Brinjals

Brinjal called 'eggplant' because of the shape of the first variety that English speakers came across. A popular vegetable with many different colours, shapes and sizes.

Nipple Brinjal
This South American plant is also known as cow's udder or titty fruit because of its iterestingly shaped fruit. The Choco Indians use the fruit to poison cockroaches. The seeds are used to treat kidney and bladder problems.

Lesser Mouse Dear

小鼷鹿

中文学名： 小鼷鹿
中文目名： 偶蹄目
中文科名： 鼷鹿科
中文属名： 鼷鹿属
同物异名： Cervus javanicus,　Tragulus javanicus williamsoni,　
中文俗名： 鼠鹿 　小鹿 　小鼷鹿 　马来亚鼷鹿 　改范 　
拉丁文目名： ARTIODACTYLA
拉丁文科名： Tragulidae
拉丁文属名： Tragulus
拉丁文种名： williamsoni
物种命名人及年代： Kloss, 1916


And now a story for you on Lesser Mouse Deer...

Outwitting a Crocodile

A Traditional Malaysian Folktale

Retold by Chok Yoon Foo from Malaysia

Sang Kancil is a clever, tricky mouse deer who is always finding himself in predicaments with animals that want to eat him or harm him, but he cleverly manages to escape each time. In this story, Sang Kancil outwits a big, bad crocodile.

He stepped on each crocodile, counting each one, and finally reached the other side of the river.

Sang Kancil was a clever mouse deer. Whenever he was in a bad situation, he always played a clever trick to escape. In this story, Sang Kancil outwitted Sang Buaya, a big, bad crocodile, who wanted to eat him.

There were many trees whereSang Kancil's lived along the river, so he never had trouble finding food. There were always lots of leaves. He spent his time running and jumping and looking into the river.

Sang Buaya, the big bad crocodile, lived in the river with other crocodiles. They were always waiting to catch Sang Kancil for dinner. One day when Sang Buaya was walking along the river, he saw some delicious fruit on the trees on the other side the river.

Sang Kancil wanted to taste the tasty-looking fruit because he was a little tired of eating leaves. He tried to think of a way to cross the river, but he had to be careful. He didn't want to be caught and eaten by Sang Buaya. He needed to trick Sang Buaya.

Sang Kancil suddenly had an idea He called out to the crocodile, "Sang Buaya! Sang Buaya!" Sang Buaya slowly came out of the water and asked Sang Kancil why he was shouting his name. He asked Sang Kancil, "Aren't you afraid I will eat you?" Then he opened his big mouth very wide to scare Sang Kancil.

Sang Kancil said, "Of course, I am afraid of you, but the king wants me to do something. He is having a big feast with lots of food, and he is inviting everyone, including you and all the other crocodiles. But first, I have to count all of you. He needs to know how many of you will come. Please line up across the river, so I can walk across your heads and count all of you."

Sang Buaya was excited and left to tell the other crocodiles about the feast with all the good food. Soon, they came and made a line across the river. Sang Kancil said, "Promise not to eat me because or I can't report to the king how many of you are coming. They promised not to eat him.

Sang Kancil stepped on Sang Buaya's head and counted one. Then he stepped on the next one and said, "Two." He stepped on each crocodile, counting each one, and finally reached the other side of the river. Then he said to Sang Buaya,"Thank you for helping me to cross the river to my new home."

Sang Buaya was shocked and angry. He shouted at Sang Kancil, "You tricked us! There is no feast, is there?" All of the crocodiles looked at Sang Buaya angrily. They were angry because he let Sang Kancil trick all of them.

Sang Kancil loved his new home on the other side of the river because he had a lot of tasty food to eat. Poor Sang Buaya was not so lucky. After that, none of the other crocodiles ever talked to him again.

Source:
http://hanyu.iciba.com/wiki/264960.shtml
http://www.topics-mag.com/folk-tales/folk-tale-cleverness-mayl.htm

Red-shouldered Macaw

The Red-shouldered Macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis) is the smallest macaw being 30–35 centimetres (12–14 inches) in length. It is not considered to be an endangered species, but wild populations have declined locally due to habitat loss.

And this poor little macaw had broken its beak due to unknown reasons. In reality, many birds will suffer beak injuries during the course of their lives as their upper and lower beaks are vulnerable to trauma and will often fracture as a result. Such injuries are orthopedic in nature.

Some beak injuries result in permanent, disfiguring damage, requiring the bird to eat soft foods for the rest of its life, but other injuries may heal quite well allowing the bird to return to normal beak functioning.

There had been a case when a dentist actually managed to make a dental impression of a healthy beak for a Bald Eagle, reproduced the beak with the same materials used for our teeth and successfully attached the beak thus allowing the Bald Eagle to function normally. Other materials that can be used to rebuild beaks include acrylics (the same material used for artificial nails).

