Vote Monday Morgue!

Me in my element: Guiding as a volunteer with the Raffles Museum Toddycats!.
(Photo by Boh Zuze)

It's been such a fun and fulfilling weekend at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, sharing interesting stories about Singapore's wildlife and wild places with members of the public. And I'm really pleased that my talk about the importance of documenting dead animals was very well-received. I'll write about my weekend soon enough, but now that the fun and festivities from the Festival of Biodiversity are over, it's time for Monday Morgue to focus on another significant event: the Singapore Blog Awards. If you recall, I'm currently a finalist in the Sold.sg Best What-the-Hell Blog category.

Voting opened on Monday, and everyone can cast one vote per category every day until 30th June. I hope that I'll be able get more support, not just from friends who are familiar with this blog, but also with new readers. A big thanks to Crystal and Jerome, who are finalists in other categories, and who have shown their support for Monday Morgue!

In the meantime, while I prepare a nice blog post to show you all about what happened at the Festival of Biodiversity, here's a short interview for the Singapore Blog Awards:

It's Showtime!

The Festival of Biodiversity begins tomorrow!



Many of us are busy making preparations for the weekend, with a wide range of activities for the whole family to enjoy. Besides doing booth duty as a volunteer guide with the Marine Exhibtion and the Raffles Museum Toddycats!, I also plan to participate in some of the film screenings, symposiums, and of course, not to forget my talk on Sunday.

Yet more shameless self-promotion

Monday Morgue is a finalist in the Singapore Blog Awards 2012!

Yes, my spin-off from this blog is currently a contender in the Sold.SG Best What-the-Hell Blog category:


(No offence intended to fellow finalists in the same category)

Shameless Self-promotion

If you're free this coming weekend, do take part in the Festival of Biodiversity, happening at the Botany Centre in the Singapore Botanic Gardens!

Firefighters put out forest fire at Sembawang

Ew, white liquid spotted in drain in the Katong area

Prickly Porcupines

There are porcupines on Pulau Ubin!

Robert Teo from the National Parks Board (NParks) shared this video showing a wild Malayan porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) being released, after it had been caught and kept as a pet by one of the villagers.

The growth of Monday Morgue

Wild boar (Sus scrofa vittatus) skull, Pulau Ubin
31st May 2009

Monday Morgue had a humble start. It began as a weekly feature over here on The Lazy Lizard's Tales, a way to provide filler material when I didn't have the time or energy to write proper blog posts, while giving me the chance to share random photos I'd taken of dead animals I encountered while outdoors.

Last year, I decided to split it off and have Monday Morgue hosted on its own dedicated site. At first, I toyed with Tumblr, but eventually settled on Posterous.

For some reason, Monday Morgue seems to have become quite a hit with many people.

Earth Day Coastal Cleanup @ Tanah Merah

For those of us who visit and explore the shores of Singapore to document the marine life that can be found on our coasts, Tanah Merah stands out as a unique and special place. Although the original shore here is long gone due to land reclamation, a rich community of marine organisms has managed to colonise and reestablish itself. We find habitats as diverse as rocky shores, seagrass beds, sandy beaches, coastal forests, and even a coral reef on the outer edge of the seawall.


(Photo by Ria)

Unfortunately, this shore, despite its beauty and diversity, suffers from pollution. Much of the marine life is slowly recovering from the devastation of the oil spill that struck 2 years ago, although some crude oil still lingers in the environment. Another insidious threat comes from the vast quantities of garbage that wash up and get trapped behind the seawall. Because this area is not under the purview of the armies of cleaners that work tirelessly every morning to remove litter and other trash from our public beaches, the rubbish simply accumulates, forming massive piles of plastic, broken glass, and other debris.


Litter on Tanah Merah shore, July 2011;
(Photo by Ria)


Dig deep enough, and you'll find out where much of the oil has gone, April 2012;
(Photo by Ria)

In response, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) team has decided to conduct a series of year-round cleanups on this shore.



And so, keen to do my part on a shore that I am personally very fond of, I signed up for the latest session, which was held on the morning of 28th April.

First time playing with Storify

Earlier this week, I attended the U@live session featuring Professor Leo Tan. As usual, I live-tweeted the event, and decided to use Storify as a medium to curate and organise my tweets. The result is this.

Kind-hearted Hougang Sec students help bird trapped in drain

Monkey problem getting worse: One even invades Khatib MRT Station

1m-long monitor lizard at Kallang River catches visitor by surprise

Beach-goer can't enjoy stroll along Changi shoreline as it's strewn with rubbish

Weird spiky bug spotted near Yishun block gives passerby the creeps

Angler who injured turtle with fish hook should be shamed

Watch your step! This creature is a jellyfish, not a plastic bottle

Red-eared rescue

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's seeing debris left behind by careless or irresponsible anglers. On too many occasions, I find rubbish that has been left on the shore after a fishing session, whether it's unused bait, discarded catch, lightsticks, or tangles of fishing line. I do wish that more anglers would take the effort to dispose of their trash properly, especially because of the risks of wildlife being harmed by hooks and fishing line.

There have been examples of local wildlife being needlessly injured or killed by fishing gear, from birds such as Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) and barn owl (Tyto alba), to reptiles like estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), dog-faced water snake (Cerberus rynchops), and Malayan water monitor (Varanus salvator). Even wild boar (Sus scrofa vittatus) have not been spared!

Today, I discovered yet another unfortunate victim of irresponsible anglers.

Bungalow owner wants to barbeque civet cat for dinner after it destroyed his phone wires

Meet the 'friendly' wild boars at the wetlands of Pulau Ubin