Heron Watch 2014

Last Saturday, the husband and I had the opportunity to ride the very low tides of Kranji Reservoir with a PUB officer Mr Osman and Dr Yam Tim Wing of Nparks to do a survey of herons as part of the nationwide survey Heron Watch 2014.


Based on my dim understanding of a presentation, Heronwatch was first done in 2003 by Luan Keng and volunteers where data of herons were collected across the island. Herons are a good indicator of how our environment is doing as they are a species at the top of the food chain. (They are also so big you can spot them easily!) This means if you don't find them or find less of them, either there is nothing to eat, or no home to stay or make babies! In 2013, a decade later, round two was done to compare how things have changed. Herons are mostly found in coastal, mangroves, and freshwater areas or in fields and sometimes even surprisingly near urban areas. Instead of waiting another ten years, Nparks has decided it is important to collect data more frequently, I suppose so that we can better monitor the health of these ecosystems. So Heronwatch 2014 was organised!

We are no birding experts but the husband and I were quite enamoured by the presentation by Luan Keng that we accidentally stumbled upon at Sungei Buloh anniversary celebrations in Dec 2013 and the call for volunteers from Sharon (Nparks) that we decided to sign ourselves up as volunteers! The promise of being able to contribute while having a picnic with family at a venue close to home was enticing! We live really near to Jurong Lake where herons and egrets were known to roost and nest.

Little did we know we would end up having an adventure in the middle of Kranji Reservoir! At one point we were even caught in approaching thunderstorm with strong wind and the boat was struggling to run away fast enough to keep us dry while we get distracted by raptors fishing and being chased by smaller birds from their nest!


photo by Dr Yam

All this aside, we were fortunate for the amazing photography of Dr Yam which helped us zoom in really close to identify the shots of blur that flew past us, Mr Osman who navigated us expertly around and enthusiastically pointed out birds to us, the NSS birds of singapore iphone app which helped us when we were scratching our heads and Andy D who recommended us where to buy a binoculars prior to Heronwatch so we didn't end up looking at tiny dots in the sky with our naked eyes!


Little Egret - Photo by Dr Yam

The spousal unit and I are now amateur experts of recognising grey herons from purple herons and aficionados of the grace if the little egret and its cute yellow toes. We were also amazed at the close encounters with black-crowned night herons and its juveniles in a truly WILD river safari experience. fortunately no crocodiles decided to be friendly during our boat ride but I am afraid it is probably due to the noise from the boat and its excitable passengers that had scared away the birds and other wildlife! I only lament that we did not see any bitterns at all despite the abundance of reeds but we saw many shadows under the trees and in the reeds but couldn't identify what they were! I also realise I am an expert of identifying rocks and sign posts as herons!


Spot the ominous neon pink eggs of the invasive apple snail

The sad part is that I spotted the ominous neon pink eggs of the invasive apple snails along the banks of the Kranji Reservoir. According to Ivan Kwan, Kranji is still one of the last places you can find our native apple snails but the presence of the alien invaders means they may soon be out-competed. Fingers crossed, hopefully not. I read that the invasive golden apple snails are reared in the aquarium trade, as well as for food as they are edible. Somehow they managed to escape into our natural habitats and are now more common than our native fellas.


Black-crowned night heron - Photo by Dr Yam

Well it is not all bad news because Xinli from Nparks tells us that they had not spotted black crowned night herons at Kranji Reservoir previously! And the fact we saw juvenile means they may be nesting! Exciting news for me. I am glad our little contribution through citizen science may help the real scientist to better understand how well our ecosystems are doing.

Most of all, I am glad to have had the privilege of enjoying the beauty of Kranji from the waters. The breathtaking view has inspired me to yearn for a repeat experience! Kayaking in Kranji Reservoir anyone? :)

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Butterfly Behaviour

Last Saturday, I took this urban monkey back to the secondary forest of Ubin for the annual jungle fowl survey and had an unexpected lesson in butterfly behaviour!

While walking pass the butterfly hill, we came across some Common Birdwing butterflies flitting around a fence. As we approach, it became apparent to us that there was a mating pair while a second male eagerly flits around trying to find an opportunity to take over.


What was more of a shocking revelation to us butt watching noobs is the fact that the female butterfly appears to have just emerged from her chrysalis! whoah we all got into a frenzy exclaiming if we were witnessing non consensual statutory rape in action. The female was still extending her wings and the chrysalis was still at her feet and already 2 suitors in line!



After all that excitement, the butterfly experts tells us that it is all very common behaviour in the butterfly world. Guess there's no women's charter for butterflies. Good thing is I now learnt to identify the Common Birdwing through the Butterfly Circle checklist and won't be forgetting that name anytime soon!

