The dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception

"The dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception."
- Ric O’Barry, The Cove

Image URL: http://www.firstfloridahomes.com/from_iceland.html

Do you know how dolphin commit suicide?
Dolphins and other whales are not automatic breather like us. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. And if they feel life is really unbearable, they can choose not to take the next breath, they can just close their blowhole for good.

That was what Kathy, the Flipper, did. That was the turning point for Ric O'Barry.

The brutal slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. The loads of lies these people gave. It reminded me of the Sharkwater documentary I watched months ago.

Once again I can only say "ALL KILLINGS ARE CRUEL", be it sharks, whales, cattles... and dolphins. I cannot stop you from eating whale meat, I cannot stop you from visiting Seaworld. It is up to you. I can only urge you to watch The Cove to see the reality.

A moment of silence...

I decided to blog it after pondering for sometime, dedicating a moment of silence to a zebra that I do not know. I have never done attachment for that area and though I fed the giraffes before, I'm not that close to the zebras.

But while looking at my photos, I once again felt the saddness I had experienced at that spot.  I felt the keeper's tenderness as he stroked the zebra for the last time.  Most of the photos showed the zebra's eyes which I felt were so big that it gives me a feeling that the zebra died a sudden death.  This photo, however, had its eyes partially covered and thus was less frightening and more solemn.

I do not know why it died nor did I plan to ask.  Partly there isn't a chance to ask the keeper.  I don't see their need to explain to the visitors on site either.  And partly because they seem sad (and busy as well first while trying to resuscitate it and then while trying to remove it from the site).  I just don't think it is appropriate to ask.

Actually there were other stuff I planned to blog but somehow I lost the feel already.  Plus the photos did not really turn out well.  It is the second time I brought my bro's toy out and I am still learning thus the photos did not turn out well.  But as I went through my old photos, I realised I once just took photo for the sake of remembering/recording my memories only.  But over the years, as I took more and more photos, I begun to have higher expectation of the photos.  And I am starting to hate my unsteady hands haha.  Anyway I posted some of the better photos from the toy in my FB.  I hope to improve further...

Last note, I realised there is a new recycling method to applaud for

Recycling the maps.. except if the maps were in good condition, throwing into the box might not be such a good idea?  I guess still can be improved further...

NEA - Clean Green Singapore Music Video

Source: Youtube



It only takes one heart, to make a start.
A dream to just go green, to keep it clean.

Side by side we’ll make it happen
So that we can live like we’re in heaven.

Let’s make our world the most beautiful home
Where everyone can live and breathe and they can easily roam.

We just have to make it ours to make it last
By giving our all & doing our best
Let’s keep our world the most beautiful home…oh yeah

Horseshoe Crab Research and Rescue

Source: "A Guide to Mangroves of Singapore", Peter K. L. Ng and N. Sivasothi (editors)

Previous related posts:
http://grasstales.blogspot.com/2009/06/rmbr.html
http://grasstales.blogspot.com/2009/04/coney-island-horseshoe-crab.html

Directions to the nameless track...
1. Take mrt to Kranji MRT station.
2. Take bus 925 from station.
3. Alight at the Chinese Temple.
4. Cross the road to the nameless track.

I am surprised we did not get lost, because it is indeed a god-forsaken place haha.

Anyway a year ago, I was at this Kranji MRT station too, and I was puzzled over the spaciousness of the station.  Only today did I realise the Turf Club is just beside the station.  Oops.

As we reached the nameless track, we happened to double check our location with some people and they decided to show us their pot of Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) and that these are on the verge of being slaughtered for food.  It does not look like a crab so how do one eat HSC?

The uncle went on to show us where to cut open the body and eat the unlaid eggs directly after cooking.  I would advise none of you to try because it is said that HSC are toxic.  And besides you are only eating the eggs and throwing the rest of the HSC away which I feel is a waste.  It is like eating shark's fin and throwing away the shark.  SAD!

After a brief chat with them, we headed down to report to the i/c. She went on to give us a brief introduction of this "living fossil" which still looks almost similar to the fossils 400 millions years old. Then we begin our rescue mission (and mini shore clean-up session).

A total of 168 (think that should be the figure) HSC was found. I was told these HSC had to be measured and the males and females counted. But I'm curious to know what happens to the tiny HSC? Are they also measured? And since they are too young to do a gender identification, what were they classified as?

