outs under water. The fish seemed exhausted. You could see from the way it looked. Another flick and all was quiet. Cameras clicked and videos zoomed to get a good view.

The fish looked truly dead. In normal circumstances, one flick was enough. It had two. Or was it three?

The bird was now relaxed. Why rush when you can wait till the previous fish is fully down? Spread your wings a bit – there is a huge audience of tourists. It was a beautiful sight – a female Anhinga spreading out its wings. It was indeed a sculpture of exceptional beauty. More cameras clicked and more video whined.

Suddenly. Very suddenly. The little fish came to life. Made a couple of strong wriggly movements, slid into the water and swam off. By the time the Anhinga realised, it was a split second too late. The fish disappeared into the mangrove roots.

We all spontaneously clapped. Support the “under-dog”. Or should it be “under-fish”?

The oldest defence: faking. Not just faking, but faking death.”

Richard Dawkins wrote in his famous book Selfish Gene:

“We are survival machines, robot machines, blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.”

As an illustration, he observed:

“The parent bird limps away from the nest, holding out one wing as though it were broken. The predator, sensing easy prey, is lured away from the nest containing the chicks. Finally the parent bird gives up its pretence and leaps into the air just in time to escape the fox’s jaws.”

In my child psychiatric practice, I came across a number of children who seemed to have made good use of faking. (In The Cockroach Catcher, there are stories of a limping boy, a boy with non-stoppable hiccup, and a 12-year girl who suddenly thought she was only 3 ½.) I have now come to realise that the human brain is often well equipped to protect its owner and wonder about the role of our intervention.

The William Tell Mom and Peas

Be a bad parent. It is easier for your children.

Now that is a bombshell. Why?

In the book “The Cockroach Catcher”, there is a story about this 12-year old girl who tried to hang herself in her boarding school. This is a quote from that chapter:

“ ……..Bad parents are generally easier to deal with. It is easier for children to know from early on that they are better off not taking any notice of them and they will, at least the resilient ones will, survive. Many children of psychotic parents become independent and tough from an early age. Good parents are more difficult to handle and if they already have a position in society, what are the poor children supposed to do?......”

I enjoyed the performance of The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics (everything a mother says in one 24-hour period put to the music of the William Tell Overture), possibly the most watched on Youtube right now. The William Tell Mom is good. She does not try to justify to her children why they have to do as they are told.

“You don't need the reason why because I said so. I am the Mom.”

How often do mothers get into trouble by being too reasonable?

In “The Cockroach Catcher”, there is a story about a toddler who liked to his “big job” behind a sofa in the living room. One day his mother finally plugged up courage to be very firm with him and accomplished what she could not achieve for a long time.

The William Tell Mom sang:

“But right now, I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew
Would appreciate
Take a bite, maybe two
Of the stuff you hate”

Well, don’t be shocked when your child listens and starts washing behind his ears, making his bed and eating what he used to hate.

Let them change!

Sometimes we need to let our children change. There is story about entrenchment in “The Cockroach Catcher”. The mother of an autistic child was so shocked to see her child one day eating peas. He used to hate them.

Here is an extract describing the scene:

A mother was shocked on a lunch time visit that her little Gerry was eating peas.

“Darling, I thought you didn’t like peas.”

“I like them now.”

Mother, now finding it difficult to save face, turned to one of the nurses and said, “Honest – he would be sick”

“He will be fine, he has been having peas for days,” said the nurse.

“These are good,” the autist added, without even looking up at mum.

The William Tell mom had better watch out though, now that she is famous…….

“….Good parents are more difficult to handle and if they already have a position in society, what are the poor children supposed to do?......”

Bauhinia blakeana and other health warnings

The book “The Cockroach Catcher” is published by Bauhinia Press. Bauhinia blakeana is named after one of the British Governors of Hong Kong (Sir Henry Blake-1898 to 1903). An enthusiastic botanist, he discovered it in 1880 near the ruins of a house on the shores of Hong Kong Island near Pok Fu Lam. It is now the floral emblem of Hong Kong. The flower in fact looks like an orchid and is often referred to as a tree orchid. As such it is a mirror symmetrical flower.

