They spend most of their time under water a thousand years ago, following the fish. Genetics gave them “special powers” to help them survive in the sea, but the future of the Bajau is on land.
When Johor’s princess disappeared after she was dragged on a huge flood, her father sent her men to her aid: they could not go back until they found her, she ordered her, but the princess would eventually marry a king of Gowa, giving rise to a group of mysterious marine hunters, says Indonesia legend.
On the island of Borneu, Malaysia, the princess was actually kidnapped and married to the sultan of Brunei, and the guards who transported her, embarrassed, preferred to stay in Borneo and Sulu, giving rise to such a group of knots; Sabah’s Bajau Kubang say it was a boat race between two brothers who gave rise to the sea nomades group after his defeated brother swore he would never return to Johor.
It is not known which (or if any) of these stories is the true. What is certain is that for over a thousand years that the Stomachconsidered the last marine node in the world, inhabit the waters of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, where 60% of your day submergedaccording to one from 2018 from Cambridge University-practically a full-time work time.
The inspiration for the Na’vi Metkayina clan is believed to, in the Water Path, the second movie of the famous Avatar saga, has more than one million members, looking for livelihoods, like true aquatic hunters. Earlier, they lived mostly in lepa-lepa, but anti-nomadism has long forced them to exchange these traditional stilts boats that together form villages about water and coral reefs near the coast.
Traditionally, follow the fish. Its trips are based on the location of the food. They lay down their dwellings, leave where they are, and rebuild the houses where nothing fish, which hunt with makeshift spears and hooks but, above all, with impressive diving skills.
And “It’s not just fame,” as the Portuguese content creator and traveler, João Amorim, who recently spent three days with the Bajau Laut in Indonesia: “Do not fish with bait. They shoot the hook and when they come the fish, pull it and arrest fish like ninjas. ”
In a thousand years, much has changed in this people, and much more is to change.
Genetic mutations allow 13 minutes dives (but there are dangers)
Known for their amazing free diving capabilities, which they use and abuse to hunt and collect food, the sea (or sea Gypsies, as they are also known) have developed unique genetic characteristics over the years that allow them to endure much more low water than “ordinary” human beings. Many manage to dive for 13 minutes depths of up to 70 meterswithout oxygen cylinder or diving facts, except, sometimes diving glasses made of wood and weights that help them down.
These skills may originate from a genetic mutation that have suffered to help them endure longer dives: they have largeraccording to a study at Cell in 2018.
Our spleen stores red blood cells and helps the body manage oxygen levels under pressure. The longer they are, the more time of diving allow, as they contract to release oxygen to the bloodstream. Many marine mammals (seals, for example) have widely widely flocks, and it seems to apply to the sea Gypsies: their battles are 50% larger than those of the neighboring group Saluan, who lives on landaccording to the investigation by Melissa Llardo.
A curious gene identified in the limbs of these nomads, associated with the spleen, influences thyroid hormones. It was found in the Bajaus, but not Saluan, and may even be the key to the group’s aquatic feats. But it’s not just the spleen that explains them: daily training also counts and allows you to physically change the body to increase resistance – the flexibility of the chest wall and the diaphragm help divers deal with deep water pressures.
Bajaus also deal much better with oxygen deprivation, and perceiving how they do it can be essential in medicine, namely in the discovery of potential acute hypoxia treatments, which occurs when the body loses oxygen suddenly.
Not everything is a sea of roses. Many bajaus die with deadly nitrogen bubbles in the blood, victims of decompression disease. To avoid it, many bajaus divers burst the eardrums still during adolescence, so they can dive without pain from an early age.
“It bleeds from the ears and the nose and has to spend a week lying down because of the dizziness. After that you can dive without pain, ”says Imran, from a Indonesian Bajau community to.
People of the Sea, forced to live on land
In Malaysia, the group increasingly faces difficulties before society. Last year, about 500 Bajaus were expelled from their homes in the state of Sabah and their destroyed and burned floating dwellings. There, the biggest problem of the community is the lack of documentationwhich opens doors to systematic discrimination, reports the.
Many of the 28,000 Bajaus who live in Sabah have no identification documentswhich makes them even more on the fringes of society, far from access to medical care and education services. Human rights advocates warn that it may happen to other Bajaus who live in similar conditions.
Also There is no consensus on your indigenous status“Because much more prominent and obvious indigenous groups have argued that those who do not come from land -based consumetudinary practices are not indigenous,” anthropologist Vilashini Somiah explains to the Australian newspaper. The bumps Bajah thus become increasingly “invisible”.
The Malaysian government argues that the move of nomades is necessary to improve safety and combat illegal activities (namely linked to fishing) in Tun Sakaran Marine Park, a popular tourist destination; Critics of the eviction say that the country’s political leaders have been reticent about granting citizenship to Bajaus for fear of reactions of rising anti-immigrant factions in the country. “Staying on the wall has been very beneficial to them,” says Somiah.
Looking at Indonesia, the overweight e and climate change They are the biggest threat to the Bajau lifestyle. In the village of Pulau Papan, the Nomada group, once used to selling delicacies such as sea cucumbers or pearls, is very different.
“We are fishermen, but we work on a farm,” confesses a person from the Chinese newspaper tribe: “gives more money.”
Tomás Guimarães, Zap //