Which brings me to the objective of this mission: to keep track of these HSC from what I gather. Which is why they will search for them, figure out ways to tag them, then search for them again the next month (depending on the tidal conditions though) and analyse them.

But why is HSC so important? Well it is a known fact that their blue, copper-based blood called lysate is important in the biomedical world as a purified version can help detect baterial toxins, important in disease detection as well as ensuring the cleanliness of equipment.

To identify if it is a female HSC, notice the first 2 pairs of legs. For the females, all the pairs of legs are similar.

For a male HSC, the first 2 pairs of legs are like bulbous front pincers which they need to cling onto the females whilst mating.

Barnacles on the HSC. They are encrusters, attaching themselves permanently to a hard substrate.

Which leads me to my next question. As the HSC moults to become 25% bigger, what happens to the barnacles on the original shell? I asked the researcher but it seems that not much studies have been done on it. He mentioned that usually the moult does seems pretty smooth so he is not sure is it the barnacles dropped off and move to the living HSC or that this HSC happened to not have much barnacles. Hmm, sometimes one can really have 1001 questions for Mother Nature but how much she wants to reveal would probably depends on her mood.

The underside of the moult sometimes deceives me into thinking this is a living HSC.

And this is the opening which the HSC will crawl out then hide in some discrete area to be suntanned as it is usually soft after moulting. Note that we are not very certain is it the sun, the water, the existence of both elements or other elements but gradually the HSC shell will become harder and soon it will behave like the typical HSC.

The area we were walking was soft mud and it was indeed tough walking. At one time, my feet were stuck that I had to twist my way out, but I twisted too hard and spewed mud at my friend. Horror! Felt so guilty to her the rest of the day as neither of us had brought spare clothes.

And judging the muddy trails, you can expect how muddy our booties are... Eeeks haha!

Would I go back again? Actually I might although I don't really like walking on the soft mud... and am lazy to bring extra clothings still... Let me think about it till the next time...

Euthanasia on Pandas?

Source:
Asiaone
sifynews

Guess what, mankind wants to play God once again. Or rather God's accountant as what British TV naturalist Chris Peckham had replied when he was criticised when he spouted the following line

'So maybe if we took all the cash we spend on pandas and just bought rainforests with it, we might be doing a better job.'

Alright I love grasses more than I love humans. But does that mean I want all humans exterminated so that grasses will have a chance of survival for not being trampled by humans/animals/any land-bound creatures?

Hmm but am I making sense here? Is he making sense either when he said the money should be re-directed to a better cause. What is a better cause? If it is God's will to extinct the creatures, I guess I would accept it. But if is human's decision that $XX should go to rainforest conservation instead of panda conservation, somehow I just cannot stomach it. Because we were the cause why Pandas need protection now. And we should pay our debts / atone our sins.

Is like saying Bukit Timah Nature is a living dead and we should just scrap it. But in the first place, it was mankind who created that road causing BKT serious repercussions. So we should solve the problem not erase the problem and record in history as something that was "too late to be salvaged".

Having said that, euthanasia on pandas - over my dead body!

p/s: Another fellow mate commented that such situation is the same in the human world where it is a cost-centric world. Thus special needs people are termed useless and a burden and a losing investment... i.e. they should be eradicated too. Sad but true.

Pulau Semakau

Seen alot, learnt alot, but all forgotten haha. So I can only say check out these blogs to know more:
Tidechaser
Where Discovery Begins
Wildshores
Singapore Nature
God's Wonderful Creation
Urban Forest
Itchy Fingers

Alright, now for my viewpoint..  boarded the boat from Marina Pier (I forgot to take a photo of the Pier, luckily someone else did.. phew).  On the way, saw the developments in Marina Bay, The Sail and others (from what I see, it can be quite ulu to stay there but I'm not very confirmed.)



Pass by this cute little "Bao Island".  Ok the real name is Pulau Jong 炯岛.  If interested, you can read more about this island from God's wonderful creation.



Then we reach Pulau Semakau where we first had a tour round it via bus (and the hunters alighted to find the creatures for display to us later).  Then we went to watch a video telling us about the lifestory of our rubbish on how they first came into Pulau Semakau via the Barge and how they have to be incinerated so that they will be reduced to 10% of their current state.  Hmm if I have time, I might write my third story based on it.