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Happy Earth Day 2012!

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Workshop on Cruel "Animal Liberation"

Birds caught for mercy release outside a temple in Bangkok. Many of the released birds are then caught again for the next round of release. Photo taken in 2006.

After the last workshop on Wiping out the trade in Wildlife with Louis of ACRES, we now continue on the flip side of the coin by examining the issue of releasing invasive and exotic animals into our ecosystems. We are most grateful to have Ms Karen Teo from NParks to join us at our upcoming workshop to talk about the subject.


Many of the animals released into the wild also do not survive long. Find out why at the workshop.

In 2006, I wrote about NPark's Operation No Release which tries to reach out to those practising "mercy release" or "animal liberation". However, over the years, we've begun to hear more about animal release into our nature areas throughout the year, and not just on specific religious holidays such as Vesak Day alone. Mercy release has been said not to be so merciful in reality. Find out more about this issue and how it affects the animals and our natural habitats in Singapore. For the 40th anniversary of Earth Day or perhaps even for Vesak Day, find out how you can really help the animals!

Please do join us if you would like to find out more about what we as nature volunteers can do on this issue!

Operation No Release
Date: 30 Apr 2010, Friday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Civil Service College
31 North Buona Vista Road Singapore 275983
Register now at: http://tr.im/register2010

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
This workshop focuses on the impact of exotic and invasive animals on our natural ecosystems in Singapore. Topics covered include:
(1) What is animal release? mercy release versus pet abandonment
(2) What are the impacts of animal release?
(3) How can you help?

This workshop is likely to be useful for anyone interested to do more about the release of animals into our natural habitats. It would be especially useful for anyone interested to volunteer for or would like to find out more about NPark's efforts on tackling this issue. The workshop requires active participation and includes role playing activities and is not to be mistaken for a public talk.

SPEAKER
Karen Teo, NParks
Karen Teo is a Senior Outreach Officer of the Central Nature Reserve Branch (National Parks Board). An ex-teacher by training, Karen is passionate about conserving Singapore's natural heritage. She did her Master thesis on Bukit Timah Nature Reserve at the Australian National University. Currently, she develops, facilitates and organises outreach and educational activities/programmes at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Catchment Nature Reserve. In addition, she gives talks on nature conservation issues of Singapore to schools, organisations and the universities and conducts training workshops for teachers on fieldwork activities in the nature reserves and nature parks.

For more details, visit
http://leafmonkeyworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/04/operation-no-release.html

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Impacts of Marine Aquaculture & Possible Solutions

It has hit the news of late that algal bloom over the Straits of Johor have deeply impacted the fish farms clustered in the straits off Pasir Ris, Changi and Pulau Ubin. A reporter from TODAY contacted me yesterday asking for comments on the impacts of fish farms and some possible solutions to allay these possible environmental impacts. This was probably after reading my blog post on Pulau Ubin Stories on Red Tide affecting Pulau Ubin. Interestingly, in September 2009, I also commented about the need to manage our aquaculture farms carefully in a Straits Times article about vanishing Kelongs in Singapore.

Knowing the limitations of a news article, I decided to share my long reply on this blog with all my readers as well. I must confess that I am no expert in aquaculture or marine systems, but here are my two cents worth based on some research I did doing my blog post as well as projects done on aquaculture in university.

Fish farms, if done sustainably, are important for supplementing our seafood supply and prevent overfishing. However, fish farms if not managed well, could result in major environmental pollution and further harm the wild population of fish in our seas. The sea is not an enclosed farm with concrete walls and any food, antibiotics fed to the fish, as well as the fish waste would eventually dispersed into the sea.

Also the household waste and sewage of the farm also needs to be managed properly. In a deep sea system with good water circulation, perhaps the concentration of nutrients and chemicals would be naturally diluted by the ocean currents. However, in the straits of johor, there is very poor circulation of water due to the causeway blocking circulations. Furthermore, locating large number of fish farms in clusters with poor circulation is potentially problematic as the sea is unable to naturally dilute the nutrients.

When nutrient level is very high, massive algal bloom will occur which may deplete oxygen supply in the waters. This not only kills the fish in the farms but all wild fish population. If the species of algae blooming contains toxin, then when humans consume the seafood affected by this algal bloom, they too will become sick.

For fish farms located near river mouths like those at Changi and Pasir Ris, they are affected by the monsoon flood discharges from both Singapore and Malaysia. The freshwater will float above the salt water and prevent oxygen from circulating and resulting in fish death as well. But these flood discharges may also carry with them more nutrients from agriculture or sewage discharges from the land into the sea. Combined with existing nutrients from fish farm, these could easily exacerbate the problem.

