NaturallYours

#84, Insects @ BTNR

2011-12-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

Made a short night trip to BTNR, here are some photos taken. Insects really do seem to be more active at night in general, there was a whole hive of activity going on, the ants were all foraging, lots of leaf litter amphipods hopping about. Even the blattodeas and orthopterans were out to feed.

Mr Snail.

Tiger Beetle Cicindela arulenta

Milipede (Class Diplopoda)

Scorpion-like spider (Arachnura sp.) which actually mimicks the shape of a leaf.

Slug.

Darkling Beetle.

This family of beetles may be identified by a combination of features, including :
An 11-segmented antenna which may be filiform, moniliform, or weakly clubbed.
First abdominal sternite entire and not divided by the hind coxae. (need to look at the underside)
Eyes notched by a frontal ridge. (look @ head)
Tarsi have four segments in the hind pair and 5 in the fore and mid legs (5-5-4.) The tarsal claws are simple (no extra hairs).

~Adapted from Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkling_beetle

Flower Chafer beetle

Katydid

Ornate Cockroach

With thanks to Zestin who was talking about all the ID throughout the trips :P Haha. Thank you!

#83, Follow-ups in research

2011-12-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

It seems like many reports in research conclude and end with "further studies must be done to have more conclusive data". It seems like there is no one to follow up with these studies. Most of them are just left off as it is, and there is no continuity. I'm just wondering if Professors should take the onus upon them to see if other students would 'continue' the project that the preceding student has done, because once the project is just 'left-off' like that, there is no information building.

It seems also that research is something that people take up (because the idea sounds extremely exciting and fun), and then give up after the first project, after realizing it is not all that glamorous as it is made out. Research is a long process - preparation, data collection, testing hypothesis, analysing data AND one does not always get results. One has to constantly stimulate his/her brains to come out with ideas when met with a roadblock. It's by no means repetitive work.

I don't know.. just my two cents and.. I hope that I don't give up after my first project (on the ants at BTNR and CCNR). I must admit, it was difficult!

#82, Toddycats Engage Today!

2011-12-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today the RMBR Toddycats trooped down to Geylang East Library for a session of sharing about the mammals and birds (otters, wild boars, jungle fowl, greater mousedeer, sunbears, civet cats etc.)

Will blog another day but photos will do the talking for now.

Skull display, showing the mammals and reptiles (higher organisms); trying to contrast between homodonts and heterodonts.


Precious dino bone (part of the vertebrae, if you are interested to know), from a specimen that was found 50cm away from 'Twinky', one of the three Diplodocus sauropods to be displayed at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in 2014.

Snake skeleton, most intriguingly prepared by Oi Yee (one of the very experienced guides, and previously a staff at the RMBR) back in the 1960s; she went through lots of chemical procedures on the snake, from dissecting, staining, fixing the stain, adding right preservatives (glycol or something of that sort) at different times all at the right precision. She even made the plastic box herself! Wonderful stuff.

Jocelin sharing her thoughts about the fish bones with a little inquisitve boy.

Quote of the Day #04

2011-11-29T20:58:00.001-08:00

‘If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos’.—E. O. Wilson (1985)

Quote of the Day #03

2011-11-25T05:14:00.001-08:00

Ants make up a very clever super-organism. No doubt about that.

"Marauders are even more organized when they harvest grasses, one of their pastimes in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. When a raid passes a fruiting grass plant, only minor workers and small medias can climb up the slim stalk. The first minors gnaw the attached seeds ineffectually, but productivity skyrockets when a media (ant) arrives. The ants now set up a little assembly line, in which the media extracts one seed after another and then appears to hand it to a minor to haul away. What is really happening, however, is that the minor who is too weak to pull a seed free from the stalk on her own, snatches the seed from the media before the larger ant can depart with it. The media dutifully plucks another seed, which another minor grabs. With minor workers so numerous, a media seldom has an opportunity to exit with her find."

Marauder ants are ants that belong to the genus Pheidolegeton (photos at http://www.myrmecos.net/myrmicinae/pheidologeton.html).

Source:
Moffet, Mark W., 2010. University of California Press. Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions.

Quote of the Day #01

2011-11-15T22:30:00.001-08:00

Genetic variation is the raw material for evolutionarychange (Frankel & Soulé, 1981). Geneticvariation allows populations to evolve in response toenvironmental change, whether that be new/changeddiseases, parasites, predators and competitors, orgreenhouse warming, ozone layer depletions, orother results of pollution, Pre-existing genetic variationis critical for short-term evolutionary change(Ayala, 1965; R. Frankham, E. Lowe, M. E.Montgomery, L. M. Woodworth, & D. A. Briscoe,unpublished data) as the waiting times for newfavourable mutations are high unless populationsizes are very large. The IUCN (World ConservationUnion) has recognized genetic diversity as one ofthree levels of biological diversity requiring conservation(McNeely et a!., 1990).

The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 78, 311—327.

Quote of the Day #02

2011-11-15T21:57:00.001-08:00

It is most likely that warming will increase biomass production in various ecosystems (Rustad et al. 2001). However, projections of ecosystemperformance are difficult mainly because of uncertainties in the future distribution of water. The projected speed of climate change can exceed the dispersal capacities of many plant species. Even if long-term adjustments can be expected, on the time scale of decades and perhaps even centuries, regional losses of biodiversity are likely to occur. Furthermore, rapid shifts towards novel site conditions at a given sitemay not be followed by the organisms. Extreme climatic events can cause the local breakdown of populations (Breshears et al. 2005). This could result in declining ecosystem functionality (Royer et al. 2011). Consequences for ecosystem services are therefore to be expected.

From Carl Beierkuhnlein, Daniel Thiel, Anke Jentsch, Evelin Willner3and Juergen Kreyling.
Ecotypes of European grass species respond differently to warming and extreme drought.
2011 The Authors. Journal of Ecology 2011 British Ecological Society, Journal of Ecology, 99, 703–713

Ants

2011-11-14T20:50:00.001-08:00

#81, A short update!

2011-04-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

A photo comparison between two similar-looking snakes seen in 2011! (: The Big-eyed Whipsnake (top) and the Oriental Whipsnake (bottom).

Hello everybody, I'm extremely sorry for the lack of posts due to school. Don't worry though, I have been nature-hopping quite actively :D!

On another note, I might be migrating out of this address, will see how! So till then... after the exams I hopefully will post more actively :)

#80, Fallen trees

2010-12-11T07:46:00.000-08:00

It seems like the rain has taken a toll on the trees at Ulu Pandan Canal. In a short span of 1 week whr I've not visit the canal, about 4 trees have fallen/ major branches broken off. I was quite shocked. One of the trees was really really the huge... And it was actually flowering at the time it fell. :( Imagine all the seedlings lost.

#79, Titan Arum bloomed at the SBG

2010-11-21T03:21:00.000-08:00

Titan Arum bloomed at the Sinapore Botanical Gardens (our lecturer Prof Benito told us via email). Can't wait to check it out after the exam.
*Pardon the wrong information on 21 Nov/ it actually only bloomed early December.

What's the big deal about it? It's actually the biggest inflorescence in the world, bred successfully in captivity for the first time in SBG. It's at the entrance of SBG.

A video about it here by David Attenborough.

And another video by the super cool bird: lyrebird- you should so watch it! But it's a bit disturbing for birds to make such humanly-human sounds. It just shows how the place (where the video is shot) is probably quite urbanized. The chain-saw sound is especially disturbing...

& a sad article on the coral bleaching that is getting from 'bad to worse' http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101119/full/news.2010.621.html

#78, Ecological niche of 'stray' cats? (the Cat & the Rat)

2010-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the ecological niche of cats have been changed very drastically from what I witnessed at the NUS Science Canteen :O

To quote Wikipedia (I know quoting it is not the best thing to do HAHA, but still it can be a good source of general information) but anyways:

Even well-fed domestic cats may hunt and kill, mainly catching small mammals, but also birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.[128][161] Hunting by domestic cats may be contributing to the decline in the numbers of birds in urban areas, although the importance of this effect remains controversial.[162] In the wild, the introduction of feral cats during human settlement can threaten native species with extinction.[157] In many cases controlling or eliminating the populations of non-native cats can produce a rapid recovery in native animals.[163] However, the ecological role of introduced cats can be more complicated: for example, cats can control the numbers of rats, which also prey on birds' eggs and young, so in some cases eliminating a cat population can
actually accelerate the decline of an endangered bird species in the presence of a mesopredator, controlled by cats.[164]

But the cat at the canteen today simply did not catch the rat- in fact, it thought of it more as a toy or something, chasing it around the canteen. It was more like curiosity rather than it actually 'hunting'. Perhaps you could say that the cat was not very hungry but I doubt it had eaten much, since it's the term break & probably no one came to feed it. The cat continued to follow the rat. In the end, the cat did not catch the rat and watched it scurry away.

Maybe cats no longer actually catch rats/insects/etc, or hardly ever. Haha does this discount them as 'useful pets'? Hehe... Perhaps this is also due to human intervention; the cats no longer 'hunt' because they're fed by cat-lovers???

Just an assumption and food for thought! ^^"

#77, Caterpillar that fell from the tree

2010-11-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today along the canal, this poor caterpillar was found on the ground with a branch attached to its feet; I guess it fell from a tree high up because there were only tall trees nearby. Its innards were smashed out I think, so you can see the greenish stuff, its hemolymph. Believe it is the caterpillar of the Atlas Moth, one of the larger moths found in Singapore (and the Southeast Asian region).

It was actually 'passing motion/ excreting' as well... Not sure why. But it was really sad.

One of the host plants of the Atlas moth caterpillar is the Singapore cherry. Think it is found at the canal also.

Greenish innards that already are smashed out. There were greenish looking pellets found in the haemolymph Not sure what it is...

It was about 6-8 cm in length, 2cm in width.

And it was actually still alive...

The characteristic fleshy spines of the caterpillar.

Let's just hope it will survive, it is really quite a pity if it dies like that since it seems rather mature... do catepillars have regenerative powers?

After some observation, I put it back.

[Edit] Today I sawwwww a house shrew dead at the canal, plus weird birds with a tail swooping down to the canal waters... [/Edit]

#76, Notebook scraps: Sightings @ Ulu Pandan Canal

2010-11-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Again, today as I was walking down the canal, there were quite many birds around, chirping happily (or so I'd like to believe). It was a nice cool (but sunny) walk because it was just 9am, but everything around was so beautiful because the sun illuminated them nicely (dang I should have brought my camera).

Anyway, there were quite a lot of birds I couldn't ID though I saw the male/female Olive-backed Sunbird, egrets & even green parakeets and the lone purple heron that stood on the metal railings at the canal.

Then midway, I saw this pretty snake (too bad I didn't bring my camera down, I should have); I'm really really not sure of the species but it was about 1/2 - 3/4 of a metre, and iridiscent with a purple base colour; it was quite a fat snake too, so I doubt it can pass off as a whip snake. I guess it was 'sun-tanning' after a cold night. Oh well.... ):

[Edit] I wonder if it is the shore pit viper though it's highly unlikely because the snake I saw didn't have such a defined triangular head and furthermore, it was rather glossy than matte. I really have a foggy memory of it now, sob! [/Edit]

#75, Semakau overnight trip

2010-10-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

This trip was quite different as we got to do the fish/mangrove/insect survey. We collected samples during thse surveys.

The surveys were interesting!! :)

For the fish one, was assigned to do the Clove Oil method of euthanizing and retrieving fish, others were doing seining (with a net) & this time, the casting of net was not used. Anyway, the clove oil can actually 'knock out' a fish, probably due to some active ingredient inside the oil. A small amount of oil (actually it's a 30% clove oil, 70% ethanol mix) is dropped into tidal pools during low tide so that these fishes found in the tidal pools will be knocked out and we can pick them out. Mainly, there were gobies, filefish... However, they also found a rabbitfish, squid and others on the second day. Won't go so much into the preservation stuff too.

Anyway, we had to evacuate fast from the intertidal area on the first day because there was thunder and lightning... The place seemed to be affected by algal blooms as well, which was present in another part of the intertidal area (during the last trip).

For the insect survey, we used a net; waving it in figures-of-eight, we were able to catch insects in the net; insects of varieties: dragonflies - the red one, yellow one, blue one, bee-mimicking one (odonata), butterflies & moths - common grass yellow & its relatives (lepidoptera), bugs (hemiptera), grasshoppers & katydids (orthoptera), ants (hymenoptera), spiders (arachnida) - the crab spiders, long-legged spiders, lynx spider, and we got some caterpillars, wasps, milipedes as well. Surprising how many insects you can find in a small area. After awhile, everything looked kinda the same but the insects are probably different species... Haha. No wonder not many people actually study insects. Presevation was carried out too...

There was BBQ which had pretty yummy food too...

Alright sleepyyyyyyyyy now. Goodbye!

#74, Semakau Hunting Seeking

2010-10-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yup. Today we did the intertidal survey at a new area - the hunting-seeking trip today was pretty tough because of the terrain; soft sand, rocky rubble, lotsa algal cover. But there were many interesting things seen through the trip. Felt that it was impossible to look for the the animals effectively because there was so much algae growing too, in addition to the coral rubble that was stacked upon each other... Because of that, the animals were able to hide quickly so quickly! I thought I saw a pebble crab but was not in time to get a good look at it and take a photo.

There were many hermit crabs, hairy crabs, common rock crabs, anemones, snails and worms. These seemed to be the few things appearing commonly during the survey.