Actually after incineration, the rubbish does not really seem to emit a smell already.  Thankfully I guess as all these cells have to be filled up with these incinerated waste after which a top fertile soil will cover the waste.



Then we march into a forest full of mosquitoes to be greeted to a welcoming sight of the shores.


The mangrove tree, Bakau Pasir (Rhizophora stylosa) used as firewood and also made to charcoal…


Look out for the bright orange flags, it means the hunters have found us something interesting!


Saw 3 garlic breads or Sandfish Cucumber (Holothuria scabra).  First sign of we are hungry?  Considering these are the edible ones found in Chinese restaurants.  These sea cucumber breathes through their anus due to their internal breathing system which has branching tubes along the length of their bodies. Called respiratory trees, most large sea cucumbers have a pair of these, each connected to the opening on the backside. To breathe, the sea cucumber pumps water in through its backside and up through the respiratory trees. The water is then flushed out through the backside again. With this constant flow of water, some tiny creatures find the backside of a seacucumber a cosy and safe place to be! Small or thin-walled sea cucumbers, however, simply breathe through their skins. -Source: wildsingapore

Oh and these were squirting water when the guide lift them up.  Urinating?  I have no idea. But they were definitely under stress because under stress, they will squirt water from both ends.  And if under extreme stress, some sea cucumbers are capable of expelling their innards.  The stomach will eventually be regenerated but the sea cucumbers will not be able to feed until the regrowth.  Yucks!

Lastly, sea cucumbers are echinoderms and they feed with their tube feets. Similarly, instead of a hard skeleton, the bodies are mostly made of tissue capable of changing from hard to soft, thus aiding movement etc.


Another sea cucumber, the Ocellated Sea Cucumber (Stichopus ocellatus). We were not allowed to handle this one cos it is said that under too much stress, it may become limp and disintegrate. I concur that it looks wobbly to the extent it might melt like ice cream (oops food for thought?)

The many white “eyespots” on its back were believed to possess some sensory functions to help the animal move around or hold to the substrate. - Source: Itchyfingers


Noble Volute (Cymbiola nobilis) which is our group name!  (I was lazy to close-up but I do have close-up images from my friends haha).

It is a large shell that can grow up to 20cm and is threatened by over-collection as food and for its beautiful shells. These predatory snails hunt and feed underneath the sand. The tube on the right is called the siphon, and the animal uses it to seek out buried bivalves (like
clams). The black fleshy part with bright orange spots underneath the shell
is actually its large foot! After finding the bivalves, it wraps it with its large foot and then waits patiently until its exhausted prey opens its shell to breathe. The Noble Volute then seizes the opportunity to stick its proboscis to feed! - Source: Itchyfingers


The marine flatworm was lovely because it is so flat. If you cut them into two, they can continue growing.  But hmm, don't be so cruel-hearted to try bah.

More about flatworms: Flatworms Penile Fencing
Check out the video here.

Extracted from the site:
For flatworms, sex is more like war than love. Like all sea slugs, flatworms are hermaphrodites (they have both male and female sexual organs). In this case, the male organ turns out to be two dagger-like penises that they use to hunt as well as mate. During mating, two flatworms fight (i.e. "penis fence") to stab each other, while avoiding getting stabed.

The "loser" who gets stabbed will absorb the sperm through its skin and then scoots off to bear the burden of motherhood!

Sigh I don't really agree motherhood is a burden but then literally speaking, she is carrying a "burden".  Alright.



Saw a number of starfishes although a better name should be sea star because they are actually not fish.  These two were nicknamed ang ku kueh and ketupat by my friend.  More signs that we are hungry.  Ok, they are juvenile Cushion Stars (Culcita novaeguineae), part of the sea stars family except they don't have long arms.






These are the common echinoderms where they are symmetrical along five axes, have spiny skin and tube feet. This is the Common Sea Star (Archaster typicus).  Other examples of echinoderms are the Sand Dollars and Sea Urchins.  Oh and I have a close-up photo of the tube feet, so cute!  Note that sea stars use sea water to support its body and move its tube feet thus it should not be left out of the water.










This particular Knobbly Seastar (Protoreaster nodosus) has 6 legs which is quite rare.  The common ones have 5 legs.

Cannot forget crab (because it is FOOD again haha).  This is the Flower Crab (Portunus pelagicus).