For solutions, we can do several things:

1) Understand well the geographical environment and ecological system of our waters before we locate our fish farms. For example, the fish farms off Semakau were not affected by the mass death because they are not near the coast or river mouths,and they have good circulation. Make sure that fish farms are not located too near existing coral reefs as well to minimise impact to our wild fish population. Changi, Ubin and Pasir Ris are all very near existing reefs such as Chek Jawa, Changi and Pasir Ris. Monsoon flood discharges will happen every year so perhaps locating far from river mouths and coastal areas will be helpful.

2) Do not cluster too many fish farms together in close vicinity to one another. This reduces the environment's natural ability to dilute pollutants and nutrients in the water. Overcrowding is a known problem in aquaculture. Both overcrowding of fish in each cell of a farm, and in this case, overcrowding of farms in one area with poor water circulation. [On hindsight: It's important to have scientific studies done on the treshold and carrying capacity of our waters and the number of fish farms it can support without resulting in future calamities]

3) Strong regulation and monitoring of fish farm practices are most critical. The amount of antibiotics and fish feed given, how the farms deal with fish waste, as well as, the sewage and household waste from the farm should be strongly regulated and monitored. Farmers should also be educated on proper practices. Good practitioners should be rewarded and best practises shared.

4) Consumers can also play a part in encouraging good practises if fish farms can be awarded sustainability labels for good practises by the government. These sustainable fish farms should be rewarded by consumers by buying only these sustainably-reared fish, identified by these labels. Most of the time, the problem in Singapore lies with ambivalent conusmers who do not question where their fish comes from. Also, there is a lack of information in our markets and supermarkets where there are no labels indicating origin of fish or how they are reared, especially those from local fish farms.

Please feel free to share your ideas and comments. Have you spot any factual errors? Please let me know!

Related Reads:
Marine Aquaculture, David Suzuki Foundation

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Nature in the Heartlands: Toa Payoh Town Park

Located beside the Pan Island Expressway and the Toa Payoh Swimming Pool, the Toa Payoh Town Park is one of the oldest neighborhood parks in Singapore developed in the 70s with Singapore's first satellite town. Despite being located beside the highway, the green belt acts as a buffer to the noise. It offers a relaxing sanctuary from the bustle of the mall that is just across the road. New plantings could be sighted amongst the old angsana trees heavy with staghorn ferns. These grand dames have probably seen the park change over the last 40 years.

Neighborhood parks like Toa Payoh Park are like a green oasis in the concrete landscapes that we are familiar with in our housing estates these days. One minute I could be walking past crowds at the HDB Hub and the next minute I feel like I have entered a secret garden, lined with trees that form a wall separating the garden and the madding crowd. It almost feels like they don't design parks the way they used to. New generation parks designed today seems to adopt an open concept which I suppose is inclusive but the concept of an enclosed lush green hideaway in the middle of the madding crowd appeals to me. Another of such a green oasis is the Istana Park located in the middle of orchard road.


View Toa Payoh Town Garden in a larger map

What more, wildlife appears to be teeming at the park as well! In fact, we were pleasantly greeted by these information boards about the dragonfly species which you can find at the park. And just as we were reading the signboard, a damselfly flew and settled on the blade of grass right in front of us. An excited monkey exclaimed immediately, "quick! quick! see which dragonfly is it!" but confronted with a choice of 6 different species on the board, we concluded that it must be "the red one", for obvious reasons.

For those who are unsure about the difference between dragonflies and damselflies, the next informative signboard down the path answered just that question! The table below from the about.com insect page gives you some clue.

Characteristic	Dragonfly	Damselfly
Eyes	most have eyes that touch, or nearly touch, at the top of the head	eyes are clearly separated, usually appearing to each side of the head
Body	usually stocky	usually long and slender
Wing Shape	dissimilar wing pairs, with hind wings broader at the base	all wings similar in shape
Position at Rest	wings held open, horizontally or downwards	wings held closed, usually over abdomen
Discal Cell	divided into triangles	undivided, quadrilateral
Male Appendages	pair of superior anal appendages, single inferior appendage	two pairs of anal appendages
Female Appendages	most have vestigial ovipositors	functional ovipositors
Larvae	breathe through rectal tracheal gills; stocky bodies	breathe through caudal gills; slender bodies

If you noticed the google map satellite image of the park, a series of freshwater habitats make up part of the park. The information board also pointed out how damselflies and dragonflies are important keystone species as they prefer clean clear unpolluted waters. In fact, in environmental assessment studies, the presence of eggs laid by mayflies, a relative of dragonflies and damselflies, are used as indicators of lake ecosystem health in the US. Perhaps likewise, dragonflies and damselflies play similar roles in our freshwater habitats. In Singapore, there are now about 117 species of dragonflies and damselflies, including some new records from last year. According to the signboard, a few species have gone extinct due to habitat loss.