Keen observer may notice that the emblem used for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region does not depict it so but rather as rotationally symmetrical.

The plant is usually sterile and can only be propagated by cuttings or root layering. However, one tree has been found that produces seeds and research is ongoing to settle the hybrid/species debate.

Health Warning:

Any material regarding treatment in this blog and the book “The Cockroach Catcher” carry the usual warning. Do not try it at home. If in doubt, consult your doctor, as long as he has not turned into a monkey. Some material is meant to be light hearted in nature and if you take it seriously, you may need to see your psychiatrist, or maybe not.

Anyone who happens to be faking illness should think twice before consulting his or her doctor or psychiatrist. What the doctor prescribes may indeed be harmful, especially if the person concerned does not need it.

Monkeys and NHS

At least the Cockroach Catcher was no monkey. Those who have read Chapter 1 – The Seven Minute Cure of the book “The Cockroach Catcher” will have to agree. Dr Crippen in his NHS BLOG DOCTOR noted on January 18 that:

“The medical profession has not been allowed to do its job. The government has forced doctors to implement focus group predicated health care. Professional judgment is neither respected nor required. Doctors' morale is at an all time low. Medical care is now all protocols and process. Protocol driven medical care can be done by monkeys, and often is.”

You will find similar sentiments in this extract from the chapter “The Seven Minute Cure” of my book “The Cockroach Catcher”:

“ I am no coward. So let us wait.

Adolescent Units are notorious for making life difficult for authority figures. This is perhaps due to severe professional rivalry. To most of the nursing staff, the only difference between the psychiatrist and them is that the psychiatrist is licensed to prescribe. If a patient is not on medication a psychiatrist would barely be needed. Over time various mechanisms have been introduced to minimize the input of the psychiatrist even when he is supposed to be in charge. Many psychiatrists gave up the fight a long time ago just to survive. A patient’s stay in hospital involves a large number of multidisciplinary meetings that often lead to half-baked treatment plans that have little hope of success. Surprises are unwelcome and generally discouraged.

I have found this kind of ‘consensus’ approach a serious problem. It is simply not my style. Perhaps one of the reasons I stayed as an outpatient consultant all these years was to continue to enjoy the independence from such approach.”

The monkey was in Kruger National Park, South Africa. One day he may be all you would see.

Or perhaps this one from Costa Rica is better. He is a rare species of golden monkey we saw in the Caño Negro wildlife refuge of Costa Rica. He looks more thoughtful.

Yunnan

Now The Cockroach Catcher knows. Yunnan, my birthplace, is one of the most important provinces of China for its bio-diversity. This is a view of its mountains.

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

Occupying only 4.1% of the total area of China, it has over 70% of country's protected wild animals and and over 50% of its high altitude plant species. Geographically, it is north of Vietnam and east of Tibet. You can find more than 400 different kinds of flowers in Kunming, the capital of the province nicknamed "city of spring". I took the photo of this cymbidium orchid there.

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

It might turn out one day that plants are more important than animals in terms of service to mankind. Two most important drugs mentioned in the book are derived from plants. Vincristine in VAMP treatment for leukaemia is derived from the Madagasca Periwinkle. Artemisinin from Artemisia annua was noted in The Ancient Chinese Pharmacopoea dating back to 200 b.c. for the treatment of Swamp Fever. The WHO has now approved an Artemisinin based combination treatment for malaria. By chance Artemisia annua was found growing by the banks of the Potomac River, Washington D.C. and the rest so to speak was history. The world was fortunate that herbicides have not been widely applied around the Capital City of the United States. Unfortunately for medicine, politics dictate what could and could not be shared. For mankind's sake let us hope that "medecins sans frontiere" is really without frontier.

The Naxi tribe of Yunnan had a long tradition of passing on their history verbally through thousands of years of story telling. Their insight into the creation of the universe and more locally of mountains and rivers are now subject of academic research. We saw them performing at the World Heritage Site of Lijiang.

