SMAP 207 - Another Feathered Friend In Our Peso Bill

1 day ago

Hello everyone. Let's welcome Round 207 of the Show Me A Photo or SMAP Contest hosted by @nelinoeva. Check out the contest post provided at the end if this post.

The theme for this week is:

FREE THEME

In one of my earlier posts I featured our national bird, the Philippine Eagle, as the central image of the country's 1,000 Peso bill. This new peso note is made out of polymer, one of the main ingredients in making plastics, glass and rubber. Click here for the link to this post.

This polymer banknote apparently was a huge success that the country's Central Bank began minting polymer banknotes for the other peso denominations, namely 500, 100 and 50 peso bills. When I checked on these new notes, I found out that the 100 peso polymer bill also had a feathered friend as its central image. Check this out.

Featured in the bill is the Palawan Peacock Pheasant. Palawan is a province in the Philippines known for its pristine beaches and nature theme parks. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this bird.

The Palawan peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron napoleonis) is a medium-sized (up to 50cm long) bird in the family Phasianidae endemic to the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The spectacular male has a black body with blue marks on the wings, a grayish, finely speckled back and tail with blue peacock “eyes,” white marks on the face, and a red eye-ring. Females are mostly brown but with a white face. It is featured prominently in the culture of the indigenous people of Palawan. The bird is also depicted in the official seal of the city of Puerto Princesa and is in the Philippine one hundred-peso note. Wikipedia

As with the Philippine Eagle, the Palawan Peacock Pheasant is an endangered species, threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting and trade. It is listed as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.