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Habitatnews 2001-29: Friday, 30th November 2001
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
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Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss
More information and archives at: <http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg>
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Contents

1. A young Malayan Pangolin roadkill near NTU, 9 Nov 2001.
2. Talk on Waterlilies tomorrow by Director of Kew Gardens
3. "Pulau Ubin: Ours to Treasure" - discounted price of S$35
4. "Snakes in Thailand" - new book available
5. Singapore Heritage Mailing List
6. Nature Watch is now online!
7. Story about the huge pirachu, the largest freshwater fish
8. Article on the World Fish Centre

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---> [1] A young Malayan Pangolin roadkill near NTU, 9 Nov 2001.
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A Mr Lim Meng Meng, an NTU student called us at the Raffles Museum
of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) on Friday 9th November. Eventually
talking to Research Officer Darren Yeo, he said he was returning
to his hostel at 2am that day when he saw a "freshly hit" pangolin
on the road, still bleeding from the head.

He and friends moved it to the side of the road and called us
that afternoon. We drove down to Nanyang Avenue just off Jalan
Bahar to collect the carcass, and thankfully the ENV cleaners
hadn't got to it first. I had lost one to them near Arcadia Road
on 13th January 1999 [Habitatnews 99-05], and the memory rankles,
obviously. I update some comments I wrote then:

'The Malayan Pangolin (Manis javanica), is a toothless,
scale-covered, insect eating mammal, also known as the
Scaly Anteater (Family Pholidota). It is an uncommon mammal,
listed in the Singapore Red Data Book, and is found in the
Central and Western Catchment areas and elsewhere in scrubland.
Termites are part of its diet, and it has strong claws which
can dig into the hardened mounds.'

Free-roaming individuals are encountered curled up in hollows
at the Singapore Zoological Gardens which is adjacent to the
Central Catchment Area (CCA). Zoo staff Suresh Pillai says he
advises visitors to leave them be. They are notoriously
difficult to maintain in captivity.

In August this year, Kate Thome alerted me of a live animal
in someone's backyard near the CCA. Benjamin Lee of NParks
picked it up the young male and had it sent to "the zoo for
a health check and microchip scan" before release back into
nearby forest.

Shawn Lum and Vilma D'Rozario of NTU wrote prophetically for
their campus newspaper in May this year and said "it is
believed that an isolated population of pangolins occurs in
the Western Catchment adjoining NTU. This means that with
more of the forest being cleared, and pangolin habitat
disturbed, you may see a pangolin ambling down Jalan Bahar
one of these days."

"If you spot a wayward pangolin, you can do your bit to help
Nature by catching the harmless and gentle, if somewhat
odiferous, animal, and then notifying the Singapore Zoological
Gardens (contact Dr Paolo Martelli at 9679-4110 or Usha at
269-3411). Zoo staff will run a health check and deworm the
displaced pangolin, imbed a microchip for monitoring purposes,
and then arrange to have the animal returned to an environment
more salubrious than a major thoroughfare. Be sure to place
the animal gently into a sturdy box ­ with airholes, of course
­ lest you find that it has taken a tour of your home, office, or
automobile."

If, however, you are less fortunate and encounter a roadkill
instead, please call the Raffles Museum at 874-5082 and leave
your name and contact number for me, Sivasothi. We will attempt
to recover the body, or at the very least the skull, for
preservation in the museum. This sort of record is valuable.
If you can bring it in, please do so, and the map to the museum
is at: <http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/RMBR.JPG>

You have to be quick in calling us in the morning, for ENV
cleaners are usually active from 6am. The nocturnal pangolin
is more likely encountered at night and if killed by a car,
is likely to be cleared away the next morning.

But don't get carried away, especially if you are on the BKE.
It is more important that you complete your journey safely than
spot roadkills.

The specimen is now in one of our freezers. It will be dissected
to remove the internal organs for preservation in alcohol, for
DNA studies in future . The whole animal will be preserved by
immersion in formalin and later alcohol. The animal may later
be displayed in the RMBR Public Gallery to inform visitors on
the presence of pangolins in our western catchment and the
importance of reporting in roadkills.

Previously I had written about migratory Blue-winged Pittas
bashing their heads into glass panes at the zoo (October 2001),
a leopard cat roadkill sent in to the museum (June 2001) and a
5-day old dugong carcass from which we recovered the skull
(July 2001) [Habitatnews No. 2001-15 and 2001-26].

Yes, Singapore is full of surprising wildlife, and when you
encounter an unfortunate wild animal that has met with an
untimely demise, please call us. We'll try to make a dash for
it and convert it into a valuable record that remains with the
museum for as long as it is standing. Having lasted more than
100 years, it's not an idle promise.

But if you encounter the rare sight of an animal in its natural
habitat, simply enjoy your encounter with nature, and be thankful
for the forest that is its home.


