Habitatnews

Mammal sightings in Singapore

Animal sighting records have always been an important resource - over time, these can contribute to public awareness and education, suggest student research projects and supplement research in conservation and management projects.

So any mammal record on land, sea and air is useful and large marine animals too - this includes turtles and interesting fish!

Just fill in the form at
http://mammal.sivasothi.com/

We would love to receive photos, of course, please send them to: mammal@sivasothi.com

This data will be shared with other vertebrate researchers and managers in Singapore. Highlights may be featured on Habitatnews from time to time (if the records are not confidential), e.g. http://tinyurl.com/habitatnews-mammal

Your contribution is greatly appreciated, thank you!

N. Sivasothi & Xu Weiting
Systematics & Ecology Lab.
Department of Biological Sciences,
National University of Singapore
http://mammal.sivasothi.com/

Flowering Sea Apple trees in October

Sea apples or Jambu Air Laut (Syzygium grande, previously known as Eugenia grandis) are flowering in south-western Singapore this past couple of weeks - I first noticed a tree in full bloom at the Labrador cliff forest last week when I was there with a class. Walking along a corridor in NUS, I noticed another flowering tree on Kent Ridge. A chorus of feeding birds alerted me to a third tree a day later at Holland Village.

Synchronous flowering is demonstrated in many species of trees in the aseasonal tropical forests of Asia and these can flower over much larger area than the island of Singapore! Along our roads, Sea Apple trees are highly noticeable as they are a common wayside tree planted in many areas around Singapore. Flowering makes the tree prominent all of a sudden, much like Cinderella at the ball.

Two years ago, I posted a note to Habitatnews: "[Synchronous flowering of Sea Apple (Syzygium grande) trees around Singapore," Habitatnews, 16 Oct 2007]. In that note, was a link to Subaraj's observation of October 2005 at Sime Forest. So does Syzygium grande flower regularly in October? I am sure the old botanists of old in Singapore have remarked upon this previously; if you look it up, do let me know in the comments below.

Labrador rocky shore, 07 Oct 2009

Kent Ridge, 08 Oct 2009

Holland Village, 09 Oct 2009

Since flowers and fruits attract birds and insects, you can spend a satisfying morning near such trees with a pair of binoculars or camera.

When multiple species of wayside trees flower over a long period, this suggests a general flowering event and it is likely then that forest trees would be just as productive. Many a naturalist respond to this cue from our wayside trees by heading out with camera, binoculars and a guidebook or two!

Since I don't get around much, do let me know if Sea Apples are indeed flowering elsewhere in Singapore and the region - you can drop a note in the comments below and if you would, email me your photos at toddycats@gmail.com with:

location (as detailed as you can; a google maps URL would be lovely),
date and
your full name.

Photos will be added to the Flickr album with the 2007 photos - these photos are all released for non-commercial use so take note when sending me your photos. I am also plotting the locations of flowering Sea Apple trees on Google Maps - the map below will be updated as I add points; let's see how widespread this is.

View Flowering Sea Apple trees, Oct 2009 in a larger map

Blog Action Day 2009

Anything to say?

The beached Mud lobster at Pasir Ris

19 Sep 2009 - During the International Coastal Cleanup last Saturday, the team who arrived there early that morning encountered a mud lobster out of its element, on the beach. Participants told each other that it was "welcoming us to clean the beach." Apparently it was there for at least an hour before they lost of track of it while engrossed in the cleanup.

Photo by Lim Chen Kee, ICCS

Read about their exploits at the "News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore" blog:

"Stream full of trash through a Hidden Paradise," by Ng Kai Scene. News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, 19 Sep 2009.

"Water-Crossing at Pasir Ris Site 6 (aka Hidden Paradise)," by Lim Chen Kee.News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, 20 Sep 2009.

RMBR Nature Guides Recruitment (Deadline: 1st Oct 2009)

The annual volunteer recruitment for Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research Nature Guides is ongoing; see Ron Yeo's email below. To get an impresion of the trips, read his blog, The Tide Chaser.