Saw an octopus and pygmy squids during the survey as well. Some of the others spotted brittle stars on the way back too. Towards the reef area, we saw butterfly fish and what looks like a toadfish.

On our way back, we saw a couple of dog-faced water snake (Cerberus rynchops), which is very mildly venomous. Just to side track, I went for a practical at the zoo recently, and our T.A. mentioned how (venomous) snakes usually try to conserve as much as venom as possible because it's precious to them because they rely on it to kill their prey. So they only bite to defend themselves, injecting not too much venom.

Towards the end of the survey, we also saw the Yellow-lipped Sea Krait (Laticauda colubrina) which caused quite alot of excitement! This snake's venom can actually kill but typically, this snake is rather docile, and do not attack humans often. The snake we saw was probably hunting and minding its own business haha.

As you can see, there's algal growth. This particular species of (macro?)algae covered almost the whole portion of the intertidal area we surveyed.

We started off the survey... R. was 'surveying' the ground ahead of us. As you can see, he was already knee deep because of the soft substratum.

The area that we were doing the survey at was nearby the replanted mangroves.

A mangrove propagule I think.

An unidentified anemone. It was greenish and had bands towards the end of the tentacle.

A hermit crab at the intertidal area.

Alsoo, this was the snail commonly found at the intertidal area.

An unidentified worm at the rubble area.

A second unidentified worm at the rocky rubble.

An interesting anemone with alternating white & green bands.

The underside of the Common Rock Crab- it has very characteristic spooner-claws. Later in the survey, we found a bigger one that had already lost it spooner claws.

A bristle worm.

A colony of zoanthids. There were many many colonies at the area where we found this one.

Branched-tentacle anemone.

A huge sea cucumber.

Window pane shell.

To end the post, this was where everyone spotted the Sea Krait! Haha, it's a happy picture to end off the survey.

R.I.P. to my handphone and camera though, because I literally fell into the water with all my swanky digital gadgets (Im starting to trust technology less and less. ><). Haha. Will learn my lesson to put my handphone in a zip lock bag. My next point-and-shoot camera will be a waterproof one too HAHA.

Last but not least, thanks to R. who coordinated the trip.

#73, Notebook scraps: Ulu Pandan Canal

2010-10-06T04:18:00.000-07:00

Interesting photograph of how the grass were covered for a period of 3 days and they lost some of their chlorophyll.

***

Alrighties, I haven't done a proper post in a long long time; partially because there was no break in between working and school life! ): Sadly. The advent of Facebook has made everything so simple (like uploading a photograph from my handphone directly up on Facebook); it's made me lazy to blogpost too (haha but since I've deactivated my Facebook account...)

Yup so today I went jogging. Before jogging, it was nice to see the usual birds around, the pink-necked pigeon, the collared kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbuls, black-naped oriole around. In particular, there were quite many pink-necked pigeon, because the palm tree was fruiting. Surprisingly, the floor was littered with seeds as well.

Observation 1: Pigeons are quite scary actually (despite its docile looks)! Both a pink-necked pigeon and myna was on a infructescence of fruits but when the myna came closer to the pigeon, the pigeon actually showed some aggression to it.
Observation 2: Pigeons can eat alot, and really fast. The pigeons were literally gobbling down the palm fruits. *nom nom nom*
Observation 3: Pigeons can hang upside down to eat! It's actually quite a cute sight.

I was trying to look out for algae/bryophytes but failed to do so. I can't identify them properly still. (putting biodiversity knowledge into use)

Haha oky that aside, here are some photos I accumulated... taken with my handphone!

A dead bee. I have a knack for spotting dead things.

Here's a spider, the web-weaving kind.

I suppose this is one of the hunting spiders! (spider link)

One of the interesting insects I saw a while back. I think it's a caterpillar? I don't know!!

And then recently I spotted a dead emerald dove.

How our local cats have lost the will to eat fresh meat- haha! (a lady always feeds them with cat feed) Sorry or maybe they don't even eat birds in the first place. I dont know.

RIP.

RIP!

In a few days, it was reduced to this.... Such is the power of our friendly decomposers, carnivorous insects etc.

#72, Catching fishies

2010-09-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, a lecturer (according to NUS site haha), Tan Heok Hui taught us more about how we can catch fishes! He showed us various types of nets, seine nets, throw nets, normal fish tank aquarium nets. It was pretty interesting. Got tries at throwing the 10-foot and 12-foot cast net (aka throw net), heavy stuff!

#71, Shrimp Workshop

2010-08-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

A digital doodle I did! Hopefully I'll be able to draw more in days to come.

Anyway back to the shrimp post:

It was a shrimpy day with Dr Sammy De Grave, from the Oxford Museum of Natural History! The informative session splitted up into 2 components. First and second parts were information about the shrimps, and the last part was about how we should collect them (applicable for Proj Semakau).

Though it was quite impossible for me (perhaps for others it's possible) to pick up the identification of shrimps, I think I learnt a thing or two. :~) Ok, so I missed the first 20 minutes of the talk because I had to rush from somewhr else before the talk... so yep first twenty minutes = nil information about our little friends!

Ok haha such irrelevant information.

Actually, according to Dr Sammy, prawns and shrimps are almost too similar so they just use the terms quite interchangeably... but they are not the same and they do have distinctive features.

Here's a shrimp that doesnt "jump" but crawls when it is about to be caught.

Shrimps for exhibit.

Skeleton shrimp.

Shrimp under the microscope, same as below :)

The long saw-like structure is the rostrum of the shrimp.

This is a snapping shrimp, the one that makes the "tucktuck" sound at Semakau. Interesting to note that there's a cavity in its claw, such that when the two claws snap, the action produces an air bubble which bursts and makes the sound. The shrimp belongs to the Alpheidae family, which is the second largest shrimp family, its the shrimp family that Dr. Sammy specializes in.

Ghost shrimp, below. The shrimps exhibited were caught from Semakau the day before.

Collection methods include sucking the animals out of the substratum (sand, mud etc.), looking under rubbles, rocks, seagrass, on other organisms. HAHA, its so hard to identify shrimps. Here's a link that I'm trying to read now... http://www.chucksaddiction.com/shrimpanatomy.html

#70, Hunter-seeking @ Semakau on 31st July/ LIT on 14 Aug

2010-08-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Oops this post is really really backdated, at least for the 31st July hunter-seeking. It's where we scout around an area of about 20 metres wide and perhaps about 100 metres long, looking for little sea creatures that can be found along the way, and record it down when we see them. We don't usually include corals/ algae/ seagrass in this survey. Anyway, it's not an easy task sometimes because some of the organisms can be quite hard to identify!

Yeah anyway was paired up with a lady from HSBC. It was her first time doing this survey. This post shall be very pictorial and brief.

We spotted a horseshoe crab.

A snail shell...

which turned out to be a hermit crab living in it.

and so we captured it, because the hermit crabs at Semakau were not identified to the species level yet.

Here's another shot of it.

Here's a hairy crab. Blended into the environment.

An unidentified crab juvenile, we didn't capture it anyway cos it was juvenile and it would probably be hard to ID?

Sentinel Crab.

Probably a Sea hare.

Knobbly!

Yet another knobbly!

Fan shell.

Un-IDed worm which we didnt capture.

Snail... I cant rmbr which ID we put it as alrdy. T_T My snail ID is seriously just horrible.

Another weird shell which we took back in bottles... Not sure if ID. Had thought initially it was cowrie but it isn't.

And other snails.

Anyway, the next Semakau trip was 14th Aug. That one was something new I tried: the LIT (line intercept transect). It's pretty cool. Like you lay the transect tape thirty metres from the start point to the end point, and so if any algae/coral/seagrass 'comes in the way', you record it down. Motile animals too, in 1 metre of the line. It was also one of my partner's first time doing it as well... so we both just tried our best. Haha.

Mainly we found for algae: sargassum, Hypnae, mermaid's fan (Padina), TuRb (can only remember code name lol) and some others I cant remember and for the corals it was really hard to identify. Need to brush up on identification for corals, definitely. Seagrass was mainly Halophila ovalis, Enhalus acoroides.

#69, Pitcher Plants

2010-06-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Guess what I saw at Bukit Timah Hill today? :)

Really cutee one that has hair-like protrusions.

Capturing the sky in their water "pouches".

These plants here thrive in poor nutrient soil, because of their ability to digest insects that fall into the pitcher. However, if the soil is nutrient rich, these plants get out-competed fast.

#68, The Kampong Life!

2010-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just over the weekend, I had the chance to go over to Malaysia for a "educational kampong tour" with my parents to Kluang, which is just above the Johor state. It was really quite educational and refreshing because this time, the guide was really quite knowledgeable about the stuff around.

Interestingly, the eco tourism, eco agricultural industry of Malaysia is rather well developed from the way my guide described it. They do have research farms to help cultivate strains of plants that will help farmers/ breed animals via artifical insemination to have animals that are better for consumption, and in addition, they do have tours for local children to farms.

There are rambutans growing at the farm. It was supposedly the durian season as well... but we didnt get to eat any durians.

The guide explaining the composition of the "medium" in which the mushrooms grow in. It's mainly made up of sawdust, slaked lime (to reduce neutralize the pH of the soil?), bran from rice (which is supposedly nutrient-rich). These things are taught to the poorer people in Malaysia so they are able to make a living. I guess such enterprises are pretty successful.

In the mushroom farm where they grow oyster mushrooms. These bags of opened-up mushrooms. Typically they are sealed till the mycelium of the fungi grows before the bags are opened up for the cap/stem of the mushroom to grow out. Oyster mushrooms do not require sunlight to grow and do not photosynthesize, hence they can be kept in this darkroom and still grow. These mushrooms absorb nutrients from the soil instead by spreading out their hypae and typically releasing enzymes.

These mushrooms are incubated before being put in the room above. Can't really remember the reason for the incubation though.

The lady cooking yummy fried mushrooms, not to eat too much though, it's ratherly unhealthy! :O Haha, anyway, I remember eating it in Taiwan as well, but the one here tastes better. The one in Taiwan was sprinkled with too much hot stuff!

Many many insects on this plant. Don't know it's name...

This is the plant that's shown above (zoomed-out view).

This plant (Serai Wangi) acts as a natural mosquito-repellant. In fact, its smell reminds me of the repellant that I bought for Semakau trips! Haha. I think it's one of the ingredients used. Just to side track, it's fantastic, knowing that it deters lice as well (since the CTFS leaf litter picking intrudes into areas which have lice...)

Ladybird emerging after the short downpour.

The mulberry fruit. The fruits look like caterpillars! Haha.

Something interesting. It's the "dung discs" that help "digest" away clogged up drainage pipes/ rivers, according to the guide.

Dung discs from afar! They do have fungi growing all over it. These discs are typically thrown into the river. Initially, they were developed as sprays over waste rivers/waters but liquid substances sprayed over the river do not stay at one spot and are quickly washed away. Hence they created these dung discs that sink onto the bed of the river.

The guide also shared about garbage enzymes, click on the link to read on... http://www.o3enzyme.com/enzymeproduction.htm

Plant that resembles a bird...

Cocoa/ palm oil. Cocoa, best known for cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The butter was really smooth... Palm oil is an important part of our daily lives. The other day, I just read about how impt it is to Singapore in particular. It can be used for cooking oil, beauty products, etc. I guess the whole palm oil trade industry is just quite complicated (biofuels/ deforestation etc).

The trip was quite cool. I learnt quite a bit. Kudos to the guide! :)

Reference:
http://www.borneofocus.com/saip/vaic/R&D/article2.htm

Happy Ocean Day!

2010-06-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Ocean Day everyone :) Overused fact, but our oceans make up 3/4 the surface of the Earth and it's our job to protect and care for our oceans...

Sadly, it seems like we haven't been doing a very good job. Overfishing, oil spills etc. It's time to step up in the effort to protect our oceans!

#67, Butterflies vs. Moths & Bukit Timah Hill

2010-06-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Since this blog has run dry of photographs... I decided to blog again!

Anyway, today I found this moth at the staircase of my block. I thought it was a butterfly initially... but I later realised it wasn't. It didn't have clubbed antennae, and it had a rather hairy body. So it actually is a moth that looked like a butterfly but wasnt, I was tricked because of the fanciful design the moth has...

[Edit] Thanks to Commander, the ID of the moth is now known! Its scientific name is Lyssa zampa.
Apparently, it is pretty common in Singapore (refer to http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/index.php?entry=/nature/20050527-lyssa_zampa.txt) and it's supposedly in season now. It's one of the largest moths found in Singapore as well, think that is pretty cool. The one found here is about 7-8 cm long though, possibly not at its maximum yet. If I (might daringly) say, if these moths can be found so commonly in Singapore, they're ain't exactly forest-dwelling! [/Edit]

Anyway, got to go Bukit Timah Hill with my parents today, I decided not to work today, because I worked hard enough on Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon, ha ha.

Little Fungus at the entrance of the trail says hello!

Grasshopper silhouette effect that achieved with my point & shoot!

We walked through the Durian Loop and lo and behold, there were many durians there as well, though some seemed to be eaten by humans!

The "big picture" of the forest. Leaf litter, shrubs (if I rmb correctly), canopy, emergents apart from the creepers/lianas/ epiphytes.

Another "big picture". I'm constantly amazed at the scale of nature (: Remember, we rely on nature for survival - oxygen renewal, food, etc; nature never ever needed us.

