The Flying Saucer At Sunset

Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...

Eyes Of 30,000 Honeycombs

With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...

A Kaleidoscope Of Colours, Shapes And Patterns

Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...

Lightning Strikes, Not Once, But Many Times

Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...

Are You My Dinner Tonight?

A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?

Celebrating Nila Utama's First Birthday

Night Safari
Mandai, North, Singapore
20 November 2011

Nila Utama, the first elephant to be born at the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari in nine years,  celebrates his first birthday at an exclusive tea party today.


The little elephant, lovingly referred to as "Nila" by his keepers and who is named after the Palembang prince who founded the kingdom of Singapura, received a giant birthday cake made from carrots, wheat and ice, among other ingredients, while his guests enjoyed delicious elephant-shaped mini cakes and other tea-time treats during the celebration.

Learning about conservation through the handler with her owl...

An elephant-shaped cake and mask...

Delicious yummies to while tea-time away...

A very special goodie bag for party guests...

Invited guests  (Merlion Wayfarer included!) went on a gourmet safari tram ride at the Night Safari, which stops at the Asian elephants exhibit where the party was be held. It was fascinating seeing all the Night Safari animals clearly in bright daylight.


Mr. Kumar Pillai, general manager of the Night Safari, said the birth of Nila Utama was a significant milestone as it underscored the importance of education and conservation of Asian elephants in the wild.
"This mini event is not only a birthday celebration for Nila - 
it also highlights the success of captive breeding programmes like ours and 
the plight of these beautiful animals in the wild."



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