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---> [2] "Waterlilies: The Present and Future of Ancient Flowers"
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by Prof. Peter Crane.
the Director of Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, England,

Date: Saturday 1st Dec: 4-5 PM
Venue: The Auditorium, RELC International Hotel
near Shangrila Hotel (Refreshment follows)

Abstract - Waterlilies are among the most widely cultivated and
most distinctive of all flowering plants. Culturally, they have
figured prominently in the decorative arts of both ancient and
modern civilisations.

Today, our scientific understanding of waterlilies suggests that
they are a group of great antiquity that are key in understanding
many aspects of plant evolution. It is also clear that as the
wetland habitats that they occupy are modified by human activity
waterlilies are becoming scarce in the wild, raising questions
about how these most ancient of plants may be best conserved for
the future.


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---> [3] "Pulau Ubin: Ours to Treasure" - offer price of S$35
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Zeehan Jaafar recently organised a talk by Chua Ee Kiam for the
Biodiversity & Ecology Journal Club about Chek Jawa, see
<http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/BDJC>. The distributor his book "Pulau
Ubin: Ours to Treasure" came for the talk and extended the audience
an offer at the discounted rate of S$35 per book.

They have extended their offer and Zeehan has volunteered to
collate purchases. Just arrange to provide her with your name and
contact and the money by 15th December.

Contact her at <scip1157@...> or call her at 9657-7124.
The book was launched in January 2001 and usually retails for $39.90

--- thanks Zeehan!


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---> [4] "Snakes in Thailand", new book
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'The lay-out and presentation of this new book is much like the
best-selling Amphibians of Thailand, but this is a more
comprehensive volume dealing with many more species.
Amarin Publishing, 320 pages, hard cover, 2001. S$25.90.

Much of the text is in Thai, but names and some explanations are
in English. Also, there is a useful set of icons at each species
entry showing distribution, habits and status. Illustrated
throughout with close-up photographs.'

--- Source: Morten Strange, Nature's Niche

I guess language never got in the way of a well illustrated book
with scientific (Latin) names. You should see my collection of
Taiwanese books!

Bee Choo and Morten revamped their webpage some time ago.
See <http://www.naturesniche.com>


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---> [5] Singapore Heritage Mailing List
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Chua Ai Lin is the 'list administrator for the singaporeheritage
mailing list. Affiliated to the Singapore Heritage Society, members
of the society have been interested in Ubin for some time now, and
are following the updates on Chek Jawa.

The mailing list contains announcements and occasionally discussions
about local heritage, history and conservation matters.'
See <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singaporeheritage>
All are invited and traffic is low.

They also have a webpage at: <http://www.singaporeheritage.net>

Source: Chua Ai Lin (mainly).


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---> [6] Nature Watch is now online!
<http://www.nss.org.sg/new/watch.html>
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Nothing beats sitting back and slowly picking through the pages of
your latest magazine subscription. I have always looked forward to
Nature Watch since it always contains surprises. And some issues,
like the Pulau Ubin special, are always referred by researchers.

But finding my issues can be a problem and sometimes I do not get
them back. Well now, back issues of this colourful magazine are
now online. A vehicle of the Nature Society (Singapore), the online
version is the result of another "print to web" project by Ria Tan.


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---> [7] "A fish, a river and a man" by John Vidal
A fishy tale abut the huge pirachu of the Amazon, the largest
freshwater fish in the world.
<http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2001/11/27/features/fis
htale&sec=features>
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"Mafra is married to Dina, who thinks he is mad because he is in
love with the pirarucu. His grand passion started when ... he
[realised he] would never make a great pirarucu hunter because
he was a lousy harpoonist and could never catch the fish they call
³the big red one²...."


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---> [8] The World Fish Centre, formerly ICLARM, in Penang, Malaysia
"Where science and economics meet" by MOZART A.T. PASTRANO
The Star Online, Tuesday, November 27, 2001
<http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2001/11/27/features/mpf
ish1b&sec=features>
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'An hourıs effort of fishing in the Gulf of Thailand, now yields
almost 16kg of fish compared to more than 140kg in 1966. Out of 200
fished stocks in all parts of the world, only a little more than
33% can produce more.'

The newly inaugurated World Fish Centre in Penang, formerly called the
International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management, has been
actively searching for solutions for the past 24 years. It opened its
headquarters in Batu Maung, Penang, recently.

Together with its over 300 partner organisations worldwide, the
centre has pioneered improved breeds of tropical food fish (such as
the Nile tilapia), developed methods to assess and better manage
complex tropical fisheries and the health of reefs, applied
technologies which integrate aquaculture into existing agriculture
systems, developed the culture of high-value coral reef species
by village farmers, and researched new practices for the sustainable
management of small-scale fisheries. The centre has also developed
global databases, including one on the worldıs fishes and another
for coral reefs.


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