#66, Guiding at Semakau with the Fanworms!

2010-06-03T06:16:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I haven't been blogging in a very long time indeed. Half a year... that's about how long I have not been guiding as well *guilty look*.

Anyway, so I finally guided on Wednesday, 2 June 2010, this time with a group of secondary school students from Boon Lay Secondary School. We were assigned the group 'Fan Worms', and the students heard me wrongly saying 'Fann Wong', it was not until they received the badge that they went 'Orh... so this is the "Fann Wong" you are talking about." Haha.

So the students started flipping through the intertidal guide sheets they were given and so one boy mentioned that he wanted to see the dugong but sadly, dugongs are extremely rare nowadays in Singapore, to the extent that we may even consider it 'extinct' in Singapore (http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/01/diving-with-gracie-dugong-announced.html). These dugongs typically feed on seagrass patches which are quickly disappearing.

The morning started off really wet, it was also raining on the way to Semakau on the boat. At least it stopped raining when we reached the intertidal area, it was really a blessing - the weather was cool and nice. We even saw a double rainbow on the way there. A participant shared with my double rainbows was because of a reflection of the first rainbow. Interesting.

Well well, I don't have photographs this time because I was busy guiding at the intertidal area but we did see quite many animals! We saw:

1 Oysters, the vice-principal pointed it out... haha, she seemed pretty knowledgeable about the intertidal creatures.
2 Dragonfish sea cucumber
3 Sandfish sea cucumber
4 Noble volute
5 Fiddler crabs, at the Bakau tree
6 Blue swimming crab - the night before, learnt about how to distinguish between a female/male crab by Yingwei!
7 Giant fluted clam - that harbours photosynthetic pigments to help it produce food as well, at least it wasnt bleaching? I dont know if it is capable of doing that?
8 Cockles
9 Scallop, I guess quite a rare sighting! It is one of my first times seeing it...
10 Baby hermit crabs
11 Knobbly sea star
12 Common sea star
13 Magnificent anemone
14 Haddon's carpet anemone with anemone shrimps
15 Phyllid nudibranch, a rather huge one.
16 Hairy crabs, though surprisingly few. Usually there're more but perhaps they've gone into hiding after the rain.

It was sad too though to see alot of the corals bleaching (it means they have ejected the zooxanthellae - type of algae from their polyps) near the reef edge... really and really wonder why! Is it because of the change in temperature, or salinity or other factors? Corals are so sensitive to the changes around them. I really hope they will recover soon, if not it might mean that they'll disappear, forever... ):

It was really great guiding again, thanks Ron/Ms Wang/ Marcus for coordinating this trip!

#65, Project Semakau Hunter Hide-and-Seeking!

2009-12-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Yup. So... have not beeen to Semakau in a very long time indeed. It was a nice feeling going back! :) Was paired up with Wenqing this time...

Here are a number of creatures spotted:-

Swimming Crab

A drill-like shell. Not sure what it is! We had to 'capture' it in a ziplock bag for further identification.

Wenqing spotted the Knobbly Sea Star. She was really happy with the find! It's tube feet were fully extended out and moving about...

Sandfish sea cucumber. It was quite a huge one!

Black-lipped Conch. This was found in the seagrass lagoon, rather camouflaged.

Can you guess what this is?

It's the Sentinel Crab! It's eyestalks can be tucked away nicely on the side, making it look very rectangularish indeed.

Hermit crab living in a shell not of its own. It's not a true crab and has to migrate from "shell to shell" when it grows larger.

Sea whelk.

We managed to see a few flatworms, nudibranch (black margined), dog-faced water snake, brittle star, fanworms too! That concludes the hunter seeking trip! :)

Pufferfish swallowed by Kingfisher!!

2009-11-08T04:06:00.000-08:00

"http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2009/11/08/collared-kingfisher-eats-pufferfish/"

This is interesting though! Pufferfish swallowed by Collared KF!

2009-10-25T23:03:00.001-07:00

Hello, just wanted to say that I will be pretty inactive - till Jan next year :)

Sorry about it!

#64, Dairy Farm Nature Park Sightings!

2009-09-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

Just a short update to let you know I am alive (lol).

Today MY and I went to Dairy Farm Nature Park in the morning! It was pouring at first but the sky soon cleared, so that's great! We saw some interesting thingies, and it was a nice & cooling walk especially just after the shower!

1. Tree Shrew , the animal on the right-hand side - We actually saw this but didn't manage to get a photo. It's really cute!

2. Maiden Veil Fungus, also known as the Stinkhorn - Wow! It's really pretty. It actually can be eaten! Look here. We saw a couple of other fungus growing as well, like the bright orange coloured ones and other white ones as well. Not sure what their IDs are.

3. A special Snail - Not sure of it's ID yet!

4. Black Mormon - We saw this as well, it fluttering about, sucking the nectar with its long probocis.

#63, Darwin/Wallace Exhibition at SBG

2009-08-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Managed to find some time to visit the Exhibition today (: It's pretty interesting, there're preserved insect/ plant specimens displayed, with information about evolution/ Darwin/ Wallace as individuals. :) Too bad it's ending already - 31st Aug.

#62, Random Sightings

2009-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

These were found over at the canal! Sorry I haven't been blogging. It's been alot of studying these days.

Went really early in the morning... so I was there to catch the "waking up of birds", they were really making alot of "noise"! But they were mainly the Mynas and Glossy Starlings.

Striated Heron (I think) found rather common

White-throated Kingfisher

Insects mainly & sceneries:

#61, Part I: Semakau guiding with the Seaslugs/Flatworms!

2009-06-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

I was guiding with the Sea Slugs group yesterday. I had a great time, as usual! On this trip, we got to see the huuuuge animals! And we also saw three different types of flatworms and "recruited" them into our group.

What we saw at the Intertidals:

(a) Huge Oscellated Sea Cucumber
(b) Ball Moon Snail (!)
(c) Fiddler Crabs at the Bakau Trees
(d) Sandfish Sea Cucumber
(e) Common Sea Star
(f) Oysters
(g) Sponges (Pink, Blue, Yellow, Brown)
(h) Hairy Crab x 3
(i) Flatworms x 3 types (Beige flatworm, Orange-Striped flatworm, Persian-carpet flatworm) (!)
(j) Knobbly Sea Star
(k) Polka-dotted Nudibranch
(l) Giant Carpet Anemone with Anemone Shrimp
(m) Synaptid Sea Cucumber
(n) Giant Clam x 2 (juvenile & adult)
(o) Many casts of the Acorn Worm
(p) Eggs of the Spiral Melongela
(q) Pimply Leathery Coral
(r) Smooth Leathery Coral (!)

& the same Bracket fungus was there at the logs! Brown spores were present again. How interesting...

Will post again with photographs soon (I hope).

#60, Part I: Beting Bronok

2009-06-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

So today we went to Beting Bronok, an reef of our Northern Shores. It's the only remaining one we have in the North, sadly.

So what did we see? The reef was really rich, we saw the following:

1. Cake Sea Star
2. Many Biscuit Sea Star
3. 2 Butterfly Fishes
4. Filefish
5. 2 Eels
6. Big Catfish
7. Bailer Snail (!)
8. Pencil Urchin
9. Hydroids (!)
10. Sea Pen (!)
11. Sea Squirt (!)
12. Knobbly Sea Star
13. Flatworms
14. Nudibranches (Yellow-foot nudibranch, and more)
15. Sea Cucumbers (ID later)
16. Sponge Crabs
17. Onyx Cowrie
18. ______ Cowrie (ID later)
19. A large Noble Volute
20. Glass Anemone

#59, Snail gnawing on leaves

2009-06-24T08:21:00.001-07:00

Mr Garden Snail from Eunice Soh on Vimeo.

A Snail Video :)

#58, SBG

2009-06-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Singapore Botanical Gardens is really a very good place for beginner photographers, like me to hone photography skills. Though everything there is pretty much man-made/man-planted, it's still teeming with life. The place is in abundance of insects, beautiful plants and birds as well.

Once again, Sir Stamford Raffles, who was an avid naturalist, was the one who initiated the idea. However, after his death, the garden dissipated. Fortunately, it was revived again by an Agri-Horticultural society in 1859.

This year, the SBG celebrates its 150th anniversary, that's a mighty long time! Indeed the garden has changed a lot, now it's even equipped with a basement food court and botany library.

For your viewing pleasure, I hope. I shot these with my telephoto lens 75-300mm and trusty old Canon 350D.

The Bee at the Pond. Bees are great subjects as well, a pretty common subjects in my 'list' :) :)

The male Olive-backed Sunbird. They came in swarms where the heliconias (they are plants related to gingers) were! Around 8 - 10 of them around. There was also the Crimson Sunbird, which was a first for me. Didn't manage to capture its photo.

The Stork-billed KF which is very huge (in fact, the largest KF in Singapore). This one was particularly huge as well.

The female Olive-backed Sunbird again.

A grasshopper! This shows of the grasshopper slightly hidden, as if it were playing peek-a-boo with us :) It has added a tinge of mystery.

A dragonfly that taken in an oddly-framed photo. Usually, for insects, we tend to take parallel to plane of the insect, so that you can see the full body. I guess this shot is for aesthetic purposes. I like how it looks like a 4-legged spider of sorts. And the background's pretty nice and clean.

And the veination of the fern. An early ancestor of the higher plants. I always love the backlitting of the veins such that it shows! Another technique you can employ whenever taking photos, because they always produce beautiful results. It's a reason why you should start nature photography early, to catch the morning sun which is not too harsh and just right!

Saw a couple of common birds - yellow-vented bulbuls, pigeons, mynas etc.; and even pigeons building nests on a man-made object o.O; some others even saw the pied fantail, magpie robin, collared kingfisher.

#57,Transect @ Semakau

2009-06-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy morning, but the clouds soon cleared and we began our transect.

Peanut worm. Ms Wang found it, she mentioned it's really rare to see them around.

A close up.

This is S., he was digging the seagrass, with a beautiful (but faint) rainbow at is back. He's using a grey suction cup to scoop the seagrass up. It's a very innovative equipment.

This is a Monitor Lizard that was spotted. Really shocked to see it in the salt water area! I've yet to find out which Monitor Lizard it is...

After a tired day's work, H. & S. :)

#56, Part II: Guiding with Mangroves!

2009-06-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

Today was guiding at Semakau... Truly a hot day yet it was enjoyable. I got to do my first public walk and a small group (Mangroves) made up of five ladies (girl power!) For all the animals I've seen, you can click here.

The sun was already almost up on the boat ride... :)

We boarded the boat at around 6 am and reached the island 45 minutes later. Soon, we began the short walk along the along the road leading to the forest. It's nicknamed: the F1 Race Track - because it really resembles a race track.

The four enthusiastic ladies.

The Notables

Stonefish Sea Cucumber (Actinopyga lecanora)

Sea cucumbers are relatives of the sea star- they have the five-point radial symmetry, though they do not resemble their relatives very much! Also, they have tube feet all around its body to help it move about. They usually move about to feed on the detritus found in the sand.

In order to breathe, they pump in water via their anus through what is called the "respiratory trees", which enables the oxygen to be absorbed. The water is flushed out the same way. It is often hard to tell the difference between the head and the anus because they look pretty much the same!

When stressed, sea cucumbers can become soft or even hard. This is due to its mutable tissues which enable it to soften or harden. In order to protect itself, the sea cucumber is poisonous to eat and are able to 'vomit' their internal organs when provoked. In reproduction, these single-sex animals release sperm/ eggs into the nearby water and external fertilization takes place.

Juvenile Brown-spotted Moray Eel (ID?)

Still awaiting ID but it is definitely an eel. This was spotted by one of the participants! Wow, a keen eye. This little fish was about 10 cm in length at the most.

Eels have no dorsal and anal fins, and only have one long, ribbony tail fin. They tend to like to hide in rock crevices and holes, like this one here. So most of their body length is actually unexposed!

Juvenile Cushion Star (Culcita novaeguinea)

This sea star is usually found in the deeper waters and less frequently in the intertidal areas. Like all sea stars, it has a five-point radial symmetry and has a central mouth on the underside. In addition, it is a haemaphrodite (which means its both male and female) but it cannot self-fertilize. The juveniles have arms that are better defined than their adults.

Oysters

They are filter feeders that do not move at all. This means that when the tide comes in, the gills of the oysters filter food particles from the sea water. They remain stationary on rock substratum for as long as they plant themselves there at the larval stage. They are bivalves, as they have two parts to the shell.

Spider Conch

These spider conches are very beautiful and have spikes along its shell, which is why many people love to collect the shells of these animals, resulting in the loss of many of these conches. ): The conches only develop the spikes as they grow older; and these spikes are like 'weapons' that intimidate predators.

On the other hand, the conch itself is a predator. It hunts on small animals. To move about, it uses its foot to help it 'jump'.

Bracket Fungus that was releasing spores

They usually grow on logs.

Carpenter Bee

Some information on it on my other blog post here.

On reflection, today's trip was really enriching because I got to learn from my participants as well, one who is well-versed in the ins-and-outs of Semakau & is a diver, and the other who took a natural history module of Singapore. ;) Also learnt to stop and take a look at the animals/plants all around!

Some photos taken today, compiled into a contact sheet;

For other accounts, you can read:-
1. KS's blog entry here
2. SY's blog entry here
3. JL's blog entry here

Credits
http://www.seawater.no/fauna/Pigghuder/sjokjeks.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/echinodermata/asteroidea/culcita.htm

#56, Part I: Guiding with the Mangroves!

