RMBR

A long awaited visit to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. Finally. Though I was upset I could not see the zoological reference collection as I forgot to sign up. But I guess seeing through the eyes of Tisugal is good enough thanks to her detailed post.

Raffles Museum is named after Singapore's founder Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. It houses a collection of dead and preserved biological specimens that are classified and catalogued just like books.

There were 2 guides this morning though I did not stick myself to either one as I was flitting around observing how they conduct the tour and bring forward the conservation message.

Interesting things I took note:

1) Snake
Probably because I recently read Tisugal post on it too so I listened more intently.
It was cute when she said snake don't bite for a reason. We are not their type of food. Besides after biting us, it will transferred all its poison to us, and leave itself vulnerable to another snake that comes along. Hmm somehow I wonder why vulnerable.. Unless it might be a potential source of food for the oncoming snake? Probably.


2) Horseshoe crab

I actually like the way the small horseshoe crabs are displayed. Must check out FF display and see how it can be improved further. It is said to be related to spider. That statement triggered my interest to do a little research on horseshoe crab:


The horseshoe crab belongs to the large group of invertebrates (animals without backbones) called Arthropods. This group also includes lobsters, crabs, insects, spiders, and scorpions. The horseshoe crab is not a crab at all, but is more closely related to sea spiders (not the land spiders).Sea spiders are not real spiders, or even arachnids.

Source:
History and Biology
Horseshoe-Crabs.com

And the amazing fact about these creatures is after over 500 millions years have passed, little evolution has happened to them. Thus it is very precious to the biomedical science research and utmost care must be given to these creatures especially since they are currently very threatened by the human.

3) Conservation message
Most repeated is the fact that these animals are facing extinct due to various external (human) threats. E.g. The sunbear whose bile was removed. Hmm I forgot about this when the guide asked me especially since the zoo did mention. Sigh memory bad, me bad too.

4) The preservation efforts.

This is a leather turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and is the largest of the living turtles. Leathery turtles live in open seas and apparently feed largely on jellyfish.  There is a nesting colony in Terengganu, along the north-eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This particular exhibit was found in Singapore on the beach at Siglap on 14th December 1883, by some local people who tried to throw it back into the sea. Mr. A. M. Skinner, who happened to pass by, managed to persuade them to take it to the Museum instead.
Source: The signage beside the exhibit.

1883.. that means it has been preserved for more than a 100 years.  In fact the preservatives are poisonous (e.g. arsenic and formalin) and the guides repeatedly told us not to touch them (Signs were displayed as well).

p/s: for an explanation between turtles and tortoise, read Tisugal's post.

5)Oven bake specimen

I was asking the guide how did she managed to preserve the butterflies into such a pretty state and she told me they oven baked it. Shocked! Haha but now, I'm asking Tisugal if she is able to find out more information on it for our FF display exhibits.

6) Children corner

Purely because of today's open house that they had some children activities e.g. colouring and crafting. I must admit these activities looked interesting and is quite popular among the children. I was tempted to do the craft too haha.

Sadly, I did not get to see the zoological reference collection. 

The Zoological Reference Collection has one of the largest collection of Southeast Asian animals in the region, holding about 500,000 specimens. Normally only accessible by scientists, for IMD 2009, special tours for the ZRC will be available to the public.

Sighz...


Oh and if you want more information about the RMBR, do drop by Tisugal's post.

SZ Tale 18

Latest addition: River Toad (Bufo asper)
The female of this species is impressive as it can grow up to 14cm.  Unlike other toads, both the young and adults do not wander through the forest but remain along the steam banks.

Crowd was low though, wondering is it because of H1N1 hmm...