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RMBR Nature Guides Recruitment
Have you been wanting to volunteer for nature but don't know where to begin? Sign up to be an RMBR Nature Guide! As an RMBR Nature Guide, you will be required to help guide visitors during our various public intertidal walks.

Commitment
Please ensure that you are able to commit to guide at least 4 times a year before you sign up. Our walks are usually conducted on weekends or public holidays.

Training will be provided, covering mostly the guiding techniques, and so do be prepared to read up on your own to improve you knowledge on our intertidal areas and their organisms. At the end of the training, guides will be required to write a guiding script and go for on-the-job training.

Training sessions (compulsory)
Please also ensure that you are able to attend the training below before you sign up:

24 Oct, Sat:

0900-1100hrs - Semakau Background and Common Session on Classification
1130-1330hrs - Ecosystems of Semakau, SOP, Guiding Technique & Script Writing

31 Oct, Sat:

1400-1600hrs - Guiding Practical

Interview process
Note that we will be interviewing all applicants to understand what are their expectations, and also to ensure that that they understand what is required to be a guide.

If you are 15 years old and above, and are keen to become a nature guide after reading the above, please send the following details to ronyeo@gmail.com by 1 Oct 2009:

Full name
NRIC or passport number
gender
nationality
date of birth
mobile number
home number
occupation
email address
name and contact of next of kin (for emergency contact)
Imagine that you are a guide, and you are tasked to explain to your participants about these 3 organisms: sand-sifting sea star, nudibranch and seagrass. Write a short para on each of these organism as if you are talking to the participants.

After we receive your application, we will contact you to fix a date and time to meet up for a little chat.

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Pedal Ubin - ride's over after 12 years!

The Raffles Museum Toddycats' Pedal Ubin programme has come to a close after a 12-year run. Offered quarterly, it originated in a 1998 series of four rides were offered annually for five years. New cohorts of guides were trained in 2002 after observation of the large number of unexposed public who came to visit Chek Jawa a year earlier. At at its peak, monthly rides were offered to members of the public!

The three cohorts of dedicated guides in the history of this programme underwent considerable training in classroom and field exercises. They turned up reliably and early on Saturday or Sunday mornings to guide the Singapore public who had signed up mainly after notification by friends who read Habitatnews or WildSingapore.

These guides emphasised bicycle safety and through slow rides, introduced members of the public to the natural and cultural heritage of the island in a unique place in Singapore. Besides a couple of scrapes, no other injury was experienced by hundreds who rode on this programme.

Pulau Ubin has changed considerably since the series began. The island is now very heavily visited on weekends, especially Chek Jawa, roads and huts are well sign-posted and a lot of information has been made available online by the community. The public is urged to explore the island for themselves and suggestions and links are offered at http://rideubin.rafflesmuseum.net/ .

If you are new to cycling, remember how we avoided injuries amongst novice cyclists for 12 years while other crashed - we rode slowly!

22 Aug 2009: Green Transport Week public concert @ SMU

See: greentransportweek.sg

Summary of Natural History, Heritage and Map exhibitions

"Two Minds, One Theory, An Exhibition"
- Wallace & Darwin, the two faces of the theory of evolution
1st - 31st Aug 2009: 9am - 6pm
By the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Venu: Botany Centre (Acess by Tanglin Gate at the Hollad Road/Napier Road junction).
This exhibition highlights the lesser known 'father' of the Theory of Evolution, Alfred Russell Wallace as well as Charles Darwin and explains the theory in an understandable way.
Free entry; more details in Habitatnews.

Hunters and Collectors: The Origins of the Southeast Asian Collection
25 Jul 2009 - 21 Sep 2009
Special Exhibitions Gallery, Asian Civillisations Museum Empress Place [Map]
This exhibition explores the stories of six people who ‘hunted’ and collected some of the artefacts found in ACM’s Southeast Asia collection today. Much of their collections found their way to Singapore’s first museum - the Raffles Library and Museum and specimens from the present day Rafles Museum have been brought back to recreate the cabinet of curisoty effects of days long past!
ACM entrance fee applies. Free for NUS students (school membership); more details in Habitatnews.