2009-06-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Location: Pulau Semakau
Date: 12 June, Friday
Time: 7+ am onwards

Sand bar

(a) Fiddler Crab
(b) Gobies & Shrimps
(c) Creeper Snails
(d) Nerites
(e) Sponges
(f) Small Hermit Crabs
(g) Bakau Tree (Mangrove)
(h) Oysters
(i) Snapping Shrimps
(j) Fanworm, of brown colouration
(k) Small Noble Volute
(l) Beaded Anemone, Banded

Seagrass lagoon

(a) Synaptid Sea Cucumber
(b) Spider Conch
(c) Giant Carpet Anemone

Coral rubble

(a) Mushroom Sunflower Coral
(b) Marine Spider
(c) Octopus
(d) Hairy Crabs x 6
(e) Stonefish Sea Cucumber
(f) Juvenile Brown-spotted Moray Eel (ID?)
(g) Juvenile Giant Clam
(h) Cowrie
(i) Sand-sifting Sea Stars, there were many small ones
(j) Knobbly Sea Stars x 2
(k) Juvenile Cushion Star
(l) Hard Corals
(m) Zoanthids

Reef Edge

(a) Seahorse
(b) Nudibranch - Polka-dotted Nudibranch (Gymnodoris funebris), Pimply Phyllid Nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa)
(c) Flatworm - Blue-lined Flatworm (Pseudoceros species)
(d) Red Swimming Crab

Other non-intertidal creatures

(a) Carpenter Bee
(b) Bracket Fungus that was releasing spores

*The new way I'll blog now for my exploratory/guiding trips:

- Part (I) of the trip will be a checklist of the items we seen, even the common
ones, the interesting ones will be highlighted in RED, according to their habitat.
- Part (II) of the trip will be a photograph collection of the interesting/notable/new creatures that we found on the way.
- Scientific names will be Italicised and in brackets next to the common name.
- Questionable IDs will have a tag like this: (ID?)

That way, I'll learn more (I think) haha. :)

#55, Home - a movie

2009-06-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

Watch Home!

It's a great movie :) Search HOME on Youtube.com

Or visit http://www.home-2009.com

#54, Birds

2009-06-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

Some photos of the birds I got...

I got the photo underexposed, so !??! I don't know what pigeons they are... Couldn't see as the sun shining really intensely.

Collared kingfisher which was making loud calls. Its tail feathers are spreaded out. (Note: Awhile ago, it was preening itself.)

Munia!!!!! My first time seeing them here. It shows that there are munias around! These birds tend to roam about open fields and grassy areas (cos that's where their food is found)

(photo was sharpened)

Pecking on the grass for food. (read BESG blog on what they feed on) Soon after, the two of the munias which were around took off probably cos of my presence.

Munias ftw.

#53, Pulau Hantu

2009-06-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Credits to www.wildsingapore.com for the photo

Just today, a group of RMBR guides went over to Pulau Hantu - it's the Malay name for "ghost island". Gives you the creeps eh? I remember being really scared of the island when I last went diving at Hantu, two to three years back. Well, actually the place's really nothing to be afraid of. It's a pretty place, with wild grasses growing around, palmies (that's what my friend calls Palm Trees) and the likes. It's really great for camps/ gatherings etc.

Pretty!

As you can see in the map, the Hantu island is made up of two portions, the "Hantu Bersar" (big ghost) and "Hantu Kechil" (little ghost). Somehow, it reminds me of the many islands in Singapore that are found in pairs, like the:

(1) Sister's Island
(2) the Semakau Island (it's made up of two islands actually!)
(3)St John's Island & the Larzarus Island.

The Southern part

There are two jetties and during low tide, you can literally trod past the area between the two islands, like what we did today! There're two jetties as well. Eep.

Jetty at the South

Adjacent to Bukom, an oil refinery island

*****

Today we saw a grand total of

1 flatworm

1 nudibranch (NEW NEW NEW)

1 mosaic crab whose pincers and one leg were gonee on one side of the crab, wonder what happened?

This crab is the most poisonous crab found in Singapore as their toxins do not disintegrate on cooking, there have been cases of deaths when eaten. They're also poisonous. So don't touch/eat them! This beautiful crab is listed 'endangered'. They actually belong to the family 'Xanthidae', which are all poisonous crabs. (P: Arthropoda, SP: Crustacea, C: Malacostraca O: Decapoda,SO: Brachyurans, F: Xanthidae) It is understood that the toxins in these animals are made by symbiotic bacteria.

1 red egg crab

It's a close relative of the mosaic crab, poisonous/ venomous too.

1 sac of spiral melongela egg capsules

many many common sea stars, sponges, shrimps, gobies, soft/hard corals (e.g. sunflower mushroom coral)

1 orange-coloured shrimp

1 squid which squirted out ink when it was in distress!

Anyway, it was constantly changing its colour, and it's due to chromatophores, which enable the squid to change colours to camouflage into its surroundings.

quite a few fan worms (white, brown variations)

1 spiral melongela

1 male fiddler crab

The fiddle crab is pretty huge, and it has a nice orange claw.

1 baby giant clam

Yay..... :) Koksheng was look out for them. He GPS-ed the position of it.

1 giant carpet anemone

Unfortunately, no anemone shrimp/ oscellated clownfish ):

5 feather stars

They're filter feeders, which explains why it has so many hair-like protrusions of its arms used to trap the particle in the sea water :) saw the brown version too!

10 brittle stars

They're very light sensitive. At the sight of the (torch) light (we went in the early morning, so it was still dark), they hide immediately in the rock crevices. Only this brittle star was less shy but as you can see, this one's trying to hide too!

many many many common sea stars!

Saw a 6-legged one, 4-legged one, and the usual 5-legged ones, plus there were many small stars around, really in abundance - I daresay, more than P. Semakau's common sea star density?

It's interesting to note that these sea stars actually have a nervous system just that it's rather complex. They lack a true centralised brain and operate via the nerve ring on each arm. So you may ask the following few questions:

- Are the sea stars able to feel (pain)?
Personally, I'm not sure too but I'll say no. Though they've a nervous system, they lack a true brain so they are unable to process the action which causes them pain. I'm sure it's more complex than that.

I'll try to find out more but if you do know, pl leave a comment!

- How would they know which directions to move towards? (How are they able to think colletively?)
There is the leading arm that is usually observed to have its tip raised and curve backwards while the rest of the arms move in the direction of the leading arm with the tube feet with the signalling of the leading arm (chemical signals). Any of the arms have the potential to the be leading arm.

- Are they able to store information and where?
I don't know. But they can learn things..... and store them.

Read more about it here, it's pretty interesting!

I like the cloud :)

Goodbye, Hantu! Thanks to Ron/Ms Wang who organized the trip! Need to consider to get a point-and-shoot, lugging around the old DSLR is not fun.

Read other blog entries on:

(1) S's blog here

****

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish#Nervous_system
http://www.madreporite.com/science/orientation.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/

#52, Intertidal Walk with Tampines Secondary

2009-04-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful morning to be at the Semakau intertidal area on Easter Sunday!

We had to wake up really early in the morning to be at the Marina Jetty (4.30 am) :) It was my first morning walk; and also the first walk that I guided a group alone! However, I didn't bring my camera this time, so there won't be any photographs. ):

So... On reaching Semakau, we had to walk through the road to the intertidal area. It was a cool and breezy walk, IMO it was enjoyable! Then on reaching the forest, we had to put on repellant before going into the forest. (well, another way of overcoming the mozzies is to wear long-sleeved tees & pants)

We saw the following animals:-
1. The New Seastar (that seemed to be bigger) - It's ID? I'm not sure
2. Polka-dotted Nudibranch x 2, Green Ceratosoma Nudibranch x2
3. Mangrove trees - the Bakau and Sonneratia
4. Noble Volute laying eggs
5. Sea Urchin
6. Swimming Anemone
7. Carpet Anemone - but no clownfish or shrimp again ):
8. A baby Giant Clam! :D
9. The adult Giant Clam - finally got to see it, yay!
10. Soft corals
11. Hard corals
12. Eggs of the Moon Snail - sand collar
13. Fiddler Crabs
14. Flatworm
15. Swimming Crabs
16. Hairy Crabs
17. Knobbly Seastar
18. Synaptid Sea Cucumber
19. Acorn Casts (many of them!)
20. Sawedged Spooner Etisus utilis, a type of crab - got this from R's blog
21. Cowrie
22. Sandsifting Seastars

Next time I will try to ID the corals.

I had a wonderful time.................. now it's back to school......... Goodbye!

You can visit the blogs of other guides at
1. Ron's account

#51, Carpenter Beez

2009-03-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

The Carpenter Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeez

Taken at West Coast Park

#50, Chlorophyll

2009-03-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

Just some trivia about the leaves of colours! Something I just learnt cos I was looking up something on Photosynthesis.

Autumn Color Change :)

When leaves appear green, it is because they contain an abundance of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll masks other pigment colors. Anthocyanins, in turn, mask carotenoids. As summer turns to autumn, decreasing light levels cause chlorophyll production to slow. However, the decomposition rate of chlorophyll remains constant, so the green color will fade from the leaves. At the same time, anthocyanin production in leaves increases, in response to surging sugar concentrations. Leaves containing primarily anthocyanins will appear red. Leaves with good amounts of both anthocyanins and carotenoids will appear orange. Leaves with carotenoids but little or no anthocyanins will appear yellow.

However, in the absence of these pigments, other plant chemicals also can affect leaf color. An example includes tannins, which are responsible for the brownish color of some oak leaves.

Note that light is not needed in order for a plant to produce carotenoids, therefore these pigments are always present in a living plant. Also, carotenoids decompose very slowly as compared to chlorophyll.

Credits to http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602a.htm

I guess colour change does not only occur in countries with autumn, even in Singapore we do see this occuring. It's commonplace for deciduous trees.

#49, The Canal

2009-03-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Down to the canal again with D., after a long long while.

The canal has many interesting birds! Both water birds and other birds! We saw the Little Heron, Cattle Egret, Intermediate Egret, Pond Heron, Purple Heron and the male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (photo http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=2690&Bird_Image_ID=31712&Bird_Family_ID=&p=7) though I didn't manage to get the photo of it. It was a pretty bird. Saw a couple of other birds but they were too far to ID, so yeah I guess I need to wait for a bino?

Saw the Green Crab Spider Dieta virens, lynx spiders, grasshoppers and their juveniles, and various other species of ants (and maybe termites too!)

The spider web. I can't remember of which spider. There quite a few of them around. The morning dew hadn't dried up yet as well, and hence the pretty droplets, and the large one at the side :)

I think this is... Dragon scales. I think!

Hehe a common plant that I do not know the name of.

Who are they?

None other than the Day-flying moths, who are mating.

Creepie Creepers, as I called them.

Worn-out-looking butterfly.

Creeping daisy.

Ants that seemed to be building stuffies. Could they be weaving ants too? It is thought that three genera of ants weave nests: Oecophylla, Polyrhachis and Dendromyrmex, though the latter two weave simpler nests.

(Read up more!)

Nice dragonfly but don't know it's ID.

The friend!

Goodbye for now, doubt I'll be posting much alr (exams next week)

References

http://singaporeplants.blogspot.com/
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaver_ants

#48, Semakau Guiding w Meiyi - the Giant Clams!

2009-03-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

Before the intertidal walk, we had the landfill tour which comprises of a video segment and a bus trip round the island.

The beautiful landscape at the cells that have already been filled up by the incinerated ash. Soil is then topped above these ash and whoa-la you get vegetation on it, brought about naturally by animals/ wind.

The students were shown the video about Semakau landfill, and more about how it operates.

On to the intertidal walk! Like always, before we entered the forest, there was a safety briefing; students were advised not take off their shoes, walk in a group and not touch anything that the guides have not allowed them to. Plus, if they were feeling unwell, they should let the guides know ;)

So, very excitedly, we trudged through the forest into the sandbar area.

The eggs of the Spiral Melongela Pugilina cochlidium.

The young of the Spiral Melongela hatch as a small snail with shell and foot. It's nice to see eggs of various animals at Semakau, because it shows that Semakau is full of life!

Meiyi showing the students the Common seastar.

A male Swimming Crab.

This swimming crab is a Flower crab Portunus pelagicus. Swimming crabs can swim in all directions, very versatile indeed. What enables them to swim so well? It's their 4th pair of legs that are paddle-shaped that allows them to do so. They are edible as well.

The coastal Horseshoe crab Tachypleus gigas.

There are only 4 types of horseshoe crab in the world and two are found in Singapore! The mangrove and coastal horseshoe crabs; and they are differentiated physically by their tail, the former has a rounded end while the latter has a triangular end.

They aren't actual crabs and are related more to spiders.

More info visit: http://www.horseshoecrab.org/anat/anat.html

Giant Carpet Anemone.

Hairy crab.

The new seastar!

MY and I didnt know what this was but I found from MY's blog that it's the Rose nudibranch Dendrodoris fumata

We also saw the Lined chromodoris nudibranch nearby this nudibranch.

Oscellated sea cucumber. It can't stay in the sun too long because it'll "melt".

The transparent blob-like thing that MY and I are clueless about.

The sea urchin the kids managed to spot. :)

Sandfish sea cucumber.

It was really pretty at Semakau (: The leaves were turning brown-ish.