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

Hiccup Boy

A boy was referred to me because he had been having non-stop hiccups for the better part of six months. (For full story, read The Cockroach Catcher - Chapter 13: Hiccup Boy)

Now hiccups may seem a simple enough problem, but the BBC reported in July 2007 that a man in Belfast had it for 5 years:

“An east Belfast man who has suffered from hiccups for five years is hoping a new surgical technique pioneered in the US will give him his life back.

David Willis, who suffers from an incurable condition known as intractable hiccups, hopes a £9,000 operation will end his misery.

The operation involves implanting a vagus nerve stimulator into his upper chest cavity.

He has also tried acupuncture, hypnotherapy as well as numerous other remedies such as drinking water from the wrong side of a glass to blowing into a paper bag, but all to no avail.”

extracted from BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6907540.stm

No, David Willis was not one of my patients.

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Turtles in Barbados

Barbados is where I first encountered the turtles. This is the photo I took at Accra Beach of a baby turtle that had just hatched.

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

This older one I saw feeding in the sea off Accra Beach.

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

 

Barbados

Those of you who managed to catch the first Chapter "The Seven Minute Cure" will be wondering: Is the Cockroach Catcher famous as Barbados is for the British Celebrities? Well, let the truth be told, Am Ang discovered Barbados long before the celebs. He is still very fond of it though he tends to visit when the celebs have left and he can have the beaches to himself. His favourite beach is Accra Beach. There he has seen hatching turtles marching into the ocean, the few that remains of course.

In Barbados, the Cockroach Catcher also picked up golf, the only addiction where there is no cure, no rehab. None required anyway. There too he rediscovered his childhood love of snorkeling and he later marvelled (in his book of course) at the way mankind took the better part of two decades to come up with a new snorkel design and lamented the sluggishness of medical progress.

Barbados is also the place that has the second highest number of centenarians per capita. Is it the fish they eat, the slower place of life or is it something that we have come to avoid, sunshine? In the end genetics probably prevail; but one cannot let what is written in one's genes dictate one's life.

J. D. Bernal, Professor of Physics, Birkbeck College, London, FRS ( 1901—1971), known for pioneering X-ray crystallography, once said,

“There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learnt to separate them.”

The Cockroach Catcher has been launched!

I was born in the South West Chinese province of Yunnan just as the Second World War was ending, educated in Hong Kong and later became an eminent Child Psychiatrist half way round the world in England. After thirty years of clinical practice i felt compelled to tell my stories as I had my doubts on the validity of some of the assertions of the medical world.

“The Cockroach Catcher” contains my personal view of the human psyche. Cases range from simple childhood toilet and sleep problems to anorexia nervosa, abuse and psychosis. There are also cases of "entrepreneurs" in the making, and cases that turn out not to be psychiatric at all. The Cockroach Catcher provides a glimpse of this world through one specialist's eyes and will be of interest to health care practitioners and the general public.

"Anybody can read it. You don't have to be in the medical profession."

"The cockroach catcher is at once witty, funny and even cultured. Heh, there is Shakespeare, Bach, Ibsen and Mondrian. The Cockroach Catcher really did catch cockroaches, but as a child psychiatrist, he did see some funny kids. They would have had the last laugh, faking it and not getting caught by well trained psychiatrist! Not so with the cockroach catcher turned psychiatrist. He had some sad cases though, some really tragic ones."

"Reading the chapter Seven Minutes Cure made me further aware of three things : the difficult decisions with which a doctor is so often faced, the need for him to have faith in himself and, coupled with that, the need for continued idealism and enthusiasm. These don't, of course, apply only to doctors but are particularly important for them."

Go read it and see what you think. You can preview a chapter .

The Book: The Cockroach Catcher

©2007 Am Ang Zhang/Bauhinia Press

Here is a festive photo to start my blog. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Since my retirement, I have spent so much time travelling that I now consider myself a global citizen. This photo was taken in New York City, at this year's Lincoln Center Tree Lighting Ceremony.