Yinyang in the Nature_1

Have you ever seen a school of salmon swimming back to the upstream of a clean river in Alaska? What makes them leaving deep sea that is good habitat for them, and swimming up to their birthplace? Salmons born in the river of Alaska then spend most of their lives in the Pacific Ocean. Fry eat planktons then fully grown up big salmon eat small fishes.

In August of every year, mature salmon depart though and long distant travel to the very brook where they were born. They remember everything in the birthplace, such as the taste of water when they were born, the smell of mud under the water, and the smells of animals and plants. Therefore, they are able to chase the smell from several hundreds miles away to the exact birthplace, even if the water was diluted into one part of several millions. Anyway, their returning to the birthplace is not much different from a war; swimming up tough stream and jumping up water falls. After this kind of tough travel, they arrive on their birthplace, finally.  Let’s take a look at salmon came back to their home brook. Many salmons take a rest putting their head toward upstream side by side. There are so many salmons that even the white sand in the brook are blocked and can not be seen. During next several days salmons’ bodies are surprisingly and quickly transformed; on their back big humps are protruded, upper jaws are bent, and teeth are grown up like tusks. These tusks like teeth are just for fighting, not related with eating. Eventually, males fight and wrestle each other by bumping their flank and teeth. Salmons, won from their fighting, get a hole then a female approach and they lay eggs and milt simultaneously. Long distant travel and fight are finished. After such tough struggling, several millions of salmons finish their lives at that place, not even one single salmon can return to the sea.

Let’s think about this once more.
What was the motive of amazing homing instinct of salmons?
They very well show the destiny of the Universe of which everything always present as pairs. When the Universe is divided into Yin and Yang, one of them devotes its whole life to get its half. This is a typical characteristic of Yin and Yang!


The efforts to pursue a spouse are not confined within animals. Let’s get in any forest. Plants can not go away, since they root in the earth. Then how could plants pursue their spouse?  Plants invented several methods; flower is a typical method. In stead of not being able to move, they decided using butterflies and bees. The will of finding their pairs to harmonize of Yin and Yang do not discriminate methods and ways.

Butterflies and bees apply pollen to pistil while they fly among flowers to eat pollen. Some plants do careful attention to attract bugs; they produce two types of pollens, one is for pollination and another is good tasted then for reception of bugs. They also produce a perfect bribe, honey. The only purpose of this sweet liquid is to attract bugs and carry pollen to other flowers while they are in blossom. Butterflies and bees, getting high by these bribes, assist plants to pursue their spouse. To advertise their sweet pollen or honey, flowers become more and more gorgeous so that bugs can access from long distance.

Flagrance is also one of the important ways.
Here is a clear example. An orchid comes into bloom that looks like a wasp; eyes, tentacle, wings, and even pheromone-like smell. Completely hoaxed male wasps came in, but they just leave after staining their body with pollen. In the same way, wasps get attracted to other orchids then assist their pollination.

The efforts to pursue spouse is just like above examples. In nature, all living creatures work hard to find their half; Yin pursues Yang, Yang pursues Yin.

(translated by Teayoun Kim, kimteay@auburn.edu)