All in all, we saw the:-

1 Horseshoe Crab!
2 Unique looking seastar (I believe it's the new one that Ron spotted during the launch of Project Semakau)*
3 Hairy Crab, otherwise known as the Teddy Bear Crab
4 Lined chromodoris Nudibranch
5 Rose nudibranch
6 Sandfish sea cucumber
7 Dragonfish sea cucumber
8 Swimming Crabs (including the flower crab and another orange one)
9 Carpet anemone, though there were no clownfish/ shrimp
10 Eggs of the Spiral melongela
11 Transparent blop-like thing*
12 Sea urchin
13 Dead heart cockle
14 Soft corals (e.g. Dead Man's finger)
15 Giant fluted clam (the students were so excited to find it)
16 Sea horse
17 Red berry snails (found at the mangroves area!)
18 Fiddler Crabs
19 Mangrove tree (i.e. Rhizophora)
20 Noble volute laying eggs x2

*things I do not know the names of, need to check them out

The soft corals side-by-side, I'm not sure if the ID for the top one; I'll check it out soon

We had to wash up after the walk

Cheers to the Giant Clam group (: Hope you guys had fun

Other blog entries

- MY's http://appreciateandlove.blogspot.com/2009/03/semakau-after-so-long.html

- R's http://tidechaser.blogspot.com/2009/03/scorching.html

- J's http://wherediscoverybegins.blogspot.com/2009/03/discover-semakau-landfill-island-8.html

#47, The Mysterious Birds

2009-03-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog! Been a little busy with school... but even then it's not excuse huh!

Anyways, I've spotted this mysterious group of birds by the canal twice but I can't ID them in the books... So maybe I shall just post their photos here (and the photo qualities are bad) and I'll be on my way to look for their ID. Anyone heeelp?

The canal is really teeming with life, many "water" birds are found around the area, rather well camouflage. Perhaps because of their small size as well, I couldn't get proper shots of them. During the holidays, I'll try to find time to capture their photos (:

[Edit]
Thanks to WQ's help in ID-ing this flock of birds - they are the White-crested Laughingthrush. They tend to flock in groups and are relatively easily found, at least in forested areas. Will find out more about them!
[/Edit]

#46, At the Canal

2009-01-25T03:21:00.001-08:00

This should be the Common Kingfisher (I combined two photographs into one), though I'm not fully sure if it's the Common KF or the Blue-eared KF cos they look very alike, noting the fact that the Blue-eared KF is the forest equivalent of the Common KF.

I'm having so much trouble because there's a forested area near the canal, so I'm not too sure which species it might be, and also because the colours look really similar on the computer screen (look at photo references)

Quoted from Wikipedia, "The Blue-eared Kingfisher is distinguished from the Common Kingfisher by blue ear coverts, darker and more intense cobalt-blue upperparts with richer rufous under parts."

(Photo ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-eared_Kingfisher.JPG and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Common_Kingfisher-_different_races.jpg)

The Malayan Monitor Lizard eating its meal... what can it be?

It turns out, it's a fish fresh out of the waters of the canal.

A dead bird, perhaps a pigeon? It looked like it fell and crashed right into the grassy patch ): Quite sad.

Not sure what this is, but it might be a growth from the tree or a bird egg that fell from its nest, I can't be totally sure! Haha.

Last but not least, the male Common Goldenbacked Woodpecker. Pretty colours.

Saw some other birds as well, like the collared KF, white-throated KF and little egret, and the usual bunch of egrets. I think there was a plover as well, plus another bird that I can't ID - but it had a long beak with stripes running down till its belly.

Happy CNY to everyone!

#45, Nature Photography Competition

2009-01-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hi hi

There's a nature photography competition on. The link's at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy-entry/. Closing date is end of March and there are two main categories; one for the adults, and the 17 yrs old and under category.

:)

#44, I've been up to...

2009-01-17T07:33:00.001-08:00

According to SY, this is a moth from the family Noctuidae, and it may be the Spirama retorta. (thank you!!)

Sorry I haven't posted in a long while. Been really busy with school work!

Nature stuff I've been up to (not really much) -

- Snooping about Sungei Ulu Pandan Canal (that was during the holidays)
There are many creatures there; such as the monitor lizard, butterflies (BEAUTIFUL ones), other lizards, birds such as the egret, white-bellied sea eagle and herons

- The patch of greenery nearby my house
I saw a pair of male/female koels, they seemed to be mating (?) but I'm not completely sure. Haha. There are white cockatoos around too (feral species, I think)

- The canal at Coronation Plaza
Seems to have lots of algae growth there... I wonder what algae are those. Ill get a photo someday soon.

#43, Sungei Buloh

2008-12-20T06:54:00.000-08:00

Went to Sungei Buloh with Ag and MY today :) It's really nice! Been wanting to go there for some time.. The weather was really cooling.

We went for the fish tour there, and it was pretty good. Learnt more about the mangrove fishes i.e. oriental sole, halfbeaks, mallets, archerfish etc. We saw many spiders along the way as well, such as the St. Andrew's Cross Spider Argiope mangal and the Golden Orb Spider Nephila pilipes, and a weaver ant nest.

There were pockets of mangroves but I didn't quite know how to ID them. Saw the Avicennia and Rhizophora genus. On the way back, I saw a bunch of scaly-breasted munias! :)Yep, definitely an enjoyable trip!

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas (in the season ay!) These are Sea Holly. Resembles the mistletoe :)

Observation tower. Really cooliooos.

The path from the observation tower.

The nice nice scenery. It was low-tide and many telescope snails were exposed. They were large! We saw egrets and sandpipers (I think), around. We even saw 2 collared kingfishers and one storkbilled kingfisher- it caught fish and was enjoying its meal. Sadly, we did not see any otters but we did see fishes jumping out of the water, a tell-tale sign that there could have been otters underwater. Another reason why these fishes jump is because they are swimming to close to each other, according to the guide at Sungei Buloh.

Ehh I cant remember what this fish is, but it's fresh water. Learnt that if the fish mouth is pointed upwards, it tends to be a fish that stays near the surface of the water. And vice versa for fishes pointing straight and downwards. :)

The beautiful clouds. This is the brackish water: a mix of the salt water and fresh water. This "stream" is leading seaward.

Munias! Haha, but it's a lil too small to see. My telephoto lens is spoilt, you see ):

Bye-bye! :)

Thanks Siyang for helping the spidey correct mistake. :)

#42, St John's Island

2008-12-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yep, so a bunch of us went over to St. John's island for an overnight trip :) It was really fun! When we reached, we got orientated ourselves with the place, and boy, the dorms there are really nice.

These are the weaver ants that all came out their next, because I kinda "touched" their nest.

A spider found at the mangove area.

The sea poison flower that bloomed- it already had dropped to the ground. ): The poison of the sea poison is used to poison paralyze little fishies.

Such a nice spot to sit, rest and relax! :)

The Land Hermit Crab, that has a purple body. This hermit crab has chosen a real terrestrial snail shell as its home! Hee hee, it is so cute!

Flower.

Cat meowwwwwww. This cat really followed us around. Anyw most cats there love to meowwww at us! Haha they're really friendly.

Rhizophora mangroves.

The red stipule and leaves of the rare Rhizophora apiculata.

The fruit of the Avicennia marina.

Roots of the Avicennia.

Teddy bear crab! :) They are mildly poisonous because they feed on zoanthids and very well camouflaged. This crab here was found in one of the rock crevices. It's smalllll.

Sunsetttttttt.

Squid eggs! Ag spotted it. Nice, we also watched the Blue Planet and saw the episode on squid spawning also! Really cool.

Snapping Shrimp. The crustacean responsible for the "tuck, tuck" sound at the Intertidals.

7-legged sand-sifting seastar. Super coooool. It seems like three arms grew out of one area...

Red ribbon worm, they can be very voracious hunters! They eat other intertidal critters.

Octopus that was really in a small holeeee.

E. called this the "Small Little Red Crab". According to Ron, it is a red Fiddler Crab (female, I should think)!

Leaf slug! It was found on a Mermaids' Fan (algae/ seaweed) The colour is really pretty - dark green with an orange and black outline.

The boats.

I traced out the frog fish here a lil, it really resembles a frog! They have lures to trap other fishes.

Brown egg crab. I remember at Satumu I also shot a close relative of this crab- the Red egg crab!

Black sea cucumber.

Anemone shrimp in the untouchable touch pool - it was on a bulb-tip anemone.

In the morning, we tried to go bird watching but it was rainy and most of the birds would have gone into "hiding". ): Oh well. Soon, it was time to say goodbye to the island: the tide was very high when we left...

P.S. Yay, new blog skin, I love it but I cant troubeshoot the dates part! ):

Thanks to Ron for correcting some mistakes I had in this blog post!

#41, A "Bao Ka Liao" Semakau Post

2008-12-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

Heehee, I haven't posted in a long long time, cus I was a little busy. Pardon the title. I thought it was appropriate cos it was going to encompass three trips worth of words and photographs which have already accumulated and nearly collected dust! Whee.

Anyway, thank you Ms Wang, Ron & Siyang for planning/organizing/preparing these trips! :)

Soooo the three trips were:-

1. Project Semakau Launch (website @ http://projectsemakau.rafflesmuseum.net)
- Saw a newly-recorded seastar (YAY!), polka-dot nudibranch, orange-dotted nudibranch, 3 noble volutes (baby, adult and another laying eggs), worm (not sure what...), gong gong (Strombus canarium), spider crab, reef bristle worm, sea spider and more.

2. Transect trial @ Semakau
- Oops, didnt really see many creatures as we were doin' the seagrass but I think we saw a spider conch.

3. Hunter-seeking at Semakau
- Saw many interesting intertidal creatures, see my 2 posts back!

***

On the day of the launch, it was raining... hee, but soon the rain cleared for the intertidal walk! :)

Dr Amy Khor came as the guest-of-honour!

Yep, so it was the day of the launch.

The barnacles on the tree of the mangroves. These barnacles filter feed off the current, as it sweeps by. Also, they are hermaphrodite- they have both female and male organs. They can be considered parasites if they live in animals.

The carpet anemone was very big! Haha, but we didn't manage to find any host clownfish ):

This is the mangrove roots of the Sonneratia mangroves, which have these kinda cone-shaped roots. They also have characteristic "apple-like" fruits and round leaves.

The Knobbly Seastar (Protoreaster nodosus) Heh, that day they found quite a few Knobblies! Semakau is indeed teeming with life. These creatures are carnivorous, eating other smaller critters such as clams.

The very famous gong-gong (Strombus canarium)! Haha, this one had its arm just sticking out. Not a very good photograph ay? Anyw, these are edible ;)

Cowrie shell....... but it's dead. R.I.P. ): Haven't really seen cowries alive when I go to Semakau, always seem to see the shells only.

Carpet anemone again!

This mudskipper was found around the mangroves area.

Nipah palm is the only palm tree that is found in the mangroves. It's seed the one that gives you the attap chee!

Noble volute (Cymbiola nobilis) seems to be in season, because it was seen quite a number of times! Can't imagine how many eggs are in that lump- thousands of them but most of them don't make it to adulthood.

Here's a "baby" (small-sized) noble volute. So cute. :3

This noble volute is surprisingly not covered in sediments! It's body is so beautiful :) Don't you think so? The noble volute is considered a snail, belonging to the phylum of Mollusc and class of Gastropoda.

Pink!Sponge! :D Nice colour. These sponges have small holes and hence the phylum, "Poifera" - which is indicative of it's small pores. They too, filter feed as current brings in the sea water through the pores, while trapping little plankton and other microsopic food particles.

Gymnodoris sp. Don't touch me! I'm poisonous! This is really true. The nudibranch's attractive colouration is indicative of it's poisonous nature.

The reef bristle worm has hair-like extensions from it's body- they're called setae. They reproduce by epitokes, a portion developed to store sperm/ eggs, which later breaks off to take part in external fertilization.

Red swimming crab

JW's guess was that this was a polychaete worm cus it looked segmented. I'm not sure myself.

Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris), also known as JOFU! Haha that rhymes with tofu :P Two were found together, haha. They looked as if they were going to fertilize each other but that is just my assumption.

Sea star!

Sea spider- they are considered rather rare, listed as "endangered". Ah, and they're fierce hunters- they can even eat smaller-sized shrimps!

Flowering sea grass! How exciting!! This sea grass belongs to the Enhalus genus.

The male of the plant is the white styrofoam-like "balls".

More male flowers. The female portion is the one that much bigger, and has its stigma protruding outwards.

Stonefish, hardly recorded at Semakau! It has poisonous spines and stays absolutely still! Wow, no surprise that it's so dangerous both because it's so still and poisonous. Anyhows, this one is rather bloated.

Spotted black flatworm

Wonder what this is...

Spider crab! It's so small...hardly 4 cm! These crabs are usually very well camouflaged such that it's hard to spot. A keen eye is required! Haha. I think Ms Wang spotted it.

My Photo of the Day

Dead man's Fingers! They are a type of soft coral.

Finally the end! :) The trips were truly enjoyable. Made new friends :)

#40, Interesting Article on Nature

2008-12-15T02:39:00.000-08:00

I just thought this was an interesting article off nature.com!

Surveys of flora and fauna may be flawed @
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081212/full/news.2008.1304.html

Mhm. Just some food for thought.

#39, Semakau! :)

2008-12-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Oops, have been missing in action quite a bit these days! Sorry about that.

