Dutch Governor Descendants, Orangutan Healer

News Bites

Hey there! Let's chow down on this all new episode of News Bites…
I'm Paz Bueno.
And I'm Nancy Sun.
In today's news:
Descendants of last Dutch governor of Taiwan pay respects, an orangutan uses a medicinal plant, and…how many atoms does it take to make a person?
Stay tuned for more on these, coming up next.
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荷蘭台灣末代總督後代來台向鄭成功致敬
Descendants of last Dutch Governor in Taiwan Pay Respects
Our first story has to do with Taiwan's history.
From 1624 to 1662, the Dutch East India Company occupied Taiwan, which was called Formosa back then.
During the occupation, they built Fort Zeelandia (熱蘭遮堡) in Tainan, now known as Anping Fort (安平古堡).
Then in 1662, Koxinga (國姓爺，鄭成功) came and drove the Dutch away.
Fredrick Coyett was the Dutch governor who suffered defeat during the battle.
He was also the last governor of the Dutch occupation.
He led over a thousand soldiers and endured a siege (圍城) from Koxinga's forces for 9 months.
After the battle, Koxinga allowed the governor and his family to return to their country unharmed, and with all their possessions (財產).
For this, the governor praised Koxinga.
He told his family and descendants to never forget Koxinga's leniency (寬容).
2024 marks the 400 years since the Dutch founded Tainan.
The 14th and 15th generation descendants (後代) of the governor came to Taiwan to pay their respects at the Koxinga Shrine in Tainan.
They acknowledge that Koxinga's generosity (延平郡王祠) led to their family's prosperity (繁榮).
Cheng, a deputy secretary general (副秘書長) of the shrine and descendant of Koxinga, greeted them with a warm welcome.
The two parties shared a "historical handshake," given their family histories.
During the press conference, the 15th generation descendant shared some insights about his ancestor.
He said, "He was a very stubborn man who wanted to stand his ground and did not want to be defeated.
So, I can imagine that negotiation (談判) must have been quite difficult for him.
He had to let go of his stubbornness and show humility towards his opponent."
At that time, the Dutch East India Company never officially represented the Dutch Republic.
Therefore, both sides are happy to leave the past alone and maintain a good relationship.
往日的敵人，在四百年之後，兩邊再次締造了歷史佳話。
It looks like the legacy (遺產) will be passed on to future generations.
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科學家發現 紅毛猩猩會用自製草藥
Orangutan Discovered Using Medicinal Plant
Did you know that animals can heal themselves when they are ill?
For example, cats and dogs nibble (啃) on grass when they are sick.
Many animals also ingest (攝取) plants that have medicinal abilities.
They also rub insects or plants to relieve (舒緩) themselves of other symptoms.
However, researchers have observed a behavior that has never been seen in the animal world.
A Sumatran Orangutan (蘇門答臘紅毛猩猩) self-treated its injury using a medicinal plant!
Why is this special?
That's because the orangutan was doing the treatment (治療) like a human being!
The plant was not part of the orangutan's diet.
Usually, animals just eat or rub the plants on themselves.
But Rakus, the orangutan, chewed the plant and applied the juice to a wound on its face.
Scientist continued monitoring Rakus for a month and the wound showed no signs of infection (感染).
It repeated this process and the wound was healed.
Research on the plant shows that it has antibacterial (抗菌), anti-inflammatory (消炎) and pain-killing (止痛) properties.
Locals use the plant to treat conditions such as diabetes (糖尿病) and malaria (瘧疾).
It is still unclear how the orangutan learned to treat a wound.
It may have touched its wound while feeding on the plant and felt the effects.
Or it might have learned the behavior from other orangutans.
Whatever the reason, scientists agreed that the discovery offers new insights (見解) into natural medicinal practices.
It also shows that orangutans and humans share knowledge.
Scientists will continue monitoring the primates (靈長類) to see if the behavior is repeated.
或許，我們的祖先就是透過觀察靈長類，而發現了某些植物的藥性。
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So, in today's News Bites:
Descendants of last Dutch governor in Taiwan visited Taiwan to pay respect to Koxinga.
The descendants thanked Koxinga for letting their ancestors return home safely.
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And,
In a first, an Orangutan healed his own wound using a known medicinal plant.
It chewed the plant and applied its juice to the wound on its face.
The wound healed after a month.
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趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
A person who weighs about 70 kilograms has nearly 7 followed by 27 zeros atom.
(7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)
That's seven octillion atoms!
To understand how big that number is, here are the large numbers leading up to it: million (10^6), billion (10^9), trillion (10^12), quadrillion (10^15), quintillion (10^18), sextillion (10^21), septillion (10^24), and then octillion (10^27).
Most of these atoms are hydrogen, making up about two-thirds.
One-fourth are oxygen, and one-tenth are carbon.
That's a lot of tiny pieces making up every one of us!
If you have a fun fact, a joke, or interesting news you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [e-mail], and you might hear it at the end of an episode!
We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!