What else did I learn?  That sea urchin loves shadow.  That if you are quiet, you can hear the snapping shrimp snaps.  Both males and females snap.  That there are lots of sponges and some sponges are poisonous so don't think they are all as friendly as spongebob. 

As the sun set, we head back too... I really like this place alot, though I hate the mosquitoes (but I know they are there for a reason...).  I wonder if I want to be back here again or not hmm.


Lastly, RMBR is recruiting. Check out the details here. How I wish I can join but I cannot make it for their training. SAD!

p/s: And I'm still grieving over my camera sigh...

Otters squealing

I am still wondering why the otters were squealing the whole morning so went to do some research..

Source: Kidsplanet
How do sea otters communicate?
Through body contact, nosing one another, head-jerking and vocalizations. Sea otters, in comparison to sea lions, for example, are not extremely vocal animals. However, adults use a soft, low cooing sound, and grunts to exhibit "contentedness," among other things. Pups use a high-pitch squeal to communicate with their mom. Some other sounds in the vocal repertoire of sea otters include whistles, whimpers, squeaks, whines, growls, snarls and hisses.

hmm... were they hungry? in danger? am still puzzled...

Sungei Buloh Guided Tour

Followed wildshores guide for a guided trip. As I need to keep up with the pace, so I did not take much photos. Saw the usual sea almond fruits and sea holly which has no relation with the christmas holly. Sometimes it does look like the christmas holly with its jagged edges. Other times, it looks plain.


Also saw the sea hibiscus. In mangroves, it indicates the high water mark and the boundary between the end of salt water penetration and the beginning of freshwater swamp.

This plant secretes a substance that attracts ants, not in its flowers but through its leaves. Each of three leaf veins on the under surface near the stalk have a small slit. It is from here that the substance exudes, and ants of all sizes can be seen drinking from them. Among these, are the fierce Weaver Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina), which may help keep off insect pests. Some insects that feed on the plant include the Cotton Stainer Bug (Dysdercus decussatus) that feeds on its seeds.
Sources: naturia


Guess who made these holes? The Asian longhorn beetles!

Unfortunately, these Asian longhorn beetle can cause a lot of damage to trees. Its larvae dig deep into trunks in order to feed on the vessels that provide the tree with water and food. The larvae may spend up to nine months living off of the tree as they grow into adult beetles. As the bugs mature they start to burrow back out of the tree leaving noticeable holes in the trees. At this stage, there is not a lot that can be done for the tree. The damage is done..
Source: Ask The Exterminator

Oh and it was only today that I knew only the male fiddler crab has a bigger pincer mainly for attraction. Female fiddler crab pincers are of equal sizes.

Take a look at wildshores photo on the Nipah palm (Nypa fruticans) or Attap Chee as it was blooming! The ball-shaped thing is the female inflorescence, while the yellow sausage-shaped ones are the male. Nearby is a brown developing fruit ball.

Caught sight of the dog faced water snake sleeping too!


On the way back, my friend brought me to walk out to the nearest bus stop (quite far though). On the way, we caught sight of bag worm.

Bagworms are a group of highly specialized lepidopterans belonging to the family Psychidae and exhibit extreme development of sexual dimorphism. Males are winged whereas females lack functional appendages. Larvae of both males and females, soon after hatching from the eggs climb up to the top of their host plants in order to have an access to the soft and palatable tips of the growing shoots. They construct a small but tough bag of silk of either cylindrical or conical shape and glue small fragments of plant tissues around their cases. Larvae always keep their body inside the cases. While moving about, their head and thorax are protruded out so that they move forward on their thoracic legs dragging the case behind them, which is gripped by hooks on the abdominal prolegs. When taking rest, the rims of the cases remain attached to a twig by means of silken thread so that the cases hang vertically with both their openings remaining closed.

Sources: Clubsnap uforest

Related post:
Sungei Buloh

Why Flamingos are pink... and more interesting facts learnt

Testudines

Turtles, terrapins and tortoises are all reptiles and belong to the order Testudines.

Tortoise are land-dwelling (terrestrial) subgroup of turtles. They use water for drinking and bathing only. They have high, domed shells and have trunklike legs with stumpy, clawed feet. Testudines found in coastal, brackish waters are called terrapins. They are sometimes called "diamondbacks" due to the unique, angular designs on their shells. They have webbed feet with claws. Other turtles are marine or freshwater dwellers. These aquatic turtles have longer toes that are webbed or limbs that look like flippers to help with swimming, and they typically have a more flattened, streamlined shell. About 70% of all turtles live in freshwater.

