Google Doodle features Puerto Princesa Underground River

MANILA, Philippines — Google is celebrating the Puerto Princesa Underground River—one of the world’s longest underground waterways—with a special doodle.

Google put out a doodle to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the subterranean river’s designation as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. 

Ramsar is also called the the Convention on Wetlands and the list of wetlands of List of Wetlands of International Importance was drawn up “develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits/services,” its secretariat says in an archived webpage. 

In 2012, Puerto Princesa Underground River became the fifth wetland site of Ramsar, an international body created for the conservation of important wetlands.

An illustration featuring the entrance of the natural wonder will greet Philippine-based Google users on June 30.

The underground river is listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2011. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The 8.2-kilometer underground waterway is one of the longest in the world and one of the few that flows into the sea, making it the largest subterranean estuary in the world.  

It is home to some 800 plant species, critically endangered Philippine cockatoo and Hawksbill turtle, and the endangered Green sea turtle and Nordmann’s greenshank. — Gaea Katreena Cabico