But anyway, I went to Semakau today, to help out with hunter-seeking. Everytime I'm there I learn lots of new things- I'm really still very new to all the things there cos there's just so much to learn from nature, about nature.

Had team mates R and YW in the team, and it was really great ;) We moved off to the far right of the transect area, that is, if you're facing the sea- a part of Semakau that I've not been to, and where the corals seem less-disturbed (more pristine?).

We spotted:
1. Alligator pipefish
2. Stonefish (hardly seen at Semakau, had initially thought it was a dead fish cos it hardly moved!)
3. Seahorse
4. Noble Volute (two of them!)
5. Various Sea grasses (mainly Enhalus) and Seaweeds (various species such as the turfing algae, mermaid's fan in red, etc.)
6. Fan Worms
7. Swimming Crabs
8. Sandfish sea cucumber
9. Tomato Clownfish in a Bubble tip anemone (it was a big big clownfish)
10. Corals of course! - Boulder coral (Favites), Brain coral, Dead man's fingers (soft coral), Anemone coral, lots of mushroom corals!
11. Cuttlefish (two of them)

And the "usuals"; I don't really know the exact species, but will look at the photographs and try to ID them soon:

12. Hairy Crab
13. Sand Bubbler Crab
14. Drills
15. Nerites
16. Fan shells
17. Oysters
18. Ascidians
19. Zoanthids
20. And many other crabs that were unknown
21. Lots of sand collars
22. Baby butterfly fish
23. Carpet Anemone

Oh yes, YW and I saw some transparent jelly-like thingy, and we really have no idea what it is. It can't be a jellyfish cus there were no stinging cells on the underside. I don't have a photograph of it though. I think YW has.

Will blog more in detail another day, for now it's just the checklist of stuff we spotted.

Thanks to SY & Ron for correcting some mistakes.

#38, Clementi Canal

2008-10-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Today I took a short trip to the Clementi Canal (I think that's what it's called). This place joins Clementi and Sunset Way together. It's a pleasant place for people who prefer quiet spots, away from the hustle and bustle of the Singaporean city. It's actually in line with a running track which spans over 3km plus.

Presenting the Canal. The photograph above shows of the MRT track also.

People do some fishing there, though I'm not sure if it's legal. :x

Right. So now to the animals. Lots to see! :D

Actually, I went to the canal the day before in the morning as well. Spotted an Oriental Whip Snake in the grasses, bright green (nice). It was about 2 metres long. Given its length, it should be a fully-grown snake. Luckily, this snake is mildly venomous and it's bite wouldn't kill :-)

Yellow-vented bulbul, very shy as usual. It literally dives from bush to bush, plant to plant & tree to tree. Spotted two of them!

I used flash to capture this changeable lizard. Thought the colours were better with flash. Saw two of these. Haha, looks like everything seems to come in pairs.

As quoted from http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/lizardchangeable.htm, these species kinda clamped down the native species, the Green-crested Lizard. Thanks SY for correcting the mistake.

Doo you know which bird species actually feeds on the nectar of this plant (Helliconia)?

It's none other than the Olive-backed Sunbird! This bird is extremely cute - everything about it is pretty much cute: it's size, it's call... :-) Spotted around 3 of these birds today. The one above here is a male, while the one on the bottom is a female. Here, sexual dismorphism (the physical difference between the male/female) is seen, as the females have less colourful plumage, in comparison to the male.

They feed on the nectar of this plant too!

Moving on... Also saw the (malayan water) monitor lizard. O.o Saw three of these. I was really quite surprised at this find bcos I never really expect to find these reptilian friends at canals! These animals here are known to feed on almost anything, even rubbish (seem to recall the tiger shark, which also eats almost anything!)

Well, these creatures are also extremely versatile. They can stay underwater for up to 1/2 hour and are great swimmers (refer to the peakture below). For more information, you can visit http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/monitor_lizard.htm.

There were the Great Egrets as well! (I hope I got the ID right)

Taking off...

In flight.

Looking for tasty meal. Worms perhaps? Yummyyyy. For more information, you can visit http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Egretta_alba.htm.

Actually, Im pretty sure that there were other species of Egrets flocking together with the Great Egrets. I think I saw a purple heron yesterday as well but it was not very clear because it was far away.

Finally, ending it all is the Carpenter Bee:) It's HUGE, and is said to be more-or-less solitary. Like any insect, it consists of a head, thorax and abdomen. Really shiny too. For more information, you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee and for a nice diagram on the bee, visit http://life.uiuc.edu/~hhines/male_female2008.pdf.

It was a refreshing trip, indeed though I wished I was able to see more birds. I did see some birds but I really can't ID them because they were simply too far away.

#37, Big Sister's Island

2008-10-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

The trip to the Sister's Island has been really nice ;) Saw many of the intertidal critters I've not seen before, or rather hardly see (perhaps cos of my inexperience also), especially so for well camouflaged animals, so it requires so much of a sharp eye! It's really great to be back at the sea! Met a new friend, Erlina as well.

The Sisters' Islands are two actually two islands: the Big Sister and Small Sister. It legends has it said that these Sister Islands are as a result of a pair of drowned sisters. The two islands is separated by a narrow sea passageway- where the current is very strong, so it is not advised that we swim there.

Thanks to Ms Wang/Ron who organized this trip!

We started out in the evening! It's a change from the early mornings that we've been Marina South Pier. It was pouring and pouring and pouring... But thank goodness, it was not raining as we reached the jetty.

At the island :) The Big Sister! A beautiful and tranquil island, with Macaques as its primary residents.

The sand-sifting stars, is a new colony found at Sister's, according to R., who was really excited to see them! Apparently they were in the "mating position", as shown in the photo. There is no internal fertilization but being in this position increases frequency of fertilization. We saw so many of them.

Black Sea Cucumber
R. did mention that this is rather common at the Sister's. We found around three of these just within an approximate one-half metre square area.

Limpets
It's actually a snail, though it actually resembles barnacles. They secrete mucus as they move about to feed, then using it to trace back to their "homing scars". It was already fast approaching nightime, and these limpets were feeding on the available algae with its radula (it's teeth).

They spawn by the means of external fertilization, where eggs and sperms are released into the nearby water.

Nerites

There are so many on these stuck to the rocks at the shore area. No two of these patterns are alike!

#CAMOFLAGED ONE

M.Y. found this! It's an onchidium. It was really cute, cos we literally saw its small tentacles on the tip of its head. An onchidium is actually like a snail but without a shell. It's a sea slug.

Turban shell has a turban-like shape, and hence the name!

A variety of spiral melongella, gong gong and drills :-)

Moon Snail 1 Natica zonalis (thanks SY for ID)
This one's very very pretty! It's rarely spotted as well. It has a transparent patterned soft body while having a nice brown mantle. Moon snails have their names because their bodies can expand, much larger than their shell.

They are also fierce predators, where they can actually drill holes into the mantle/test of other shells. Moon Snail 2
Moon snail number two, which is much more common, but still very pretty. I wonder, why do they actually not accumulate sediments on their shells like the rest of the other shells. Perhaps it's cos they're smooth.

One of the most interesting finds of the day, the Land Hermit Crab. Hermit crabs move from houses as they grow larger, to make sure that they protect their soft bodies. This nice purple crab body is really pretty! They are decapods - have 10 legs and breathe through gills, and hence, these gills must remain most at all times.

They still return to the sea to lay their eggs and are highly nocturnal.

In contrast, this is a sea-dwelling hermit crab. It has so much more hair!

#CAMOFLAGED TWO
Guess what this is?

Yes! It's a spider conch, as you can see above. You can see its eyes. The spider conch is so well camouflaged in sediments such that it's so hard to spot!

The spider conch can "jump" when it wants to.

Red Egg Crab

#CAMOFLAGED THREE
Goby

Scorpion Fish

Eel

#CAMOFLAGED FOUR
Filefish

The big big carpet anemone!

Ball sponge - highly poisonous!

Squid!

Others:-
1 Octopus (spotted by quite a few)
- Easily squeezed its body into the crevices
2 Teddy Bear Crab (spotted by J.)
3 Water spider
4 Giant Carpet Anemone w Clownfish

Will type more another day :P Really tired. Anyw, got many sandfly bites! How how how )':

#36, Was just wondering

2008-09-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Oopsies. Im sorry for the lack in updates and photographs (my camera's CF is lost) I will get one soon anyhows.

Anyw I was just wondering. Are the junevile animals less frightened of humans? It seems so, because I could actually stand at a particular spot for 5-10 minutes just observing a "juvenile" squirrel (assuming it is, because it looked much smaller than the usual size) - and I could round the tree trunk it was on.

*have got camera handphone photographs but far too embarrassed to post them up*

#35, Cells alive!

2008-09-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

This post ain't really related to any nature stuff but rather about the micro side of the the human body: cells. I think the human body is soooo amazing! :-) You've gotta check the 1st video clip on this website http://multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/ out. The complexity of the body is just wow! Coupled with lovely classical music, this clip is a must-watch!

#35, Southern Ridges:)

2008-09-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

A visit to the Southern Ridges proved to be very, very refreshing. It comprises the West Coast Park, Clementi Woods, Kent Ridge, Canopy Walk, Hort Park, Alexandra Arch, Mt Faber, Henderson Waaaves and the Marang Trail.

No peaktures yet, till my friend sends them to me (:

#34, Butterfly Trail @ Alexandra Hospital

2008-09-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Wheehee. Just a short post with photos: I decided to pop by Alexandra Hospital today and (finally) I brought my camera. The butterflies were less skittish, probably because there was a light drizzle but anyhoohows, it was quite an amazing sight!

Blue grassy tiger

Chocolate pansy

Common six ring

Dingy bush brown

(Common?) grass yellow

Credits to http://www.sgbug.org/butterflies/singapore.php for identification of some of the butterflies.

Nacaduba calauria malayica

The moult of an nymph cicada (thanks SY for ID! :D)

A moth, I surmise!

I wish I'd be able to say more but I don't really know much :o( Oh well, till then. I will read up more!

#33, Birds at the Canal

2008-09-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

:) Hello again.

It's the holidays (for one week!) Yes, so it's time for more nature exploration :P It was quite interesting today... today's wasn't so much of an exploration but rather an impromptu thing to visit the canal, and I was definitely rewarded to see birds! :D

Collared kingfisher, seems to be quite common around this area. In fact, I saw two of them!

Yet another shot of the Collared Kingfisher.

Lizard.

Scaley-breasted Munia
These birds are rather common around grassy area though it's really my first time seeing the around. They were in a group of around 10 birds. It was so exciting :) And they're really cute, love their beaks. Previously, I'd posted on seeing the white-headed munia, another species that is rather uncommon in Singapore.

Some more shots of the munia. It's really cute:)

More shots of the cutesie Munia.

Oh and it was quite sad, when I saw this bird cos it was stuck on the side of the canal. It seemed quite sick. I wanted to rescue it but I really didn't know how ): Sigh. Anyway, I'm not sure if it's species, anyone help?

Coooool (and perhaps, last) trip:)

#32, Coppersmith Barbet nesting?

2008-08-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today, on my way home...

A Coppersmith barbet (megalaima Haemacephala) was spotted digging a hole in a tree that had no more leaves. Little by little, it used its beak to remove the wood in the tree bark to create a hole. By the time I was there, there was quite alot of wood shavings at the foot of the tree, so I guess it must have been at it for quite awhile. It was interesting to note that every few seconds of digging or so, it would turn its head to look around (presumably looking around at its surroundings)

Have alot of reasons to believe that it's a hole for breeding purposes :P

Cited from http://animals.jrank.org/pages/949/Barbets-Capitonidae-BEHAVIOR-REPRODUCTION.html:-

The nest is usually a hole in decayed or dead trees (in branches for smaller species), but can also be former termite mounds or burrows within sand or earthen banks. The hole enters a vertical shaft and ends in a widened chamber where females lay two to five white eggs. The incubation period (time to sit on eggs before hatching) varies, but is twelve to fourteen days in some species, while it is eighteen to nineteen days in other species.

YAYYY. Sadly, there are no photographs to document this.

#31, What's in a name

2008-08-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Many people get dizzy at the mention of the scientific name of an organism. However, it is not too confusing once you know the way it's classified. The study of classifying animals is called taxonomy and people who do it are called taxonomists.

Firstly, there are 6 main levels of classification; namely the phylum, class, order, family, genus then species. In a scientific name, we usually only include the latter two which is the genus and species. The genus comes first and should be in capital letters. Scientific names should either be underlined or italicised.

So for example, Homo sapian, is the name scientific name for humans. We come from the genus Homo and have the species name sapians and hence, Homo sapians. Hope this post helped to clarify some confusion ;)

For more information, you can read http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/animal_names/scientific_name.html

#30, Semakau OJT 3

2008-08-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Soooooo, today was the Semakau OJT 3. :-) Had an amazing opportunity with the Octopus group! Ahhhhhh it was a major cause of confusion cos July simply went "Octopus!" (to call for the group's attention), but the other groups thought we'd found an octopus. Haha. We found five octopus as well, pretty amazing.

Thank you Ms Wang/ SY/ Ron for organizing the trip :-)

Flatworm
We saw many of the same kind of flatworm.

Octopus
Can you spot the octopus? It's not easy y? Really proves that octopus are creatures hard to spot because of their soft body's ability to squeeze through crevices but members of the Octopus group managed to spot 5 altogether. :-) Anyway, octopuses are the smartest invertebrae (animals without backbone) around. They have brains, which is a real advantage for animals.