As I have not been to the zoo for a long time, I wonder how is this macaw doing. While the hope that its beak will recover may not seem too high, but remembering how it kept polishing the cage with its broken beak and making noises, my heart really sank with it. I think losing its beak changed not only its food habits, it might really change its whole life.

Source:
Wiki
Avian Web

Green Idea 2 - Benches

I thought it was a good idea to have a little resting corner in the central area where one can just zoned out of the hustle and bustle of working life. Thus while admiring this zen area, I realised the benches were not made of the typical material I had expected. Can you guess what were they made of?

Toner cartridges. Seriously I have no idea how to recycle the toner catridges into materials to make the benches. But for making efforts in saving Gaia, kudos to Ricoh Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.

Green Idea 1 - Drinking Jars

In Kim Gary Hong Kong Restaurant, I caught sight of jars being used as drinking cups for the lychee or longan drinks. Felt this is a good way to go green.

Website: http://www.kimgary.com.my/

Interesting facts

The poison arrow frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world.

Penguins can convert salt water into fresh water.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.

Billy goats urinate on their own heads to smell more attractive to females.

The Giant South African Earthworm can grow up to 22 feet long and 1 inch in thick.

Squirrels can't remember where they hide half of their nuts.

Blue and fin whales can create the loudest sound by animals ever recorded.

Bulls are colourblind, therefore will usually charge at a matador's waving cape no matter what colour it is - be it red or neon yellow!

If you leave a goldfish in a dark room for years, it will turn white.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

Leopard Lacewing Caterpillars

The hidden perks of being a docent? When you make friends with so many like-minded docents who are always sharing the plethora insights and experience.. e.g. this fellow docent who graciously showed me the leopard lacewing caterpillars... So pretty right.

In fact, I have a feeling this first day cover, the caterpillar drawn should be inspired by this leopard lacewing caterpillars too...

On a separate note, I finally managed to bewitch a butterfly to fly on top of my hand..
actually I did nothing, I must thanks the weather though because it was a superbly hot morning and thus I was sweating and the salt contents my hand attracted the butterfly to drop by and fill itself with the nitrates.

More Babies In the Zoo

After my last post on Love is in the air.. in the zoo
I realised there are more and more new arrivals.. starting with 2 ring-tailed baby lemurs

Photographed by Shirley, a fellow docents and another expert photographer whose photos always bring us delight. She took this when it was just a few days old...

And she took this after a few weeks. Unfortunately my camera battery had went flat that day so I could not captured any shots other than video. Actually the video shot is nice hahah.. but blurry still so decided to showcased Shirley's photo instead.

Another arrival is the baby sloth.. yipee again!
See the baby is yawning. I caught the video but yup.. I think Shirley's photo does it a better justice haha

The latest arrival which had the WRS publicising a note here goes to this little Grant Zebra, born 28th April 2010. It has been quite awhile since the last zebra foal was born in 2005 and thus this is quite a celebrated news in the zoo I supposed.

And yupz this time I did managed to catch a shot as this is solely the reason why I had brought my camera out today. (though seriously Shirley's photo is once again better but I can't possible keep stealing her photos for this post).

Lastly, when I took this photo, I felt the blissful love in the air... and conjured out this phrase
"Love is when you can yawn and not mind your partner looking at you.."

A Sea Turtle Adventure

Adapted from Siam Ocean World's 3D Sea Turtle Experience

"I want story! I want story!" The lil' turtle was tugging grandpa's shell and begging for a story.

"Alright alright, I will tell you an old story.. About how grandpa almost couldn't live to such ripe old age.." The elderly turtle finally relented to his grandson's request.

I had came from a very beautiful hometown. Beautiful corals, clear blue water, lovely sandy ground and colourful fishes as dance companion. I used to sing and dance with my friend, The Octopus.

One day, while we were in the midst of our happy time, suddenly the water turned blackish, the fishes started to swimmed away. The Octopus advised me to leave our hometown. But I refused.. initially. The situation got blacker and blacker and The Octopus forced me to pack up and go.

So I left my hometown of many years with a heavy heart. As I took a last look of my hometown polluted by oil, I wondered why would someone bear to make this place dirty.

This journey opened my eyes and brought me to many places. Places where I see human dirtying the sea. Places where I see human cleaning up the waters. Humans.. I really cannot fathom what they are thinking.

Which reminds me of an occassion where I was saved by human... accidentally. I was caught by an egret and carried all the way up to its nest high up the tree. I thought that would be the end of me too. Ironically the humans were deforesting that area and chop that very tree down. I fell back into the sea and quickly swam away.

Another occassion where I seen human's evil intentions was when I had just befriended a whale. As I drifted alongside with her, chit chatting under the sun, suddenly something flew past my shell. An arrow! The human were trying to shoot the whale down. My whale friend immediately dive into the sea instinctively. And I had no choice but to swim as fast as I could; away from the human.

That was my last close encounter with human. After that I found this haven and set up my family which now comprise of you guys. And I pray everyday sincerely that the human will never find this safe haven.