If you're an enthusiast of our fragile winged friends, here's a guide from the Butterfly Circle blog which tells you more about butterfly photography at the Toa Payoh Town Park. It even includes a map of the place. In 2009, NParks held a workshop on creating dragonfly friendly habitats at the Toa Payoh Town Park! Personally I only happen to go there because dinner is in the middle of the park!

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Doing something "special" for Earth Day

This morning, a certain duck asked me, "what are you doing for Earth Day?"

To be honest, I hadn't planned on doing anything "special" since I honestly feel that every day should be Earth Day. "Special" actions shouldn't be reserved for just one day in a year.

However, if you are too busy on the other 364 days of the year and are looking for something really meaningful to do on Earth Day, then here's the monkey's recommendation for you this Earth Day!

International Year of the Reef 2008 Singapore is seeking public feedback for its Draft Blue Plan. This blue plan is for Singapore by Singapore. They are now calling upon the public to contribute their comments and feedback - an opportunity for all of us to make the blue plan "our own". At the end of May 2009, the final compiled version of the blue plan will then be submitted as a proposal to the Singapore government. So do your part for the Earth today, start by caring for the environment in our very own "backyard". Download the draft Blue Plan and send in your feedback today! Read on to hear what the IYOR08Singapore Blue Plan team has to say.


"The Draft Blue Plan is a proposal to the Government and people of Singapore from the members and organizations that form “International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008 Singapore” – interested members of civil society concerned about the conservation and management of Singapore’s coral reef heritage. Contributions and advice from the leading marine biologists in Singapore have been incorporated. It was released on 23 April 2009. Members of the Public can download a copy of the Draft Blue Plan here.

Comments and suggestions from members of public are invited. You may email us at blueplan.singapore@gmail.com before the closing date, 14 May 2009. The Blue Plan will presented to the Government with the collated and edited comments in late May 2009.

Please note that blueplan.singapore@gmail.com is designed to receive emails only. While we will give every opinion/comment due consideration, due to human resource constraints, we are unable to respond to queries and may not be able to include every comment into the final Blue Plan due to editorial considerations. Please contact the Marine Conservation Organisations Listed in Annexes B & C of the Draft Blue Plan if you are keen to find out more about the wide range of activites and programmes that are being organised. We apologize for this inconvenience."

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Desperate for Nature

It seems that a neighbor of mine is so desperate for nature that they are attempting to grow cow grass on the concrete stairs landing. I hope they know that soil is needed to retain water which will then be absorbed by the plant roots. But then again, a lot of the grass patches in Singapore are grown on equally thin layer of soil. A quick probe by the soil auger will hit concrete without much effort. I'll be really curious to see how long this grass patch survive in its concrete home.

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I signed the No Whaleshark petition, have you?

Today I signed a "no whaleshark in Singapore" petition that is supported by many major organizations locally and internationally such as PETA, Sea Shepherds, ACRES, Cicada Tree Eco-Place and the Green Volunteers.

The good thing about this petition is that once I put my name down to the form, it will email the pre-written letter (which you can also edit to customize) to the 1) Minister of National Development, 2) the Singapore Tourism Board and 3) Resorts World at Sentosa.

Shortly after I click sign, I got an automated reply from Resorts World with the following:

Corporate Social Responsibility "csr@rwsentosa.com" to "leafmonkey@gmail.com" 5:23pm

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

We will be compiling your comments and addressing the points raised. Do visit our website (www.rwsentosa.com) for updates.

We look forward to welcoming you at the Marine Life Park.

The Marine Life Park Team

All I can say is, I will not be visiting the Marine Life Park.

And that is precisely why I signed the petition isn't it? How could they be asking me to visit the marine life park? I will not use my consumer dollars to support the captivity of large marine mammals. It's interesting that the whaleshark petition website quotes Jacques Cousteau. When I was in US, I was the news intern for Jacques' son, Jean Michael Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society who actually led the campaign to free the star of Free Willy, Keiko. Since then, I have never visited a single "marine life park" or "sea world".


Whale flute sighted in the wild. Photo taken in 2005.

Definitely not after I had the pleasure of going on a whale kayaking trip and seeing these large animals free in the wild. A whale shark is not a whale but there is no difference. Besides, first a whale shark, next a whale? No animal of that size should be kept in a tank. No fish tank would ever be big enough to replace the ocean. This is not a gold fish we can flush down the toilet bowl after it dies. Are we willing to take responsibility for that?

Have you signed the petition yet?

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Horseshoe Crab Survey needs your help!

