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?

The Rainbow That Ants Drop Off From

East, Singapore
July & August 2012

Merlion Wayfarer found the only Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree (Eucalyptus Deglupta, Mindanao Gum / Rainbow Eucalyptus / Rainbow Gum) in Singapore!

Located in a small cosy wood, it was tucked away in a little corner of the park with just a worn out sign denoting its "Heritage Tree" status.

The Heritage Tree signboard which was first spotted in July and
replaced with a brand new plate in August 2012...

What's so special about this tree?
  • This is the sole species of Eucalyptus that is native to an area above the Equator. (Well, Singapore is one degree north of the Equator.)
  • Found mainly in New Guinea, Sulawesi and Mindanao, there is only ONE Rainbow Eucalyptus tree in the whole of Singapore!
  • The spectacular bark shows off a wide variety of colors all at once.
  • Unlike most other trees, its bark flakes off by layered strips as it matures. 

Instances of its flaking bark with the active eco-system that it fosters -
Hasarius Adansoni (Adanson's House Jumper) Female Spider, Oecophylla Smaragdina (Weaver Red Ant, Kerengga Ant) Ants, Hasarius Adansoni (Adanson's House Jumper) Male Spider,
Menemerus Bivittatus (Common House Jumper)...

More about the rainbow colouring in this description:

"The tree gets its common name from the striking stripes of color on its trunks and limbs. While they look as though they were painted on, these  ever-changing colors are an entirely natural feature. Unlike trees such as oaks, rainbow eucalyptus does not have a thick, corky layer of bark on the trunk.

Instead, the bark is smooth and vibrantly alive, and as it grows, it exfoliates thin layers of spent tissue. This process occurs in irregular zones at different times. Once the layers come off, they reveal new and fresh green bark. As the newly exposed bark slowly ages, it changes from bright green to a darker green, then bluish to purplish, and then pink-orange. Finally, the color becomes a brownish maroon right before exfoliation occurs.

Since this process is happening in different zones of the trunk and in different stages, simultaneously, the colors are varied and almost constantly changing. As a result, the tree will never have the same color pattern twice, making it like a work of living art."


Merlion Wayfarer made one fascinating discovery about the Rainbow Gum tree today. Like the bevy of spiders and other insects that throng up and down the tree, the ants most visibly had the most difficulty climbing up the tree. Once they reach about the two-metre mark (from ground level), most of the ants started falling off the tree!

Possible reasons why could be the lubricating effect of the oil secreted by the leaves or the newness of the constantly-flaking bark. The real reason remains to be discovered. Merlion Wayfarer awaits to be enlightened by a learned scholar out there...


The full albums are available at:

Sources