The Rukai are one of Taiwan's aboriginal peoples

Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...

. They speak the Rukai language

Rukai language

Rukai is the mother tongue of the Rukai, one indigenous people of Taiwan . It is a divergent Formosan language of the Austronesian languages language family. There are some 10,000 speakers, some monolingual. There are several dialects, of which Mantauran, Tona, and Maga are divergent.Rukai is...

 and live in the mountains of southern Taiwan. As of the year 2000, the Rukai numbered 12,084 — making up 3% of Taiwan's total indigenous population and, as such, the fifth-largest indigenous group. The Rukai were also called Tsarisen, which means "people living in the mountain".

The Rukai People honor the Clouded Leopard

Clouded Leopard

The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...

 and the hundred pacer

Deinagkistrodon

Deinagkistrodon is a monotypic genus created for a venomous pitviper species, D. acutus, found in Southeast Asia. No subspecies are currently recognized.-Description:...

, which they believe to be the spirit of their ancestor.

External links

• Rukai