{"id":711,"date":"2010-06-17T15:59:49","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T22:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/?p=711"},"modified":"2010-06-17T15:59:49","modified_gmt":"2010-06-17T22:59:49","slug":"caterpillar-fungus-changes-economy-on-tibetan-plateau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/17\/caterpillar-fungus-changes-economy-on-tibetan-plateau\/","title":{"rendered":"Caterpillar Fungus Changes Economy on Tibetan Plateau"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

During the month of May an obscure fungus becomes the major focus of people living on the Tibetan Plateau.\u00a0 The Cordyceps sinensis<\/em> fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or Caterpillar Fungus.\u00a0\u00a0The fungus devours and eventually mummifies its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the caterpillar\u2019s hibernation on the mountain grasslands between 10,000 and 16,000 feet. \u00a0The caterpillar dies just below the ground and then the dark brown\/black mushroom emerges through the soil from the head of the body.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The growing popularity and belief, especially among the Han Chinese, that the fungus is an aphrodisiac and promotes longevity has fueled a modern day gold rush on the Tibetan Plateau.\u00a0 The fungus came to the world’s attention after some Chinese athletes at the National Games in Beijing extolled its virtues.\u00a0<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

It is estimated that today over 40% of the income of rural Tibetans come from the Caterpillar Fungus.\u00a0 I was told that one Kilo of the fungus is worth $10,000 and that the children of Nomads can each collect as much as a Kilo per month.\u00a0 In late 2007 the value of the best-quality Yartsa G\u00fcnbuDbyar rtswa dgun \u2019bu in Lhasa (Lasa) traded for around CN \u00a580,000 (nearly US $12,000) per pound (JIATS, Danial Winkler<\/a>).\u00a0 Since the Nomads are most familiar with the areas where the fungus grows they have become the greatest beneficiaries. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

I would walk into empty monasteries because the Monks were either hunting Yartsa Gunbu or home tending to the animals so their family could be out hunting. \u00a0You can imagine what this does to school enrollment of Nomadic children during the month of May.\u00a0 Almost everyone I met \u2013Monks, Nomads, Hui Muslims, and Urban Tibetans were involved in harvesting or trading the fungus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

According to field mycologist, Daniel Winkler<\/a>, the value of Yartsa Gunba has increased by 900% between 2007 and mid 2008.\u00a0 Unfortunately, arguments over grazing rights has lead to community disputes.\u00a0 The violence has caused injuries and even a few deaths.\u00a0 There were many occasions during my travels when we ran into road blocks and interrogation by officials who let us continue our journey after they were assured that we were not collecting the valuable fungi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the month of May an obscure fungus becomes the major focus of people living on the Tibetan Plateau.\u00a0 The Cordyceps sinensis fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or Caterpillar Fungus.\u00a0\u00a0The fungus devours and eventually mummifies its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the caterpillar\u2019s hibernation on the mountain grasslands between… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[85,15,86,9,597,6],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-production-notes","tag-caterpillar-fungus","tag-culture","tag-economy","tag-nomads","tag-tibet","tag-tibetan"],"yoast_head":"\nCaterpillar Fungus Changes Economy on Tibetan Plateau - Phil Borges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/17\/caterpillar-fungus-changes-economy-on-tibetan-plateau\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caterpillar Fungus Changes Economy on Tibetan Plateau - Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the month of May an obscure fungus becomes the major focus of people living on the Tibetan Plateau.\u00a0 The Cordyceps sinensis fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or Caterpillar Fungus.\u00a0\u00a0The fungus devours and eventually mummifies its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the caterpillar\u2019s hibernation on the mountain grasslands between... 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