FYI A group of turtles is called a bale. The largest turtle living today is the leatherback.

Read more from Itchyfingers.

Source:
Why Flamingos are pink... and 250 other things you should know
by Valeri R. Helterbran


Pygmy Hippopotamus
A rare and endangered species of animal, the pygmy hippopotamus (or 'hippo' for short), has been found in Liberia. Pygmy means smaller than the usual type. And these are nocturnal creatures aka active during the night.

Photo here.

Source: BBC English

Why are flamingos pink?
They prefer to live in the warm, shallow, salty lagoons and lakes of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. One species, however, lives in the cold lakes of the Andes Mountains. One of the most obvious characteristics of flamingos is their reddish or pink coloration. Interestingly, many of the foods that they eat are rich in carotenoid pigment, much like the pigment in carrots. They eat shrimp and other crustaceans, algae, aquatic insects, and plankton. Without this diet, the flamingos' feathers would become grayish white. Zookeepers are careful to supplement flamingo food with special pigments to maintain their birds' beautiful color.

Flamingos have unusual, boomerang-like bills. To eat, the flamingo immerses its bill upside down in the water so that its head is actually facing backward. In that position, it uses its fleshy tongue to pump water through its bill, which acts like a strainer or filter to catch food items.

Here are a few more interesting flamingo facts:
* Flamingos live in large colonies called pats
* What looks like the flamingo's knee is actually its ankle
* Roman emperors considered flamingo tongue to be a delicacy.

Source:
Why Flamingos are pink... and 250 other things you should know
by Valeri R. Helterbran

Komodo Dragon
All reptiles shed their skin (remember snakes), so it is no surprise to see a komodo dragon mouliting.  Except it shed by bits and pieces.  That piece of skin beside the dragon is the best proof!

 Bamboo Chicken
In Central America, where iguana meat is frequently consumed, iguanas are referred to as "bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the trees." Large females are a favourite, because of the availability of eggs. But if everybody vie to eat these females, then how is reproduction going to be successful for this species?

Day Safari

Disclaimer: This post will not contain any photos out of respect to the NS protocol which disallow any photography regarding the behind-the-scenes. What it does contains are the interesting facts that the keepers shared with me and the memorable observations that I made.

Interesting fact 1 – Operations
NS works very differently from the Zoo mainly because the animals have to be active at night. Thus most feeding must be done in the evening to condition the animal to sleep in the day and eat at night. However conditioning is not the correct word to use in this case because these animals are usually nocturnal animals and are just exhibiting their natural behaviour. So I should say is we i.e. the human have adapted to their natural cycle of cleaning their compounds, preparing their food and doing the daily housekeeping chores in the day. Then we will start the feeding in the evening. (By then I wasn't around to participate already.. a pity I suppose.. )

Interesting fact 2 – Baby giraffe

A giraffe begins its life by falling six feet to the ground. The shock of the fall starts its breathing.

The first species of animals I met is a family of 3 African giraffes where baby girl Kayla (Not sure if the spelling is right) is almost a year old already. When she first arrived in Earth, she was almost 1.8m. That sure is one tall lady. A calf grows fast when young such that by 6 months, it can be quite independent of its mother if in the wild. However after that, the growth rate would be greatly decreased thus mama giraffe is not much taller than baby Kayla. And if you are wondering, baby giraffes unlike human, comes out legs first so as to balance themselves immediately. Nature fear that if the head comes out first, there might be some serious struggle which might cause breakage of neck. And yes, you guessed it, mama giraffe gives birth while standing.

Interesting fact 3 – More on giraffe

Giraffes only need to sleep deeply for 20 minutes each night.

I also learnt that the papa giraffe has a darker skin colour than the mama giraffe and that their print is like a finger print with nobody else having the same print as them. But what I like best about giraffe is the fact that they only need to sleep 20 minutes to 4 hours. Thus they were awake the whole time I was there, constantly munching their leaves and walking around. I sure wish I have such ability to gain the extra waking hours hmmm...

