Beehive hangs from Woodlands bus stop

Dangerous-looking bug with hundreds of spines found at foot of Hougang block

Sudsy deposits turn water in Sungei Kallang drain white

Company responsible for yellow liquid in Loyang drain will face action: NEA

What is this strange worm-like creature at Pasir Ris Park?

Water pollution? Yellowish liquid spotted in Loyang industrial estate's drainage

Spitting King Cobra spotted at Ulu Pandan Canal

Festival of Biodiversity 2013!

It's time for the Festival of Biodiversity!



I'll be busy volunteering at the Marine Exhibition, but if you really can't make it to VivoCity this weekend, or are not in Singapore, do look out for tweets from myself (@Varanussalvator) and others, via the hashtag #FestBiodSG.

Tweets about "#FestBiodSG"

Singapore Blog Awards 2013: Thanks everyone for your support!

I'm overjoyed and excited to announce that I won the Panasonic Best Eco-Challenge Blog category in the Singapore Blog Awards!

Ecological musings

Bukit Timah;



As voting for this year's Singapore Blog Awards draws to a close, I'd like to end with some final thoughts.

When it comes to giving tips and points on doing your part for the environment, one tends to encounter the usual suggestions on the 3Rs, cutting down on the amount of waste generated, saving water and electricity, and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. These can all be summarised by this overarching concept:

Reduce your level of consumption of the Earth's finite resources.

Vote for me in the Singapore Blog Awards 2013!

In case you missed my previous announcement, The Lazy Lizard's Tales is a finalist in this year's Singapore Blog Awards. I'm one of ten bloggers competing in the Panasonic Best Eco-Challenge Blog category, and really need all your support. Here's how to vote:

Flashback: wildlife news in 1960s Singapore

A 6 metre long whale shark (Rhincodon typus), shot by police after it was trapped at a kelong near Pulau Sebarok in 1964. This is the only record of this species in our waters;
The Straits Times, 7 June 1964

This year's theme for the Singapore Blog Awards is "60s Fever", and I thought it would be nice to take a look back at what it was like for Singapore's biodiversity in the 1960s.


Singapore's Master Plan from 1958. Some of the Southern Islands are not included in this map.


Singapore, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Master Plan 2008. You can see how much our coastline has changed since 1958.

Singapore got wildlife, meh?

It's a question that anyone involved in nature outreach in Singapore is bound to encounter someday. Yes, despite this country being a small island that has undergone lots of development, lots of wildlife still survives or even thrives in Singapore! If you've ever pondered this question yourself, here's a video that was first screened at last year's Festival of Biodiversity.

Chained to Our Roots (22nd-23rd June 2013): an appeal to protect Singapore's own rainforest

Teresa Teo-Guttensohn, a Singaporean eco-artist and Dr. Vilma D'Rozario, Celine Low, and Andrew Tay, together with their group of nature-loving friends, will be part of an eco-performance where they will be chained to a tree for 24 hours, to appeal for the Cross Island Mass Rapid Transit Line to be re-routed such that it will not run through our precious rainforest at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

When: 3 pm Saturday, 22nd June to 3 pm Sunday, 23rd June 2013
Where: Speakers' Corner, Hong Lim Park

Festival of Biodiversity 2013: 13th & 14th July @ VivoCity!

Mark your calendars, for the Festival of Biodiversity is back!

After the success of last year's inaugural Festival, we're hoping to reach out to even more people, highlight the wonderful wildlife and important green spaces that we still have here in Singapore, and encourage people to play a more active role in protecting and conserving our natural heritage.

When: 13th-14th July 2013 (Saturday and Sunday), 10am-10pm
Where: VivoCity, Level 1 - Central Court B and West Boulevard

Do you know that Singapore is home to more than 400 species of marine fishes? Do you know that Singapore is also home to 250 species of hard corals, which is almost one third of the diversity found in the world? Do you know that species such as the horseshoe crab and the banded leaf monkey can be found in Singapore? Join us at the festival to explore and learn more about Singapore's rich biodiversity!

Join us in the many exciting activities we have in store for you at the festival, and find out how you can play a part in conserving our biodiversity. By participating in the festival, you can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Singapore's rich biodiversity, its benefits, and relevance to us in Singapore.

If you missed last year's Festival, here are some highlights:

The Cross-Island Line: why does it have to go through a Nature Reserve?

(Photo by coolinsights)

Over the years, Singapore has lost more than 99.5% of its original forest cover. Whatever little that remains is now concentrated in a few key areas, and preserves much of our surviving native rainforest biodiversity. The Central Nature Reserves, encompassing the forests of Bukit Timah and those surrounding the reservoirs in the Central Catchment Area, form the final refuge of many plant and animal species that have since vanished elsewhere on the island. As Nature Reserves, they receive the highest level of protection that any green space in Singapore can have.

And yet, as many of us in the nature community found out earlier this year, even being gazetted as a Nature Reserve does not grant immunity from urbanisation and development.

The marvels of nature macro photography: a workshop by Nicky Bay

WARNING: Do not continue reading this post if you are entomophobic or arachnophobic. If you do not know what these terms mean, carry on. You'll find out if you actually are.



My friend Nicky Bay is holding a couple of workshops on macro photography, and I thought it would be great to help publicise these workshops. More details are provided in his blog post.