The NSS Horseshoe Crab survey team is hoping to engage the help of nature guides and volunteers who visits our shores and mangroves regularly. Have you seen horseshoe crabs on our shores, beaches and mangroves? If yes, please help the NSS HSC team by filling in their survey questionaire.

You can either print out the questionnaire and post to: Nature Society (Singapore), 510 Geylang Road #02-05 The Sunflower, S 389466, Attention: HSC P&D Survey, or save the questionnaire as a word document and e-mail the completed questionnaire to: hsu_chia_chi@hotmail.com by Wed. 18 March.

"In conjunction with Nature Society (Singapore) Horseshoe Crab Population & Distribution Survey today, 8 March, besides our teams searching the shores and surveying professional and recreational fisherman, we would like to survey our local network of Guides/Nature lovers regarding the 2 types of Horseshoe Crabs found on our shores.

Attached is a Questionnaire and photos of the 2 types of Horseshoe Crabs [above].

We would be very greatful for your help in spending a few minutes of your time to answer a few questions.

Our thanks to all respondents, in advance, for the help."

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Who cut off my crown?

One could not help but wonder the intention behind the almost complete trim. Short of actually cutting down the tree, the arborist has done a good job of eliminating all the plant's photosynthesis capacity. Is this death?

Interestingly, the many resident epiphytes have been left intact. I wonder if this reveal a certain understanding of how important these plants are, not just in terms of providing shade for humans but also home for other plants and animals.

Still it's a sad and curious sight to see these extreme trimmings. I am often reminded by Angie of NSS who laments these extreme "haircuts" by the arborists employed in Singapore. Was there an infestation in this tree? Is it half dead? Was it about to fall and hurt someone?

These big trees can sometime also serve as homes for predatory raptors. For one, there is a couple of owls that lives in the area that have been observed to stand watch on these big raintrees on campus. I wonder where will they go now if all the raintrees are decapitated.

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Help needed for Horseshoe Crab Population & Distribution Survey

The Nature Society (Singapore) Horseshoe Crab Rescue team is looking for help for a Population & Distribution Survey on 8 March 2009 from 2 pm to 6.30 pm. If interested, please contact Dr Hsu Chia Chi.

This island-wide survey aims to establish an estimate of the population and distribution of the two species of Horseshoe Crabs (HSCs) found in Singapore, namely the Mangrove Horseshoe Crab (Carcinscorpius rotundicauda) and Coastal Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus gigas).

Sectors & Teams
Singapore will be divided into four sectors namely: 1. North-West, 2. North-East, 3. South-East and 4. South-West. Each sector will have a Sector Leader. Survey areas within each sector have been identified and each will have an Area Leader. Depending on the size of the survey area, one or more teams might be assigned. Each survey team comprises four to six volunteers led by a Qualified HSC R&Rer (Team Leader), with an assigned recorder while participants become searchers-cum-measurers.

Survey Areas
The areas we will like to conduct HSC P&D Survey are:

1. Mandai mudflats
2. Lim Chu Kang Jetty- mudflat east of jetty.
3. Sarimbun- beach/mudflat near MOE Jln. Bahtera Adventure Centre.
4. Sembawang Park
5. Lower Seletar Reservoir Dam- mudflat eastern side of estuary.
6. Pasir Ris Park- mudflat east of S. Tampines.
7. Changi Point Ferry terminal- estuary.
8. S. Pandan- estuary beyond dam.

Please state your preference, if any, in your response.

Survey Methods & Search Techniques
Two methods will be employed 1) Transect search to depletion in areas where HSC density is expected to be high and/or 2) Exploratory search in all possible HSC habitats. Search technique is based on HSC sighting and the gentle probing (NOT ploughing) of substrate with gardening forks as well as the careful digging up of buried HSC. Area/Team Leaders will conduct on-site briefing on details such as the exact protocol, instructions and data recording.

Survey of Fishermen
In addition, there will be a survey-cum-conservation education of fishermen by younger members/primary school students. Using a survey-cum-conservation education questionnaire as well as photos of both HSC species, free and entrapped, they will approach local and recreational fishermen at boat mooring sites and popular fishing areas around Singapore.

Attire & Equipment
Recommended: Comfortable outdoor clothes (short or long sleeved tops; shorts or trousers), hat, sun block, old sports shoes/boots/booties that can get wet (NO exposed footwear such as sandals, crocs or slippers), drinking water, plastic bag (for collecting litter from survey sites), small gardening fork/rake (to probe for buried HSC) and 12-inch ruler.

Optional: Insect repellent, gloves or plastic bread wrappers to protect your hands, poncho (survey will be adjourned if there is bad weather), a change of clothes and extra foot wear (washing facilities may not be available at all sites), gardening cutters (to rescue Horseshoe Crabs entrapped in nets), binoculars, camera, note book and pen.

