--------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitatnews 2002-08: Monday, 22nd April 2002
The Habitat Group's Nature Information List
To subscribe, email: habitatnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Current nature-related news busy Singaporeans might otherwise miss
More information and archives at: <http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research is part of the
Singapore Library Festival 2002!

See html version at <http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/libraryfestival>

1. New display on the Raffles Collection at the Public Gallery
2. Visiting hours at the Public Gallery extended to 9pm.
3. Guided tours every half-hour, 5.30pm to 8.30pm (please book)
4. Public Talks by museum staff at NUS LT32: Mon, Wed, Fri: 7.30pm
5. How to get to the Raffles Museum in NUS
--------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [1] New display on the Raffles Collection at the Public Gallery
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We have added a "Hidden treasures" section to the Public Gallery.

1. Some of the very old books inherited from the Raffles Library and Museum
that continue to be used today, including original works by Bleeker,
Linnaeus and Darwin; 2. The evolution of the Bulletin of the Raffles Museum
to its present form today as the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology; 3. Regional
journals that are very valuable sources of information; 4. How old books
have helped modern situations in natural history research; 5. Beautiful
paintings from old books of the Raffles COllection


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [2] Visiting hours at the Public Gallery extended to 9pm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Public Gallery is normally open during office hours. In celebration of
the Singapore Library Festival, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
is extending the visiting hours to the Public Gallery from 9am to 9pm.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [3] Guided tours every half-hour, 5.30pm to 8.30pm (please book)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From 5.30pm - 8.30pm, there will be guided tours every half-hour, conducted
by museum staff, University alumni (biology graduates) and four 14-year old
Chinese High students on their first trial as gallery guides! Please book by
sending an email to Greasi Simon at <greasi@...> and indicate 1)
Name, 2) No of people, 3) Date and 4) Time.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [4] Public Talks at NUS Lecture Theatre 32: Mon, Wed, Fri: 7.30pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Three different slide talks will be conducted by the Director of the Raffles
Museum, A/P Peter Ng and Research Officer N. Sivasothi in the theme ³Ancient
texts and explorations: a treasure trove of secrets from the wild².

--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> Mon 22nd April 2002: 7.30pm, NUS LT32
³Old paintings and news ideas - Personal examples for natural history
explorations in Southeast Asia."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By A/Prof Peter Ng, Director, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Dept.
Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore.

Students of natural history and modern biodiversity have long used
paintings of plants and animals for their research. In fact, many
classic paintings have been used by biologists to name new species. The
compilation of paintings by Rumphius and Seba for example, have been
used by many great men, notably Carolus Linnaeus, to name species,
especially those from Asia and Americas which were not easy to visit in
those days. Many fish species named by French scientists, for example,
were actually based on clasical Chinese paintings!

Of course, biologists have also long used paintings and drawings to
illustrate their scholarly articles. Even in the modern era of
high-technology photography and advanced digital imagery, biologists still
rely a great deal on "old-fashioned" drawings and sometimes even paintings
to emphasise their discovery.

In this talk, I will bring you across time and highlight some
interesting paintings and figures from the 1500s to the present which
have helped (or exasperated) me in my study of animals, notably aquatic
invertebrates and fish. Have these paintings advanced the cause of
modern research? What problems have they caused? How have we solved
them? How good were the old artists? What can modern biologists learn
from their work?


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> Wed 24th April 2002: 7.30pm, NUS LT32
³The hunt for the Hairy-nosed otter².
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By N. Sivasothi, a.k.a. ŒOtterman¹.
Member, IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group (Asian Section) &
Editor, Asian Otter Newsletter

There I am, shivering in the early morning, and brown heads bob out of the
sea. A family of otters swim energetically away. I get barely a glimpse and
realise I could not tell the species! Clues from dusty books initially threw
out more than 60 names for four species of otters, and it was time to sort
it all out. Some investigation into nomenclature was needed and I shelved
plans for ecology. Besides, it was too tiring chasing otters through bays in
Malaysia!

Eventually the mess was sorted out for three of the species, but the trail
of the Hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) remained almost mythical. J. E.
Gray's description from 1869 described a strangely (for an otter) paler
colour to the upper lip and chin. I would eventually see examples in the
Sarawak Museum and some time later, skulls of roadkills would emerge in
Malaysia.

Years later, information sharing between scientists would lead to the
rediscovery of this threatened endemic species of otter in Southeast Asia -
a live otter cub was discovered by hard-working forestry rangers in
Thailand. The combined efforts of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group would
lead to the discovery of adults in the wild, and eventually reports would
emerge from Cambodia and Vietnam.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> Fri 26th April 2002: 7.30pm, NUS LT32
"The times and trials of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research".
--------------------------------------------------------------------
By N. Sivasothi, Research Officer at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity
Research, Dept. Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore.

This story chronicles the trials of the zoological collection of animals and
books from the Raffles Library and Museum in Stamford Road. Surviving the
ravages of war, a change in focus for the National Museum saw the collection
wandering from place to place before finally establishing itself in the
National University of Singapore. While it would become internationally
famous as a research centre for Southeast Asian zoology, its locally
existence was virtually unknown; only a vague memory of a whale skeleton
remained in the minds of many!

Decades later, is beginning to revive its traditional role in public
education, mirroring events, as it were, that happened at the turn of the
last century! Learn about interesting and amusing stories and people that
have peppered the colourful history of this museum, and some of its current
and future plans.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
---> [5] How to get to the Raffles Museum in NUS
See: <http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/RMBR.JPG>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Gallery
--------------
1. From Buona Vista MRT station, take SBS No. 95 heading towards NUS.
2. After plying straight down Buona Vista Road, the bus turns right into the
university campus.
3. Stop at the second bus-stop (LT27) on Lower Kent Ridge Road.
4. Walk to Science Drive 2.
5. The Raffles Museum is the end of the road in Block S6, third floor.

Public talks
------------
Guides will bring you to LT32 for the talks. If you are going for the talk
directly, alight at the third bus-stop (Sheare¹s Hall) and walk up Science
Drive 4.
--------------------------------------------------------------------