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?

Pasir Ris Park - Decreasing Biodiversity Sightings

Pasir Ris Park
East, Singapore
June 2014

It's been some time since Merlion Wayfarer been to the Pasir Ris mangrove swamps. And it has been disappointing how the biodiversity sightings there decreases over the past few years.

|   March 2010   |   January 2013   |   July 2013   |

A male Epeus flavobilineatus (Yellow-Lined Epeus) spider, a bug, an ant, a wriggling caterpillar, and an Ardea cinerea (Grey Heron) were spotted in the 1.5 hour walk...

The decreased variety and number of sightings could be attributed to several factors:
  • Impending bad weather, e.g. rain
  • Water Pollution
    Fecal matter has been detected in the sea near the mangroves. At times, "No swimming" signs have been put up. (See "Thrown Away By The Kelongs")
  • Oil Spills
    (The sand in Pasir Ris often has oil stains among its deeper layers. Sometimes, oil streaks can be seen in the mangrove puddles.)
  • Increased number of visitors
Merlion Wayfarer hopes the biodiversity of the area can be restored very soon.