Directions
Meet at 2 pm at your assigned meeting point. You may have to walk some distance to your actual survey area. The search proper will be from 4 pm to 6 pm, with the lowest tide at 5 pm.

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Welcoming 2009 at Sisters Island

There is no better way to welcome in the new year than to spend it with friends, in the middle of the dark, with water up to your knees, enjoying the sea breeze, playing "finding nemo" and listening to pulsating beats from the nearby resort island. And this you can only get by spending new years eve on sisters island with a group of dedicated beachfleas. Personally it was from missing the opportunity to spend the last few new years eve in Singapore that I was really looking forward to performing the traditional new years eve toast on the shores with friends! This year, we also made a new friend who joined us for the first time at Sisters.

I also saw many animal friends that I have not seen in the flesh before!
My favourite has got to be this land hermit crab. This is the first time I saw them for myself. The last time I tried to find them was at the NHC sentosa recce in November 08 but unfortunately I left too early and didn't see the one hairen found amongst the rubbish on the backshore. This time at sisters, when we ended our trip as the tide came in, we encountered an army of them on land, climbing on coconut trees and checking out the benches that litter the island. They were quite cute and I even found one that refused to come out.


Also a first for me is the ghost crab, or more accurately, the horn-eyed ghost crab. (check out the horny eyes!) I always thought that ghost crabs were very small but I was pleasantly surprised to find them almost the size of my feet! Here's a photo of the ghost crab with a coconut husk and bits of trash for scale! But I must admit, my feet is not very big!



Perhaps it's the time of the year but out on the shores, very many things are seasonal. For one, it seems to be sargassum season as half the lagoon was covered with them. Many of the corals, anemones and what not were covered with these large masses of floating macro-algae. Macro-algae just means really large seaweed. Even in the dark, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the obstacles ahead.


You can see the huge boulder corals covered beneath sargassum and those corals are by no means small! Trapped amongst the cover of sargassum were also drift nets. It was bad enough to be tangled up with the sargassum but throw in drift nets and it's a deathtrap formula for many of the marine animals.



This is a real hazard to our marine life, especially since Sisters Island is one of the only areas designated as a potential marine protected area in the last Singapore Green Plan. The rest of the other areas were dropped in this second revision.

Sisters Island is really special to me as in my first visit in January 2007, I saw my first sea krait, a venomous but generally docile snake. The juvenile pictured below even swam over to Jun's leg and rested there for a while, probably thinking it was a rock. But of course we made sure to pretend to be a rock! There's no such thing as being too cautious after all :) This banded sea krait actually lives in the sea but lays its eggs on land! This means that not only must its marine home be healthy but it also requires a good terrestrial habitat to reproduce. In this visit again, I not only saw 1 but 2 banded sea kraits!



This first sighting is a juvenile but the second I saw further out, near the sea wall, was an adult. Unfortunately it was well disguised by the sargassum and I didn't get a good photo of it.

The sargassum also resulted in a little hide and seek with a pair of nemos (false clown fish) and their "anemone that was stuck to a piece of rock". But fortunately, Andy, who spotted the clown fish took a video of them! Meanwhile, Jun and I who had liken the search to an imaginary computer game we aptly named "finding nemo", had to give up our search amongst the sargassum as we could just imagine the words "game over, you failed, try again?" appearing on our imaginary computer game screen. Even Andy couldn't relocate the elusive but charismatic creatures hiding amongst the algal bloom a second time!

As my torchlight wasn't working well I had to content myself with spotting any little creature that swims past me, including this little sotong that tried to sneak pass me inconspicuously.



I am also happy that my first find of the day was a flatworm that met me when the day light was still ample.



The crabs and cnidarians were also aplenty at every step of the way. Ria also saw plenty of amazing creatures that I wasn't able to spot out on the shore.




But at the end of the day, nothing beats spending new years eve with friends on the shores we love.




Here's wishing a wonderful 2009 for our shores! May it prosper in health and love!

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Singapore Waters

Nature Society (Singapore) Marine Conservation Group recently produced a 11minute slideshow video on youtube that includes historical photos as well as current images of our shores and its marine life. Quite an enlightening overview from past to present. And as stated in the video, all photographs were shot in Singapore so if you haven't got a chance to visit our many offshore islands yet, this is a good opportunity. There are also colorful images of flora and fauna from our corals, mangroves and shores! Of course, we definitely can't travel back in time so even for monkeys like me, it was refreshing and enlightening. The video is based on the 2003 NSS publications of the same title, "Singapore Waters: Unveiling our seas". I'd say it's definitely worth the 10 minutes 39 seconds of your time.

We could definitely do with more of these videos of our local marine (and terrestrial) life! Last year, WildFilms also produced a 10 minute video sampler. We need more, more, more!