Lil' turtle had a sleepy grin after hearing grandpa's life story. As he tried to made his way back to bed, he had once again fumble. He had just started learning how to walk afterall. Grandpa kindly supported him and recounted that in life, the first step is always the hardest. But without it, goals will never be accomplished and miracles will never happen.

Art and Nature

Art and nature cannot co-exist.. this is what I felt since the day I got more active in nature.

It is not that I am being extremist but it has been a known fact that certain photographers for the sake of capturing a better shot will adjust mother nature (in an unkindly manner). And even I myself feels guilty still for always trudging on grasses when following my couterpart to take photo of butterflies. Seriously the grasses did me no wrong, why are they subjected to such trampling? Sigh.

And when I saw this article - Murder in the name of Art??
I am fully convinced that Art and Nature do not co-exists.

My last visit in Esplanade I too caught sight of the seashells being exhibited and took some pictures. At that time I felt it a pity that these huge amount of seashells had to be sacrified for the name of art. But I did not feel that much pain because one, I'm not sure if corals get hurt and two, I too hurt corals before due to scuba diving. (Which is why I actually have thoughts of giving up scuba diving already.. unsure.. anyway currently don't have the monetary means to go scuba diving either.)

Seeing the photo, I do wonder exactly how many seashells were sacrificed. Hopefully the white elongated container was not filled from the bottom else we would really have sinned.

But killing butterflies for the sake of art...
yucks!
That is even more gruesome.
The following article - Requiem for butterflies explain more about the aftermath of the event.

I did more research on the artist and found this:

Butterflies and needles have become recurrent themes in his recent works. “After the 2002 bombings, the people in Bali and Jakarta felt that life was not very secure. But I had had that feeling for a long time: not because of big problems like the bombs, but because of small everyday problems. As a Chinese I feel I’m facing discrimination. So I use a needle as a metaphor of my pain; and the butterfly as metaphor for the fragility of people in the face of big power,” he said.

Source: NY Times

I can only say.. more butterflies in trouble?
Anyway certain butterflies are known to be picky eater thus I can only hope those he chose for art, are the types which are easier to breed.

Anyway I have stopped Arts for the time being... so I did not visit the SAM at all and thus am unlikely to catch the exhibit. Not that I am likely to visit out of great respect towards butterflies.

*A Moments of Silence*

Another problem caused by deforestation

Source: Email.
I am not sure whoever created this artwork, but whoever did that, kudos to you. I simply like that idea...

Love is in the air.. in the zoo

Love is in the air in the first quarter of the zoo..

In January, I check out the sunbears, my to-do list after reading that
"The sun bear is the world's smallest bear. It is easily identified by the pale yellow U-shape crest on its chest that is said to resemble a setting sun, hence its name."

Setting sun... just have to see it to believe it.. and boy I caught these 2 sun bears fighting out of love (I'm not sure their gender by the way).. caught a video because there is just no way I can take photos of them. Then print screen thus the effect is.. blurred wahahah

After duty, another RA scene wahahaha.. the Aldabra Giant Tortoises were mating.. Well being tortoises, they are slower so I was able to get clearer photos. And they were pretty fierce too.

The next month, I did not catch sight of any love-making scenes, but I caught sight of the aftermath.. peachicks.. scuttling after their mother. So cool. I almost could not capture them. 2 little children were chasing after these peachicks too with their mum telling them not to scare these chicks. The scene is so warm and fuzzy...

Oh and recently I saw the River Safari logo in the office already. Hmm cannot wait to see River Safari opening.. 2011???

Run 350

Run 350 is part of an upcoming series of environment-related initiatives by Young NTUC. It aims to raise awareness about the 350 movement and hopes to raise enough to plant 350 trees during our 5th Anniversary celebration on 30th April 2010.
- Source: run350 site

In the name to create awareness, can I trust that this will be a beneficial run? I did not know anything about the MacRitchie run in 2009 because after the Sundown 2009 I stopped all marathons. But I joined enough of the typical marathons to know how destructive it is. The amount of litter we generate, seeing paper cups and empty gels careless thrown away along the marathon path is especially depressing and heart-breaking. But at least these are the typical running paths where cleaning up is done on a regular basis. But MacRitchie run is an entirely different story. Nobody cleans up the forest/nature on a regular basis other than God and by that I meant the rain clouds he sent to shower the litter away. And nobody tramples the forest the way marathoners do for the sake of glory.

And with the arrival of 2010, organisers have gotten sick of Singapore and decided to move to another spot to organise marathon. Pulau Ubin, one of the few islands I feel so untouched, so original, is going to be tainted by these marathoners. Run 350 claims to be non-competitive but seriously, competition arises in any situations. Just having a group of runners together in the park and without any reward at the end goal, there will already be a friendly competition.

I sincerely hope that organisers will put in the care and effort to protect Pulau Ubin. Hmm talking about it, I still have not been able to borrow the Chew Jawa video.