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?

Why You Should Not Visit The Marine Life Park At RWS

10:11 AM  , , , ,  

Sentosa
South, Singapore
May 2013

(This article is part of Merlion Wayfarer's series on Animal Welfare.)

Merlion Wayfarer was at Sentosa when she spotted the dolphins at the RWS Marine Life Park. 

These two pictures taken were of different pools. Both pools had floors stained with algae growth. For each pool, there were several dolphins crammed into a space not much bigger than a volleyball court. In the second photo, two of the dolphins were beached, while another was knocking its head on the wall of the pool. 

(Photos taken at sunset)

It was very heartrending to see them. 

Please do not visit the Marine Life Park at RWS.

(Source : Save the World’s Saddest Dolphins)

This article was featured in STOMP's Top 8
on 19 May 2013 with 28,414 views (as of 15 June 2013):
"Poor conditions for RWS dolphins: Cramped space and algae-stained pool"
(Source : SPH)

A follow-up visit was made in June 2013:
"Cleaner Pools, Happier Dolphins" (15 June 2013)

Read More

Tampines Eco Green - Among Green Grass

2:15 AM  , , , , , , , , , ,  

Tampines Eco Green
East, Singapore
May 2013

Tampines Eco Green is a haven for biodiversity, with a multitude of natural habitats - open grasslands, freshwater wetlands and secondary rainforest. Naturally, among green grass, finds abound.

Contained within the nutrient-rich ponds, water snails thrive...

Clutches of bright pink apple snail eggs can be seen...
(More about Apple Snails in "What Is An Apple Snail?") 

The apex hunter among the long grass blades - Oxyopes birmanicus (Burmese Lynx Spider)...

 Moths (Heterocera), Butts (Rhopalocera) and Dragons (Anisoptera) lay at rest...

 There were also some weird finds, including a 5-legged transparent grasshopper (Caelifera)...
  
On the hot day, a restful Calotes versicolor (Changeable Lizard) hides under the shade of a tree...

A rather pudgy but adorable Salticidae (Jumping Spider)...

A very brightly-coloured male Ploceus hypoxanthus (Asian Golden Weaver) flitting among the treetops...

The maternal instinct at work - A female Cinnyris jugularis (Olive-backed Sunbird) 
working hard at gathering tufts of fluff for nesting...


More photos are available on:

Read More

Mud Facials & Oil Baths For The Skippers

12:49 AM  , , , , , , , , ,  

Pasir Ris Park
East, Singapore
March 2013

Merlion Wayfarer was at the mangroves at Pasir Ris Park one afternoon. Being mid-tide, this was the trip when she saw the most number of mudskippers!
  • Skippers swimming to stay slim...

  • Skippers having a mud facial...

  • Skippers hiding in the shade for fear that they will grow more spots...

  • Skippers paddling to learn how to swim like a fish...

   
  • Skippers having an oil bath...

    
  • Skippers learning how to breathe underwater...

    

Arachnida (Spiders)

 
Jumpers are always very curious little ones. Here is a Ligurra Latidens (Mangrove Jumper) Female staring right into the lens...


See how hard the armour protecting her head is...

She can be quite aggressive when she sees a prey that she sees something she doesn't quite like...


The Rest


There was a lot of water today. Due to the inflow, new streams are etched into the mud. This mini-waterfall, nearly one metre in height was created due to a sinking in of a mudflat. The height of the water created a significant amount of foam in the pool below.


Quite a few kingfishers can be heard near the entrance closer to the carpark. Here's a Todiramphus Chloris (Collared Kingfisher) that stands out easily:

A katydid, an elegant grasshopper and a moult...


A couple of mating houseflies and a Agrionoptera Insignis (Grenadier) dragon...


A collection of bugs...
[Any help to ID will be much appreciated!]



The full albums are available at:

   

Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)