Interesting fact 3 - Food
Badger food was stewed! Keeper says this is to prevent choking. And I have to admit the smell of the stew is pretty tempting with the potatoes, carrots, quill eggs (unshelled, apparently the badger knows how to shelled eggs too), bean stalks etc. Oh and I was quite a klutz in the kitchen, being unable to even chop the chicken parts into smaller bites. Somehow the bones don't seem to get chopped up under my knife. Thus I ended up tying fruits with string and doing some simple tasks.

Interesting fact 4 - Porcupine
After the food preparation comes the food delivery (suddenly felt like those delivery man delivering those daily cooked food haha). While following the keeper, I met more animals e.g. the porcupines. There are 3 types of porcupines in NS-Leopard trail. The Long-tailed porcupine which had sadly lost her tail through some fright and will not be growing back again (exhibiting a behaviour much like the lizard except some lizards are able to regrow their tail).

The other 2 species were the Malayan and the Indian crested porcupines where the Indian crested are bigger in shape. Thus they were quite cool when they saw me and were not a least afraid of me. I even had the chance to feed the Indian crested porcupine each a bean stalk. They look so much like a big rodent when they were clawing the glass panel. Their neighbour, the Malayan porcupine on the other hand never stop rattling upon catching sight of me, turning her back towards me and raising all her quills at me that I got quite afraid too haha.


Interesting fact 5 – Slow Loris

The world's only poisonous primate.

Keeper says slow loris is not as slow as what the name says, especially when it comes to food. And that it may looks cute, but it is known to be toxic! Its venom is stored in an elbow patch and the loris will suck in the poison from the patch, then mix it around in its mouth before delivering a toxic bite. Scary right? But if you do not know this fact, it actually looks very cute. See here for a photo of a slow loris.

Interesting fact 6 – Flight or Fight distance

This was mentioned when we were giving food to the female Malay Civet cat. When the keeper placed the food in her cage, she kept pacing around even though she was hungry. It was only when we backed off that she came forward for her food. The keeper said that was flight distance. If I were in the cage though, it might have been fight distance. Hmm I don't really want to be involved in a cat fight though.

Interesting fact 7 – More on civet

Civet Cat Coffee is the rarest type of coffee in the world.

Oh and this female Malay Civet cat is the mother of the two male Malay Civet cats on display. These 2 males stay together with the Asian Palm civet cats which you can easily differentiate because the Malay Civet are usually on the ground while the Asian Palm Civet prefers to be on the tree. It is also this reason that the Malay Civet cage has to be closed so that the Asian Palm Civet will not bunk in with them haha.

Sidetrack, the Asian Palm Civet is famously known for its role of coffee. Both Kopi Luwak and Motit Coffee is coffee that is prepared with their faeces. These civet were fed with special diet. Guess is the same theory as the stick insect whose main diet is guava leaves and thus their faeces is nice smelling.

Conclusion

It was really fun to explore the night safari in the day. Plus the leopard trail has a wide variety of animals for me to visit and pat haha. I even caught sight of the flying squirrels cuddling in the nest. Clip (because his ear was clipped) opened his eyes the moment he heard me coming in haha. Wonder if I will ever recognise him the next time I see him though. But while I really had fun exploring the day safari, I guess it is still best the safari stays open at night.

Orang-utan's great escape from Perth Zoo

Source: Perth Zoo

July 13 2009
The 15-year-old Sumatran simian used a rope to swing out of her enclosure on Saturday, showing all the wisdom of age and her species.

Pulang "appeared to free a rope from a bolt and swing herself into the visitor area", senior orang-utan keeper Kylie Bullo said.

Once there, Pulang wondered what she was doing and was easily coaxed back to her home. She was out of her enclosure for about five minutes.

Comments: Still remember the last visit to zoo, Keeper Tony was telling us the story of the clever orang utan who emulated the construction workers' daily routine.  Actually orang utan, gorilla and chimpanzee, who is the smarter one?  Is there really a way to deduce who is smarter?  Just as IQ test, EQ test, AQ test.  Is it really the right platform to conclude that person is a genius?

African safari tour

My parents just came back from Cape Town and while watching their video, I heard the safari tour guide saying the collective word for zebras could be:
* A zeal of Zebra
* A herd of Zebra
* (And of course) A dazzle of zebra.. which is what the tour guide was using to describe that invoked me to research more.

A dazzle of zebra.. like this:

Was also talking about Giraffes being the "super model of the bush" because of their:
* sexy long legs
* graceful walk
* long eyelashes

Anyway because of them, I decided to pay the AA (African Adventure) station a visit. While I was happily taking the exhibits...