Related Reads:
"Singapore Waters now on YouTube", Wild Shores Blog, 28 Nov 08

Read full article here

Upcoming Workshops by The Leafmonkey Workshop

The Leafmonkey Workshop (TLW), my latest "job" and project is essentially an effort at filling in the gap in the local nature community by providing "capacity building" for nature guides and volunteers. As such, we have organized an series of upcoming monthly workshops that hope to provide further content training as well as how to effectively share these information with ordinary people. All interested are welcome to join us! Remember, pre-registration is a must :) Read Workshops FAQ

7 Nov 2008 . 7pm - 9.30pm
The "Star-Studded" Echinoderm Workshop

5 Dec 2008 . 7pm - 9.30pm
The Easy (Not Hard) Cnidarians Workshop

Best of all, remember to join our Facebook Page as a fan to receive updates on upcoming workshops and events!

Read full article here

Starry Starry National Day

I saw stars all weekend. Knobbly sea stars that is!


Blythe adopted a star and named it Star! Photo by Budak

For IYOR 2008 Singapore's launch at the Botany Center this friday and saturday, I was coordinating the booth for Be a Star: Adopt a Star. 100 stars from Cyrene Reef were up for adoption! No, you don't get to bring the star home but the star trackers will keep you updated every time they spot your star on Cyrene Reef! In fact, they will even email you the updates on your star and there will be individual blog posts up on their site - one for each named star! There's a patrick (as in spongebob's friend), dutchie, little strange and lots more! 25 in total were adopted and named :) The money goes to funding the Reef Celebration event as well the as the publishing of a Blue Plan by the International Year of the Reef committee. The money does not go to NHC or Star Trackers or me(!) but to the IYOR and Marine Rountable. We were lucky to collect a total of $1267 in donations for these stars.


Sijie [right] of Star Trackers with a young adopter, Nurul, naming her star! Photo by Chee Kong. Thanks for all your hard work Sijie and Chee Kong!

Really special thanks to the star trackers for doing so much for the event as well as for the studies of the stars! Although the money donated does not go to the star tracker but they pledge to do all the hard work to ensure that all adopters continue to have a relationship with their adopted star. It is such a great program. They should most definitely consider making this a permanent part of their program.


Hantu Bloggers adopted Bibi! Photo by Budak

Did you know that each of these knobblies are actually unique? You can tell them apart by the configuration of their chocolate chips (the knobs on their surface)! It's kind of like our fingerprints and the markings on whale sharks and tail flutes for whales. It's all really cool!

The irony about having a seastar as a best friend for a sponge is that, sea stars eat sponges! *grin* These are just some trivia I learnt while having to "sell" these sea stars. I didn't know anything before but after explaining for 2 days how baby sea stars come into being and all other sea star trivia, I now know that there is no such thing as a starfish! A starfish is not a fish. It's a star! Thus we call them sea stars.


Staff from Surbana (the development company!) adopted a star too! Photo by Budak

It was also very exciting that I got my niece and nephew to visit me at the IYOR event! It was the first time they got to see me at work. They also love the nudibranch and coloring all kinds of rainbow colors on the nudis. Of course my niece's strong resemblance to her aunt also caused certain commotion. It was good to share one's work with family.

If you are interested in adopting a sea star as well, we are considering offering the possibility of adoption even after this event. Originally it was for this event only but because of requests from public, we may consider extending it. Please leave a comment if you would consider adopting and support the idea of us offering adoption online. If you want to know more about the adoption, where the money goes to and what you receive, read the full article.



To explain a little more about what the adoption is about, I'm reproducing the little "speech" I gave during the launch to introduce the program. After hearing the "speech", we got a queue at the booth to adopt! The next 15 minutes, we got 8 stars adopted! It was amazing. I must have said something right... so here goes!

"One of the special activities at IYOR 2008 Singapore’s launch is the “Be a star: adopt a Star” program. 100 unique stars living on Singapore’s Cyrene Reef off our southern shores are up for adoption. Each knobbly sea star is a uniquely Singapore star. Every individual has a unique number and arrangement of knobs on it which works like our finger print. While you may not be able to bring these sea stars home, you could be helping to conserve its home through supporting the marine conservation efforts here at our home.

The Knobbly Sea Star is listed as a locally endangered animal in Singapore’s Red Data Book as many of its habitats here are rapidly disappearing. Cyrene Reef is one of the last remaining marine habitats for the Knobbly Sea Star. This habitat may be the only sustainable population of knobbly sea stars left in Singapore today.

We hope that through adopting and naming these Knobbly sea stars, more Singaporeans will come to care for our shores. Hopefully these sea stars will no longer be mere statistics in our books. This is also an excellent opportunity for Singaporeans like you and me to share our hopes and wishes for these stars as well as Singapore’s reefs.

