Mantis Shrimps of Singapore (ONETWOTHREE DEATH!)

Many people are finally clued in to the awesomeness of mantis shrimps, thanks to a hilarious comic by The Oatmeal.



This has been cited as an excellent example of science communication, and is also a great opportunity to highlight that Singapore has mantis shrimps too!

Pulau Ubin: Explanation, and Final Remarks

A house at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo from TODAY)

After the kerfuffle over the last few days, with lots of voices of indignation and outrage being expressed on many different platforms, and even an online petition, there's finally a clarification about what was thought to be plans to evict some of the residents on Pulau Ubin.

I am glad that there is finally some explanation, and even happier that it was not the worst-case scenario that many of us had feared. Still, in light of all this information, there are some points to be made.

Should we care about Pulau Ubin? Seeking views and comments

One of the houses at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Pod Boy)

Yesterday's post on the planned eviction of some of the residents on Pulau Ubin received a lot of attention. I haven't been able to keep track of what others are saying about the whole matter, especially on Facebook and various online forums, but I'm glad to see that a number of people care about what happens to Pulau Ubin.

Eviction of residents at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin: What's happening?

Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Ria)

Pulau Ubin is often described as the last remnant of a Singapore that has all but vanished everywhere else, a place bypassed by the decades that feels as it must have done in colonial times.

Of course, this is largely a myth: the Ubin I now visit on a frequent basis is quite different from the Ubin I visited as a child in the 1990s. Change is constantly taking place on Ubin, even if we're not always immediately aware of it; familiar faces vanish, buildings change hands and exterior decor, and trees fall as a result of both storm and chainsaw.

But sometimes, there are signs of even greater upheaval lying in wait, hints of policies that some fear will destroy or irrevocably alter the Ubin that so many of us have grown to love and appreciate.

Man hurts hornbill by grabbing it around the neck just to take pictures

Happy Year of the Snake!

Schneider's dog-faced water snake (Cerberus schneiderii), Pasir Ris;

According to Chinese astrology, this year is associated with the Element of Water, so it's supposed to be the Year of the Water Snake.

Storks at Seletar

A few weeks ago, Singapore saw the arrival of a species of stork previously unrecorded from our island, the Asian openbill (Anastomus oscitans).

(Update 19th March 2013: A paper with details about the behaviour and movements of the small flock of Asian openbills in Singapore has just been published in Nature in Singapore)


Asian openbills, Seletar West Link;
(Photo by ltk2505)

Is this really Singapore? Pasir Ris shoreline covered with rubbish

Off on another adventure

I'm in the midst of final preparations for my trip to Japan as part of the DENSO Youth for Earth Action Global Programme. To refresh your memories, here's what happened during the Local Programme earlier in July.

Mega Marine Survey Day 2: Pulau Ubin

I've just returned from my first field session with the Northern Expedition of the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey; Ria has a post on the preparations that took place before the field trips commenced today.



Our base of operations is at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS), on the western side of Pulau Ubin.

"The Power of We": Nature Outreach & Environmental Efforts in Singapore

(Photo by Ria)

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year's theme is The Power of We.

The Wallace Lectures - Marine Biodiversity: Known and Unknown

I attended the latest instalment of the Wallace Lectures. Conducted by Dr. Bertrand Richer de Forges, it was an overview about some of the amazing and mysterious deep-sea communities, many of which were only discovered in the last 50 years, as well as a discussion of how much more we still don't know about marine biodiversity.



Naturally, I live-tweeted much of the session, under the hasthag #WallaceBertrandRicherdeForges, and here are my tweets from that evening and photos of some of his slides, compiled as a Storify:

Prehistoric Rhinos - An Underrated Evolutionary Saga: World Rhino Day Part 2

Paraceratherium, a giant browsing rhinoceros from the Oligocene;
(By Kevin Yan)

Previously, I explained my great dislike for statements claiming that the 5 extant species of rhinoceros are prehistoric survivors. The rhinos we see today represent a single surviving lineage, a mere twig in the rhino family tree. This post will look at some of these actual prehistoric rhinos, and we'll see that over the last 50 million years, rhinos took on many different shapes and sizes.

Rhinos are not prehistoric survivors: World Rhino Day Part 1

Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis);
(Photo by International Rhino Foundation)

This coming Saturday, 22nd September, will be World Rhino Day. It is a day to highlight the ongoing poaching crisis that continues to threaten the survival of all 5 species of rhino, and to push for greater action to put an end to the needless killing over fallacious claims of rhino horn possessing medicinal properties.

While it seems that rhinos were not historically present in Singapore (except as captive specimens), I am particularly fond of rhinos, and have decided to do a series of post in the days leading up to World Rhino Day.

International Vulture Awareness Day: Vultures in Singapore

(Photo by reurinkjan)

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day, and I thought it would be appropriate to write about records of vultures in Singapore.

But why do we need a day to celebrate vultures? As stated on the International Vulture Awareness Day website:

Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction.

The International Vulture Awareness Day has grown from Vulture Awareness Days run by the Birds of Prey Programme in South Africa and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England, who decided to work together and expand the initiative into an international event.

It is now recognised that a co-ordinated international day will publicise the conservation of vultures to a wider audience and highlight the important work being carried out by the world's vulture conservationists.

Green Drinks Singapore: Seagrass & Aqua Republica

I attended the August 2012 edition of Green Drinks Singapore earlier tonight. Not only did I learn more about the importance of seagrass habitats from Siti, but also listened to Chengzi share about an upcoming game that aims to teach people about integrated water resource management.



Naturally, I was tweeting away, and the following Storify is a compilation of tweets, mostly by Gladys and myself, as well as relevant links and further information.

Saturday Seringat-Kias

A small group headed out to visit Lazarus Island on one of the last early morning low tides of the year. While the rest headed towards the rocky shores of Lazarus Island, Kok Sheng and I decided to explore a lagoon located in the north of Seringat-Kias; James and I had previously checked out this area in April 2010. On that occasion, we visited that lagoon during the day, and it was raining, so we might have missed out on a lot of the marine life that lived in that lagoon. Hopefully, we would find a more interesting variety of critters this morning.

World Elephant Day: Elephants in Singapore

Elephant at the Singapore Zoo;
(Photo by i359702)

Today (12th August) is the inaugural World Elephant Day, a day for the world to learn about and act on solutions to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. Many of us know that the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) can still be found in many countries in tropical Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. However, did you know that there are relatively recent records of elephants in Singapore, albeit from our larger offshore islands?

The Naked Hermit Crabs' National Day celebrations on Chek Jawa

Today, the Naked Hermit Crabs celebrated National Day with a guided tour on the Chek Jawa boardwalk.

Monitor Mayday

I wasn't quite expecting to be involved in wildlife rescue today. But sometimes, you just happen to stumble upon a wild animal in distress, and you feel that sense of conviction that you have to do something to help.