Noble volute laying eggs
We saw about two noble volutes laying eggs that day. This creature has a unique way of hunting; it usually hunts on bivalves. While the bivalves are open, the volute takes the opportunity to seize the bivalves' soft body and slurp it up with the help of its radula (something like the "teeth" of the volute). They can both prey above and below the sand.

Walking through the seagrass lagoon
It was really pitched dark then...

Fanworm
We saw many fanworms that day as well ;) They filter feed as the current comes, they take in microscopic particles from the sea.

Dragonfish sea cucumber
:) Careful with these fragile creatures

Giant Clam
The resident giant clam. In the larval stage after external fertilization, the puny little larval swims in the ocean till it finds a proper substrate to anchor itself unto, and then stays at that spot for the rest of its life, thats why you can always find the clam at the same place.

Group & the Giant Clam

Mushroom Coral
Mushroom corals exist only usually as one polyp, if not multiple polyps but not like the usual corals, which have many many polyps in one "building". They are also capable of detaching themselves once mature to plant themselves on te ocean floor.

Back of Knobbly Seastar
Great care must be taken when handling these creatures; i.e. holding these animals from their central disc and not their arms. As much as possible, these creatures should not be taken out of the water for too long as well. Ater all, they are still are inter-tidal creatures ;)

Front of the same knobbly sea star

Underside of Cushion star
Rarely seen on land because theyre more likely to be found in deeper waters ;) It is also an echinoderm, having a five-point radial symmetry, which is more evident when turned under side.

Front of cushion star

Sponge and dead top shell
:(

The various groups

Polka-dotted Nudibranch
Two of them!!! Anyw, these creatures are haemophodite, which means they have two genders. In the event of mating, both animals would have to lay eggs. :)

Oscellated Sea cucumber
Beautiful!

Rock bund opening
The rock bund that's not yet sealed.

Acorn worm cast
Worm that's hardly seen though more than often, it leaves behind its cast, which is actually its waste material. This is the by-product of the worm which sieves through the sand and later egesting the sand/detritus out.

A great trip all in all ;) Got to see new creatures, learnt many new things and gained new insights to guiding!

Other creatures seen but not mentioned: Synaptid sea cucumber, sandfish sea cucumber, other nudibranches (2 other species), other flatworms seen, the usuals: hard/soft corals, sea algae, sea grass, sand bubbler crab & fiddler crab, a small hermit crab, mangrove horseshoe crab, butterflyfish, wandering cowrie, red swimming crab, ascidian, anemone shrimp and its host anemone, spiral melongela, turban shell

#29, Hairpee day with Munia

2008-07-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

....I can't believe it buttttt I'm just so happy.

Saw a White-headed Munia Lonchura maja today in the school field. It was so... cute. As its name implies, it has a white head, which really stands out prominently from the grass. The stark difference between its brown body and white head is what makes it so unique:)

The cute little bird was just hopping about. :) It's listed as an uncommon bird under the "annotated checklist of the birds of Singapore".

#28, Proud Papa&Mama

2008-07-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Theres a nest by yellow-vented bulbuls where chicks have already hatched... they were constantly calling out for their parents. When I came nearer to the bushes (where the nests are), these parent birds would get slightly worried and start calling loudly.

New lives are born. :)

#27, Pulau Ubin a)

2008-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hihi.

Nuhh ha! On the faithful 19th of June, we visited Pulau Ubin [sleepy-eyed and bushy tailed]. (ha ha pardon the serious tone) All cos it was 3 plus a.m. but it was still quite a nice trip afterall. We got to see both intertidal and terrestrial stuff.

So first up we went to the Sensory trail. It's meant for anyone to go, even those who are physically-impaired. :)

Eggs of the Drill (bottom, those yellow things)
These are the eggs of the drill, which is a snail that is capable of releasing a hole in it's prey's shell and then sucking up the soft bodies of these shells. That's pretty much a smart way of eating aye? We saw quite a few drills around.

Sea cucumber
Purrrrrrple one though I'm not sure of its species.

Hermit Crab
:) Ms Wang found two at the same spot of different sizes. This apparently was the larger one. Interestingly, after mating, the female hermit crab can store sperms for months or lay eggs immediately. There are terrestrial hermit crabs as well but the one you're seeing here is a marine one.

Banded Sea Anemone
I never knew that this was anemone- but Ag was curious enough to ask Ron about it... he said that these were anemones and that some anemones were even smaller! I wonder if these anemoens would grow any larger *hmmmm*

Ball Sea Cucumber
Hope the ID's right! Haha these sea cucumber appear to be so squish-able but when tensed up, they harden a lil.

Shrimpyyyyyy Day

Banded butterfly fish
Can you see the juvenile banded butterfly fish? It was something SY spotted. :) Really really cute. It was busy chewing off the tentacles of the anemone nearby. Their family name, Chaetodontidae, means "hair" and "tooth", which is derived because they have a row of teeth in their mouth. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_fish) I suppose they use it to bite of the tentacles of the anemone.

Oysters
Stuckkkkkk.

Ball Sea Cucumber 2

Crab (am not sure of species)

Dead horseshoe crab ):
): Sob. It has nothing left but it's legs.

Mr. Mudskipper!
The mudskipper is a versatile animal that lives around the mangroves, where the oxygen content is very low. It's adapted so much to land that when immersed in the water, the heartbeat rate drops, as the human heartbeat rate drops when underwater. Interesting ay?

Orange-coloured Sponge

Rock Star
The rock star's a rockstar :)

Sand Star
It was doing the waaaaaave.

#27, Pulau Ubin b)

2008-07-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

A continuation from the prev. post, this is on the terrestrial bit of Pulau Ubin.

Cat cat:)

White-bellied Sea Eagle

Grey Heron

Hibiscus
It changes colour from white to pink from the morning till afternoon...

Flowers of the Rattlebox!

Rattleboxes:)
When dried, these fruits of the rattleboxes can explode to disperse their seeds or if the fruit has not exploded, it actually makes a rattling sound when shaken!

Me dont know this plant name T_T Cos I cant remember

Snakeweed

An interesting plant, ID anyone?

Don't know what this is

Another interesting plant I don't know the name of...

Ba-na-na! :)

Quote

2008-07-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

******

Just a quote on Nature:)

“[E]ach species, however inconspicuous and humble it may seem to us at this moment, is a masterpiece of biology, and well worth saving.”— E.O. Wilson

#26, Cockatoo dance

2008-06-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Cockatoo does the Dance.
Awwwwwww, so cute!

#25, Rich diversity of birds

2008-06-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

EXAMS ARE O-V-E-R. Woohoo. (okay, that was a lil of an overeation) So hi!

Two's a company. Three's a crowd. Haha. There are so many birds around that it's almost a stampede. (just kidding anyw)

***

Recently, I was able to spend time downstairs around my house (actually it was excuse to take a break from studying). So, I kinda spent time "observing birds". I think birds are beautiful animals, especially those with colourful plumage. :)

Observing birds really allows one to relax and look at their behaviour, which is really surprising and amazing at some point or another. It's an exciting journey that I've taken and hope to keep up ;)

The following photographs were taken just downstairs my house, be amazed at the variety of birds. Frankly, I was REALLY amazed because I've lived here for a pretty much a long time (I define long as half my life?) but never really observed the birds. Perhaps they've always been around! It's quite cool cos my house is rather near the coast and near a forest-y area as well, so you get kingfishers and woodpeckers as well :)

The fruiting trees have attracted the birds quite a bit... and in the morning, you can actually hear them chirping away happily. There are birds pecking at the earth, trying to catch worms as well.

Spotted (1) Black-Naped Oriole (2) *Eurasian Tree Sparrow (3) *Pigeons (4) Barbet (5) Common Goldenbacked Woodpecker (6) *Javan Myna (7) Squirrels! (Yes, it's not a bird :P) (8) *Asian Glossy Starling - seen a group of them around (9) Collared Kingfisher (10) *Yellow-vented Bulbul

* very commonly spotted

This barbet's perching on the branch of a barren tree :) It's quite a popular perch I must say, cos Ive seen birds (of diff. species) perching on this tree. Seems like a clear "lookout point" for these birds, cos there are like no obstructive leaves. It's like what you call a bird's eye, panaromic view (pun intended!)

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Black-naped Oriole
Hehe this bird was being very very curious! Haha, it was like checking out its surroundings and looking around.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Awwwww I just love them. :) This fellow here has something in its mouth. I think they're omnivorous... Seen them pecking at the ground and plucking fruits of the trees.

Common Goldenbacked Woodpecker (hope I got the ID right!)
It was interesting to observe how the woodpecker moved up the branch. It appeared to be sliding up and down the branch in a fast manner. Haha but of course, I was quite far away from the bird so... yeah.

Nature never ceases to amaze:)

#24, Think twice

2008-06-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

Spot the cockatoo! (Ha ha, don't know if it's Yellow-crested Cockatoo or Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. The sulphur-crested cockatoo's supposed to have yellow-coloured cheeks!)

Anyhows, this cockatoo here is not native to Singapore but how in the world did it end up here?! Well, it's probably because of pet trade. These attractive-looking birds are captured from the wild, brought overseas and put in a cage. Irresponsible owners then let them free in the wild.

This is both bad for the bird and our ecosystem. The bird, in it's non-native surrounding, might not be able to survive. And our ecosystem might just be inbalanced because of it. So think twice, when you wana buy a pet, esp a non-native one. Would you be able to care for it?

Bird Species

2008-06-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii~ Just would like to put up a collection of birds Ive encountered (& managed to shoot before) Shots were taken by a Canon 350D, 75-300mm lens.

Sorry about the bad photos, I am really still new to bird photography! In alphabetical order...

****

Ashy Minivet

Asian Glossy Starling

Brown-backed Sunbird

Cattle Egret

Collared Kingfisher

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Magpie Robin

Olive-backed Sunbird

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

Purple Heron

Red-whiskered Bulbul (Shot in Chiangmai)

Spotted-necked Dove

Sunbird (not sure which type)

Swan

Tanimbar Cockatoo (non-native)

Yellow Bittern

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Other birds spotted

1. Black-naped orioles

Different types of birds include:-

1. Grebes 2. Herons & Storks 3. Raptors 4. Gamebirds 5. Rails & Crakes, Finfoot 6. Waders & Terns 7. Pigeons & Doves 8. Parrots 9. Cuckoos & relatives 10. Swifts 11. Trogons 12. Kingfishers & bee-eaters 13. Hornbills 14. Barbets 15. Woodpeckers 16. Broadbills 17. Pittas 18. Trillers & Minivets 19. Bulbuls 20. Leafbirds 21. Shrikes 22. Wagtails & Pipits 23. Thrushes & relativese 24. Warblers, Prinias & Tailorbirds 25. Flycatchers & relatives 26. Nuthatches 27. Flowerpeckers 28. Sunbirds & Spiderhunters 29. Sparrows, Munias & White-eyes 30. Starlings, Mynas & Tits 31. Orioles 32. Drongos 33. Crows

#23, Random

2008-06-11T00:02:00.001-07:00

Ha ha. I find it funny how my name's actually the genus of a type of worm (annelids which mean 'little rings') ^^"

Phylum: Annelid
Class: Polychaeta (group of marine worms, which have parapodium which are un-jointed lateral protrusions; more info @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapodia)
Order: Eunicida
Family: Eunicidae
Genus: Eunice

Species of Eunice are distributed worldwide, inhabiting soft and hard marine bottoms. Some of these species play significant roles in coral reef communities and others are commercially important. Eunice is the largest and most poorly defined genus in Eunicidae. It has traditionally been subdivided in taxonomically informal groups based on the colour and dentition of subacicular hooks, and branchial distribution.

Eunice is a genus in the Eunicidae family of worms. They grow to a length of between 0-.5 to 1 meter. Their bodies have multiple segments. They have two eyes and five tentacles. They have well developed sense organs and relatively large brains. Their color is dark purple-brown to red-brown with a white ring at the fourth segment.
From Wikipedia & http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-81752007000200013&lng=es&nrm=iso

More info @ http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/e_aphroditois.html

*_* But I am definitely not a worm. Kekeke.

#22, Semakau Guiding (Jurongville Sec)

2008-06-09T10:47:00.001-07:00

Did my second Semakau guiding OJT last Sat. I guess I really really underperformed but it's alright, I'll try again! The kids from Jurongville secondary are a nice bunch(: Heh heh they were really attentive and all.

The fun-loving bunch of students:)

And guess what what what. We actually saw Dolphins on our Journey there!! So coolios! :) It's really quite rare and requires a sharp eye like SY (who spotted it) to spot it!

The kids were really interested in the oscellated sea cucumber.

Ah it was really a good day cos the hunter seekers really found lots of exotic creatures.

1. Oscellated sea cucumber
2. Nudibranches (3 diff species alt. incl. the polkadotted nudi)
3. Seahorse!
4. Upside-down jellyfish
5. Flatworms (one of it got torn ):)
6. Sea stars (Knobbly & Sand-sifting)
7. Fan worm
8. Pufferfish
9. Anemone
10. Anemone shrimp
11. Clownfishie:)
12. Crabs (Sand bubbler & Hairy crab)
13. Zoanthids
14. Mushroom coral
15. Creeper snail
16. Shells (Turban shell & Top shell, *dead fan shell)

Hmmmmmm what else?... Hope Ive said majority of what we actually saw!