The cheetah suddenly came forward and showed me its back haha.

Oh what fascinates me is the coat.

Leopard

Cheetah - which is usually known as the fastest animal on earth. However their body temperature increases rapidly during a high-speed chase. Therefore, they must stop after running for about a minute or they will die from overheating. Geez, they are so hot-blooded.

King Cheetah.. I never knew there is this species. A spotted cheetah may be able to give birth to both king and spotted cubs.

The king cheetah is a rare mutation of cheetah characterized by a distinct pelt pattern. A recessive gene must be inherited from both parents in order for this pattern to appear- which is one reason why it is so rare.
- Source: Wiki

Panther - surprise! I bet you did not know that panther has spots haha. It is just too dark to be seen.

Seeing this ostrich reminds me of the JBP's Oscar.. and about the ostriches that my parents saw in Africa. Haha and the timing was great as he was trying to call its mate. See how blown up his neck is. The noise he make is a deep blowing sound.

More fun facts from here.
# The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is the largest bird living today.
# Ostriches are commercially farmed in the United States and many other countries. # Ostrich hide is made into fine leather and ostrich feathers are used for decoration and for cleaning materials.
# Ostriches are also valued for their red meat, which is often described as similar to beef, but with two-thirds less fat content.
# Although they cannot fly, ostriches can run at speeds of over 40 miles per hour. # An ostrich may run faster then a horse, but it can not run as far. After about half an hour it will slows down.
# Their powerful legs can deliver a formidable blow to predators.
# Ostriches do not stick their head in the sand, this is a myth. When an ostrich is cornered and has no other defense they will lay down on the ground, their head/neck will then blend in with the sand.

Oh and I caught the sloth "fighting" with the flying foxes haha. Notice its two toes, and the way its furs grow which is of different direction from the normal animals because sloth always hang itself upside down.

I also saw a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. Have you ever wonder how a fat and chubby caterpillar crystalise its innards to become a pupa. I wonder if I can do the same too to metamorphis and become a butterfly? Hmm...

Oh and FF got a newcomer. Welcome Strawberry Hermit Crab (Coenobita perlatus)!

Native to the Indo-Pacific region, specifically Madagascar, Japan, and Australia and in other areas around the Red Sea and the Pacific. However, they have spread to other Atlantic regions because humans have brought them there.

These hermit crabs are noted for their bright red colouring and white granual markings. They can be 18 mm in length.

Juveniles are white with red antennae, but as they grow and molt, their orange and red colouring appears. During their younger years, they are more of a pale red or orange colour. As adults, they are very red. Their eyestalks are the same colour as their body and are thick. Their walking legs are thick and strong for climbing.- Source: Wiki

My friend was saying the land hermit crab has white spots on the reddish legs, just like strawberry skin haha.


After lunch, I happened to see keeper Tony & Andre at the Manatee feeding corner. Yupz it is also the manatee feeding times. So went to peek at the baby manatee. Geez it grown so big. Keeper Tony was once again asking me lots of questions e.g. if I remember the 4th R - Replant. I just realised it was about a year ago when I did my attachment with him. How time flies.

Then he was saying even though we are in front of the manatee, he can talk to me about other animals e.g. if ants can think, or whether orang utan, gorilla and chimpanzee, can we really determine who are the cleverest? He went on to tell us a story of a clever Malaysian orang utan who observed the construction workers daily and ended up knowing how to operate most of the tools when she escaped out of her cage one day. Actually sometimes I think it is unfair for human to observe and then measure the animals according to human's standards. Characteristics e.g. who is the cleverest, who is the fastest, who is the prettiest.. is very subjective. If every human has his/her talents, so do every animals right?

By the way, I am still unable to find the animal hospital he mentioned hmm...


LP was telling me this is a king fisher. I rarely see this colouring, interesting!


The interesting aspect about this white-handed gibbon is its thumb is so much lower than the index finger thus giving it a very long hand structure. Oh and I'm really impressed that NS wants to capture all the poses of these monkeys. As I told LP, they can really come up with a 365days-calendar of monkey. Would be very impressive!


I asked LP to show me the baby pygmy hippo.. so cute haha.
I ended my day with this last shot.. tired already. I think I have been visiting the zoo too often lately haha.