Bird Tale 01

Zoo decided to hold the docents AGM in Jurong Bird Park… which is the only reason why I attended because it has been ages since I last stepped in JBP.

Supposedly meet 9am for the free breakfast (The Early Bird Breakfast) except that day seems particularly busy because it is the last weekend for those to endorse free JBP tickets. So we waited and waited… drinking finish our tea… for this pretty salty bread cum ham breakfast


Oh well one should never complain about free food. Then we headed to Tree Tops @ Flamingo Lake for our AGM which drone on and on…


End up we did not get to tour around the Discovery Centre (Mini-museum) which is said to hold the world’s largest egg, unearth the secrets of nest making and learn about feathers and flights. So disappointed. And to save time (I think), we kept taking the panorail

Shuttling 3 places:
• Main Station, near the entrance and amphitheatre
• Lory Station, near the Lory Loft
• Waterfall Station, near the Waterfall Aviary and Jurong Falls

We took from the Main Station to the Lory Station to feed the lories. Oh and I finally understood why my ex-colleague told me to take an umbrella… it is indeed danger zone. We were given special nectar mixture to entice the lories to come close to us. I think the lories are overfed that day though with the throngs of visitors.


After that, is the Lunch cum BirdPark challenge.
First stop was the Penguin Expedition to visit the penguins.


Then to Dinosaur Descendant where we were running round to find

Oscar!

The lovely Male Ostrich haha.



I felt the cassowary looks more like dino descendant because of the casque on its head.

Back to Flamingo Lake to take photo of the origami pelican (I made it!) kissing another pelican…


Last stop: WATERFALL! (African Waterfall Aviary)
It is the landmark of JBP so cannot miss. Considering I miss a lot of attractions already… so sad =(
Saw a lot of superb starling. My friend took a very lovely picture of the starling with the waterfall but I decided not to include in this blog. (Let her blog it herself =D )


Then we made our way to Fuji Hawk Walk to catch the Kings of the Skies Show. You get to see lots of birds. I particularly like the Secretary Bird.



After that we had a debrief.. then is home sweet home after a tiring day.

SZ Tale 15

A long day today because I had duty cum talk cum origami... but I loved every moment I spent in the zoo starting from the CNY decoration...

hmm hmm.. golden ox.. hmm.. hmm actually frankly speaking, the CNY decoration is not that great la hahah.. but something new =D

Then visit FF's nearest neighbour.. the Proboscis monkey (长鼻猴)..  because I promised to remember my classmate when I see monkey so I chose Proboscis monkey haha.  Aiya the baby so cute..   Ever seen the adult one?  Not that cute though so don't show u haha.  (Is my own opinion though, some people might like the special nose of this Proboscis monkey).

And my morning ritual - a visit to the biodome.  Saw this new addition.. was wondering why the flower petals decoration?  It was only after reading another docent's duty report did I realised this is another nectar plate.  So desu ne!

And I happen to meet the keeper feeding the bats/lemurs breakfast... A real treat for me too!

After that we had lunch in the newly (in some sense still new) renovated Ah Meng restaurant.  My first time eating here .. never had any memory of the old restaurant either haha.

 

Ferret Seng Seng visited us in the auditorium while waiting for the talk to begin.  You should see it when it was let on the floor... rolling itself and running about.  Super hyber active!


Ok and the crux of this post is none other than the talk
Singapore 's Green Skyscrapers by Ms Karen Teo

About the speakerMs Karen Teo is Senior Outreach Officer at the Central Nature Reserve, National Parks Board
Source: Zoo


Learnt that there are 4 nature reserves in mainland Singapore.
1) Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
2) Central Catchment Nature Reserve
3) Labrador Nature Reserve
4) Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
as well as a Nee Soon freshwater swamp, the only one left in SG.

And did you know Singapore has the highest rate of deforestation as well as species (floral and fauna) loss.  Sighz!  Oh and that primary forest usually refers to forest of minimal or no disturbance whearas Secondary forest means the forest has been disturbed before.

Based on the map, one will realise Bukit Timash Nature Reserve is very near Central Catchment Nature Reserve.  It used to be one big family too until the creation of BKE (Bukit Timah Expressway) split the nature reserve into two.  From the onwards, Bukit Timah Nature reserve becomes a small nature reserve on its own with in-breeding occuring and stray dogs being left to roam inside.  SIGH!  That is why I hate man for thinking they are the cleverest creatures in this world... can we bear the consequence now that something has gone wrong?  Can we revert the damages done?  What's loss... is lost...


The speaker reminded us that dogs, cats and other domesticated animals DO NOT belong to the forest.  Introducing them will only cause harm to the forest.  Also one should never bring out the animals in the forest just because they are cute.

I did not realise that long-tailed macaque loves to eat crabs.  And that banded-leaf monkey are highly endangered and endemic (native in SG only).  You can read more on the banded-leaf monkey here.  And this is the reason why one should never let dogs into the nature reserve, see how the last monkey suffered due to the pack of 5 dogs.

Lastly the speaker shared with us the causes of the diminishing of the nature reserve
1) too many people visiting - especially Bukit Timah and they want more car park space... so dumb...
2) walking on the sides instead of the steps.  This caused the soil to be compacted and landslide or soil erosion to occur.  That is why I hate people who step on grasses when steps are readily available.
3) littering
4) water sports causing sediment change that affects the nature reserve.
5) fishing and poaching (which includes taking anything from the nature reserve even if you are not caught)

Then to end the day with a fun filled origami activity...


About the speaker:
Ms Yuka Nakamura is a student of Zoology and Education at the University of Queensland , Australia. She is native Japanese and has been interested in origami since she was a child. Besides folding the most complicated of animals, she has also come up with some of her own origami creations. Yuka is currently on attachment with the Zoo Education Department. 
Source: Zoo

Some photos of her artwork.  More information and origami works can be found here. As for my artwork.. haha too ugly to be seen "p