#21, Raffles Lighthouse

2008-06-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Just last Thursday, a group of nature lovers trooped over to Raffles Lighthouse in the wee hours of the morning (cos of the spring tide) all thanks to Ms Wang who organized it. It was so cool alright! Imagine going onto a lone island which has a single lighthouse on it:) We were totally away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Heh of course, I was the newbie around... but the rest mentioned that the corals were very rich in that area.

We began the journey when the sun was still not up! It was darkkkkk. Ah okay, here were a few animals we actually spotted...

Arabian Cowrie Cypraea arabica
The Arabian Cowrie has a very nice pattern. It's relatively large in size as compared to it's cousins, the Cypraea moneta, which was previously used by Africans as a means of coins/dollar notes! Haha but this doesn't warrant you to pick these pretty little shells up for keeps. Speaking of motherly instincts, mother cowrie actually stays with her eggs till they hatch.

Brown egg crab * Thanks July for the ID!
Heh another photograph of this can be found on http://flickr.com/photos/wildsingapore/513504511/. It's one of the threatened animals in Singapore.

All squished up):
Intertidal creatures have to be very very versatile; given their harsh environment: the varying salinity due to the tides receeding, UV rays from the sun...

Carpet Anemone
On this particular carpet anemone, Samson found anemone shrimps (Periclimines sp)... though didn't manage to get a photograph of them ): Ah well, these shrimps share a symbiotic relationship with the anemone where one benefits (shrimp) and the other is not significantly harmed (anemone). This relationship is known as commensalism. Anemones actually have stinging cells called nematocysts but- these anemone shrimps do not get stung still. Why so? It's because these anemone shrimp have a layer of mucus which protects them from the stinging cells.

I don't know why but I like anemones. Haha they have nice lips. :)

Spider Conch
This conch here is really pretty! It has a unique shape, unlike the rest. It is interesting to note that conches actually leap with a retractor muscle. The spider conch feeds usually on algae but also prey on other animals such as bivalves. On this trip we actually saw THREE of them! These conches are not things we see everyday ya'know!

Crab
I really don't know what crab this is.. T_T

Mating octopuses
It was pointed out by Robert:) Actually, for octopuses, mating is really once-in-a-lifetime. By the time the octopus reaches sexual maturity, it naturally finds a mate and after which, the male stretches out a modified arm, called the hectocotylus, towards the female. This specialized arm contains the sperms. Then it is inserted into the female's reproductive organ and stored in the mantle cavity, for external fertilization when the female lays her eggs. The male dies after a few months after this while the female soon also dies after her eggs are hatched.

& so there was the sunrise soon after :) Very beautiful! Seeeeeeeee... Singapore does have a rich biodiversity, don't be fooled.

Feather Stars
These feather stars are very colourful and have manymany arms (called pinnules). They are coated with special sticky substances to help it catch food. The mouth of this sea star is found on the upper side; and it filter feeds.

Limpets
Limpets are actually those small umbrella-like shells found on the rocks of the intertidal area. To prevent itself from being swept away by waves, these lil limpets actually have a broad foot which grabs tightly on the rock. Also, these limpets can move about, unlike their stationary look-alikes, the barnacles. Being able to move about, these limpets have a 'homing device' as they secrete a trail of mucus to help it find its way back to its 'home'.

*Homing scars

Jellyfish

Black Sea Cucumber
This black sea cucumber is among one of the most common ones you can find in the intertidal area. Sea cucumbers get pretty stressed easily actually and are poisonous. When stressed, these cucumbers tense and stifen up. Other times, these cucumbers are actually soft to touch. They actually require water in order to breathe, because of the way their breathing system works; they pump water through their body into tubes called 'respiratory trees'. When frightened, it is possible that the sea cucumber expel it's internal organs (respiratory trees, digestive system and even reproductive organs). They can regenerate these organs but still, do not agitate these animals!

Source: http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/p630.htm

Anemone (nicknamed "Pizza")

Giant Clam

Sea Grapes

#20, Walk to the Southern Ridges

2008-05-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

SOUTHERN RIDGES@http://www.nparks.gov.sg/southernridges.html#hp

The Southern-Ridges Walks encompasses the Marang Trail, Faber Walk, Henderson Wave, Hilltop Walk, Forest Walk, Alexandra Arc, HortPark and the Canopy Walk @ Kent Ridge. There's actually a trail all the way from Marang Trail to West Coast Park. Wooo~ Went there quite recently. The trail's pretty loooooooong and tiring, so getcha trekking shoes, lots of water and food reserves and lots of energy if you intend to go :)

Early and wonderful morning to trek :) Bright and sunny!

Chocolate Pansy (Thanks July for ID!)

Henderson waaaaaave! The architecture there's pretty cool. Lots of curves.

Spidey spidey, not sure of it's ID.

Taken at the Danish Seamen's Church. It's very old and has a large large bell-shaped roof.

View from the Henderson Waaaaaave, pretty nice cos you're super high up!

Philippine Glossy Starling

Noisy roosting flocks where its juvenile looks different from a matured adult. Feeds mainly on fruits and hardly visits the ground.

Source: A Photographic Guide to BIRDS of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (Thanks Daryl!)

Pitcher Plant Nepenthes rafflesiana]

Hilltop walk! It was high elevation once again. Halfway, the thingy was actually shaking! Was it going to topple?! O.o

Kent Ridge! :] Less hot here, but quite a monotonous walk through here.

***

HORTPARK (:

The graduation of colours in the flowers. Hahah reminds me of blending, in genetics!

Wizard of Ozzzzzzzzz characters! Cooooool. The witch is freaky though. Like the Tin Man (:

L-R: Orchid reflected on the pool of water, Purple & White Orchid, Peeenk flower

This poooooor mormon was trapped in the room ): Ah well, it's really a pretty butterfly anyw!

#19, Animal Symposium & Big Cats Talk

2008-05-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

[Note] Will be making references to websites in this post. [/Note]

On a hairpee note, the holidays are here, so I had the time to attend the Animal Symposium. It was good. Big Cats talk was good, too.

This 1st ever Animal Symposium on animal welfare was held at the SMU NgeeAnn Kongsi Auditorium.

It was really very insightful as it gave information about animal abuse in the entertainment circle (e.g. the IR whale shark importment and the Dolphin Lagoon's pink bottlenose dolphin [http://www.acres.org.sg/campaigns_dolphins.html]), the laboratory testing (where there is actually the NACLAR set up by the AVA to monitor the laboratory facilities and assess skill level to prevent lab-tested animals from suffering too much) and the animal farming issues (caged up pigs/ sheltered chickens/ unsculpturous ways of making the animals mate). I was actually quite horrified, read this:

MEAT AND POULTRY The first step to a cruelty-free lifestyle is to give up meat altogether, or at least reduce its consumption. In the name of profit and productivity, modern farms overcrowd animals and shut them up for their entire lives in tiny cages or pens, often in windowless sheds. Many animals are genetically manipulated and stuffed with growth hormones and antibiotics. Chickens often have their beaks chopped off to stop them pecking each other. Piglets are castrated and mutilated, often without anaesthesia. Cows are de-horned, castrated and painfully branded with hot irons. The death rate is high. Many animals succumb to respiratory illness, infection from neglected wounds, bacterial and viral disease, stress, and heart attack. Many go mad from sheer lack of stimulation. Animals in slaughterhouses can often smell the stench, hear the screams and see the slaughter of those before them. Many are still conscious when their throats are slit and they are lowered into scalding tanks with boiling liquid.
Source: http://www.acres.org.sg/issues_meatpoultry.html

Well, of course, abstaining from meat altogether is not the only way to stop animal sufferage. We could really help also by buying free-range products where animals are not subjected to bad living conditions. It was really a heated forum as well.

Didnt manage to stay for the Wildlife portion of the seminar, I really wished I did cos it's my favourite section... but aww well.

***

Later in the day, went for the talk by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. They are actually National Geographic film producers, who are really involved in the work of animal conservation. It's exciting to meet them with their wonderful photographs and footage (like Legadema having to mother' a baboon - I think - baby for a few hours). So what inspired them to do the films? It was their thirst to learn more about Africa while mentioning that the eyes of these big cats really intrigued them and caused them to study these big cats rather than other species.. Twenty-seven years in the field-I really respect them for being able to sustain so long.

Do support their cause in building more forests and destroying hunting permits!

Summary of their film

The intimate story of the relationship between two filmmaker-explorers and a leopard they find when she is 8 days old. With the most sensitive methods they follow her as she matures, first in the company of her mother, then hunting on her own. Their film, Eye of the Leopard, is the story of her coming-of-age. Now,Living with Big Cats tells us of the relationship that develops between the filmmakers and this leopard. Passionately told, it is a story of internal conflict, of testing boundaries, and of the seduction of Dereck and Beverly Joubert - our human characters, by Legadema - the leopard.

Source: http://www.ngcasia.com/watch/program_details.aspx?id_program=6309

Thanks for reading this post anyw (: It was a sudden influx of inspiration after attending the talks. Loved them.

#18, The Tree with Lots of Caterpillars

2008-05-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hiiiiiiiii. It's been a long time since I posted anything.

Yes, finally something proper to post. Well, after a tiring day of school, I scooted off to the Clementi Woods to walk around, and guess what, I found a tree with many many caterpillars, all at 3 different instars. The three groups of caterpillars had varied sizes: small, medium and large. I also found about five abandoned pupas on the trees!

Some information about caterpillars
The caterpillars have huge appetites and can grow to as much as 10 times their original weight. This was really really evident because quite a fair bit of the branches on the trees were stripped of leaves. Apparently, this caterpillar species is herbivorous (which is typical of caterpillars). They have a high rate of ion intake from their guts which allows the caterpillar to efficiently absorb the nutrients from what they've ingested. Also, they usually have satae (the hair-like protrusions) which helps prevent themselves from being eaten as they can irritate the mucuous membranes of the predator.

Super cool! I will be back to check out on them... There are many many birds in the area, and boy, am surprised that there are that many caterpillars surviving. It's unfortunate I don't know the ID. Will see if I get to see the emerging butterfly on my trip back, I might then be able to ID something. If anyone knows, please do tell mee (: Meanwhile, just some photographs.

[EDIT] Thanks to Horace for ID, the butterfly for these caterpillars is the Painted Jezebel (Delias hyparete) [/EDIT]

The medium sized: they allllll were literally congregating on one leaf!

This is the larger-sized caterpillar

Thought this was quite cute. Awww they were all like busy chewing!

Photograph of the pupaaaaa

Another photograph of the pupa

This was the plant the caterpillars were found on...

*******

Tendrils coil around the plant; a form of parasitism.

Interesting trees with brooooownish thingums on it. Couldn't really tell what it was.

Oh and I think http://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/ is a great butterfly blog. Do visit it!

#17, Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail

2008-05-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

Just an update!

Took a short visit to the Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail... boy, though the sun was scorching-hawt, it was a visit worth it ;) There were so many butterflies there (like the grass yellow, oakblue, tiger, dark posy) , almost like at every nook and cranny of the trail. Even saw a macro photographer there. It's unfortunate that I didn't bring my camera though but will make a visit there in the near future :-)

#16, Huuuuuuge Grasshopper

2008-04-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yessssssss, indeed the quality of the photograph is poor but it was extremely exciting to see this grasshopper on the way home. It was around 10-12 cm long eating the leaf (as you can see, 1/4 of the leaf is gone!)! It has a beautiful dirty-green body with spikey structures poking out of its hind legs. It was pretty windy that day so the leaf was swaying and swaying, it had quite a bit of trouble clinging onto the leaf. Ah well, it was nice to see this huge insect, esp that it's in Singapore!

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day, People! :)

Remember the Love our Mother Earth has shown to us (it's beauty!) It's now time for us to reciprocrate... but it's not a one-off thing. We've gotta constantly practise the Three Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle. All it takes is a small step from everyone. The impact is then great(:

Like these weaver ants in building their nests, we all need to
play a part in keeping our planet clean and green(:

Heh sorry for not posting! Been busy with school ): Hopefully, nearing the June holidays, I'll be able to go explore more nature sites :P

#15, Rabbit Rave!

2008-03-31T05:48:00.000-07:00

It was so cool today that a teacher at school brought his 2-month-old rabbit to school! :-) It doesnt have a name, but it was a very 'calm' rabbit, because it simply stayed in my friend's arms, not anxious or anything! Wow! The teacher's a rabbit-enthusiast, he has like 4 rabbits.

Rabbits are herbivorous small mammals. Interestingly, to maximize the amount of nutrients absorbed from their foods, these rabbits reingest their faeces!

#14, Pitcher Plant

2008-03-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

I'm attempting to keep a Pitcher Plant.

The Pitcher Plant's actually a carnivorous plant, which is capable of releasing digestive enzymes to consume insects or even animals (if the pitcher is large enough). Water at the bottom of the pitcher & fine hairs along the inner side of the pitcher, to trap the insects, making it almost impossible for the animal/ insect to escape! How ingenious!

Some species of these plants even share symbiotic relationship with larvae of insects, where the insect eats the animals/ insects which fall into the pitcher, while the pitcher absorbs its excreta.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep the plant alive :P It belongs to the family Nepenthaceae, where the pitchers are grown from the tendrils at the end of the leaves.

[Edit] Apparently the pitchers are starting to sag a little (nooo flaccid cells), I sprayed water, but to no avail. I think I might need to feed some insects...? [/Edit]

Any advice?