Thus to help us kick off this activity as well as to launch International Year of the Reef 2008, we would like to invite Professor Tommy KohChou Loke Ming, up on stage again, to name the first star for Singapore. Professor KohChou please."

Unfortunately Prof Tommy Koh couldn't make it. But it's ok, one prof for another prof!

Cyrene Star Adopters also receive a Star Kit containing:
- A limited video CD by ASEAN waters (while stocks last)
- A NatureWatch magazine featuring IYOR (while stocks last)
- An eco-friendly bag (while stocks last)
- A Reef Celebration badge (while stock last)
- A Reef Celebration sticker
- A Southern Shores guidesheet
- A Singapore Shores information sheet
- An electronic (paper free!) adoption pack which includes
(1) an adoption certificate with biodata of your adopted star,
(2) a photo of you and the star you named as well as,
(3) information on Cyrene Reef and Knobbly Sea Stars (Protoreaster nodosus) sent to your designated email. Whenever the star is spotted in the wild again, updates will also be emailed to them as well as updated on the Star Trackers blog.

Read full article here

Sharing session with science teachers

Living together with Nature

view presentation (tags: biomimicry food environment nature)

About a month or so ago, a very nice rep from the publishers Marshall Cavendish contacted the leafmonkey via this blog. They asked if I would talk to a group of science teachers about how science is applicable in our daily lives. The publisher gave me a list of science textbook content that I may be able to apply to my presentation since my talk is suppose to correspond and complement the syllabus. The talk's objective is to help science teachers, give them ideas on how to make class more interesting. I think. The talk before mine is by a forensic pathologist! How cool. I've been overdosing myself on CSI in Cameron since one of the only channels we get is AXN.

Anywho, I got ideas from various friends (mainly Ria, thanks! the whole first section is courtesy of Ria's creative juices) and finally decided to try to do everything - as greedy as I usually am.

I organized my talk in 3 parts - learning about nature (using interesting analogies from daily lives), learning from nature (how we can find nature in daily life - ripped from the talk I give the biomimicry class) and finally, living together with nature. The last part is so huge but I've decided to talk about how our daily life affects the environment and specifically, a debut of my freshly experienced research data. Seeing as how I just arrived back from the field highlands less than 12 hours ago, this is really fresh off the oven.

Right after finishing my slides a few minutes ago, I suddenly got gripped with fear. After all, these are science teachers that I will be speaking with. What more, there will be ONE HUNDRED (100) of them! *gulp* I will be talking about biological functions when I've never ever taken biology (except for a general biology module) and last time I studied science was at 16! I will be sure to disclaim in the beginning that what I speak is from field experience, from guiding... and of course, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. We're all about sharing and exchanging right?

Having said that, do share and comment on my slides. Let me know what you think and if you can think of more interesting analogies, do share. If you're wondering at the lack of text from the 3rd section of my talk, it's because no time to really flesh it out. I've included it in the notes but I doubt slideshare allows people to access that. Sorry, download not available. Apologies and thanks to the people (and animal friends) whose photos I rippedused.

And yes, I recycled slide template. ack. Meanwhile, I shall try to make an attempt to take photos and blog my experience after the talk. Hopefully I'm not too smashed by the end of the day from lack of sleep!

Read full article here

Next time you eat Sharks Fin, think of Sherman

Courtesy of the Sherman's Lagoon comics strip, thanks to Otterman for the alert!

If you do a search for dried sharks fin on alibaba.com you will find tons of listing from peru, mexico, united kingdom, sri lanka and even, yes, Singapore.

There is even an ongoing petition to alibaba.com to stop the distribution of sharks fin.

Related news:

• Alibaba.com and Yahoo! Back Shark Fin Traders, Celsias, 28 Oct 2007
• A Shark Conservation Message from the Cartoonist, Jim Toomey, Creator of Sherman's Lagoon, 2008
• Sherman does NOT make for good Shark Fin Soup!! D:<, HeatHer LeacH, 22 Apr 2008
• Sharkfin Scoop, 24 Mar 08
• Sharks: Going, Going…..Soon to be Gone, ViceZilla, 18 Feb 08
• Do you know this man? He profits from Shark Finning on a global level, ViceZilla, 29 Jun 07
• Yahoo Buying 10% of Alibaba IPO, Expanding its Role in China, Search Engine Journal, 9 Oct 07
• Of Yahoo and shark finning, Global by Design, 20 Nov 07
• Sharks Circle China's Alibaba.com, BusinessWeek, 20 Jul 07
• Alibaba and Yahoo, StopSharkFinning.Net

Read full article here