Vignettes in Time: Singapore Maps and History through the Centuries
1st August – 31st October 2009
Organised by National Library Singapore and the Singapore Heritage Society.
Venue: Level 10, Exhibition Area, National Library Building
This exhibition depicts Singapore as seen through cartographers, geologists, mariners, military generals and town planners, beginning with the arrival of the British and merchants from the nascent East India Company, to military strategists of Imperial Japan and postwar city planners. With over 120 maps on display, this is the single largest showcase of maps in Singapore.
Free entry.

"I Polunin"
8th Aug - 22nd Nov 2009
An NUS Museums Exhibition
URL: http://www.nus.edu.sg/museum/exhibitions_polunin.html
Venue: University Cultural Centre, 50 Kent Ridge Crescent, National University of Singapore Map]
Ivan Polunin arrived in Singapore in 1948 and taught Social Medicine and Public Health at the then University of Malaya. Initially a documentation on film of tropical diseases, Polunin’s ethnographies grew to encompass hundreds of hours of film footage on Malaya’s sociocultural practices and its rich biodiversity. "I, Polunin" presents rarely seen photographs, slides and film footage selected from the personal archives of Dr. Ivan Polunin of everyday life in Singapore and Malaya in the 1950s and 1970s.
Free entry.

For all this and more, see WildSingapore Happenings.

SBG exhibition on the Theory of Evolution, 1st - 31st Aug 2009

The Singapore Botanic Gardens presents, "Two Minds, One Theory," An Exhibition.
1st - 31st Aug 2009: 9am - 6pm @ Library of Botany & Horticulture, Botany Centre (Acess by Tanglin Gate at the Hollad Road/Napier Road junction). Contact: Visitor Services, 6471-7361.

"A month-long exhibition featuring Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace and theory of evolution they brought forth.
Did you know that Singapore was once the base for the other 'father' of the Theory of Evolution? Wallace was familiar with the region and was the first person to call our beloved Durian, the "King of Fruits". Having travelled the wild places of the Malayan Archipelago, the brilliant but lesser known Alfred Russel Wallace envisaged the idea of evolution even as Charles Darwin, 'father' of the Theory of Evolution was amassing evidence for this idea.
The Southeast Asian region was the laboratory in which Wallace first tested his own Theory of Evolution. Wallace also wrote extensively about his exciting explorations of Singapore’s much loved Bukit Timah Hill forests. It was during his epic eight-year journey through the Asian region that Wallace was able to accumulate an unbelievable collection of 125,660 wildlife specimens, of which 1,000 species were new to Science.
This exhibition will explain the Theory of Evolution in simple terms, and tell the story of the two naturalists who revolutionised our understanding of life forever. Besides its educational value, this exhibition will entertain with colourful images of Wallace's favourite beetles from Singapore's forests, stick insects that mimic twigs, and butterflies that pretend to be poisonous, all in the name of survival of the species."

See other events celebrating the Singapore Botanic Gardens' 150th anniversary

Exhibition of Singapore Maps @ NLB, 01 Aug - 31 Oct 2009

Vignettes in Time: Singapore Maps and History through the Centuries

1st August - 31st October 2009, Level 10, Exhibition Area, National Library Building

"This exhibition depicts Singapore as seen through cartographers, geologists, mariners, military generals and town planners. Beginning with the arrival of the British and merchants from the nascent East India Company, to military strategists of Imperial Japan and postwar city planners, Vignettes in Time provides snippets of little-known histories.
Displayed for the first time are many never-before-seen maps from the collections of National Library Singapore and Lim Shao Bin. With over 120 maps on display, this is the single largest showcase of maps in Singapore. Come explore a little-known Singapore through vignettes of the past. This exhibition is curated by Lim Chen Sian. "

Organisers: National Library Singapore & Singapore Heritage Society

Source: NLB