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After a 30-year hiatus as theZoological Research Collection, thecollection was revived as the Raffles

M u s e u m o fBiodiversity

Research in1998. Thisnewidentitysaw asignificantrevival of

them u s e u m ’ s

traditional role inpublic education, and in manyways, mirrored the efforts ofRichard Hanitsch, the museum’sdirector at the turn of the lastcentury!

The Public Gallery wasofficially opened in 2001 andprovided a showcasefor biodiversity andconservation issues inSingapore and ther e g i o n . G u i d e sa m p l i f i e d t h ee x p e r i e n c econsiderably for themany visitors and anew pool of volunteerguides will conductlunch time tours fort h e u n i v e r s i t yc o m m u n i t y a n dSaturday morning sessions for thepublic.

A concerted effort to provideinternet resources resulted in morethan 10 webpages, domains andblogs that provide informationabout nature news, ecosystems,animal groups, heritage andc o n s e r v a t i o n s i t e s . T h e s el inks are al l l isted at thef lagship s i te , Habitatnews(http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg).

Meanwhile on television, effort wasmade to encourage and cooperatewith production houses, providingcontent for more than 10documentaries in the past five years.

Volunteers were getting theirfeet wet assisting in salvagec o l l e c t i o n s , b i o d i v e r s i t yassessments and ecologicalresearch. Several pre-existingeducation programmes in SungeiBuloh, Pulau Ubin and the naturereserves were inherited from TheHabitat Group and enhanced by2001, and this included thecoordination of the island-wideInternational Coastal CleanupSingapore. New programmes wereinitiated in Pasir Panjang, Changiand Chek Jawa. In 2002, trainingworkshops for schools andvolunteer groups were started to

ensure capacity buildingand to better utilize themuseum’s resources.

In order to enhance thegrowing communicationin the community, theBiodiversity of SingaporeSymposium was held in2003. Graced by the thenMinister of State forNational Development,Dr Vivian Balakrishnan,

it was supported by LeeFoundation, the Singapore Institute ofBiology and Nature’s Niche Pte. Ltd.

It was a unique affair with 30speakers and 200 participants fromr e s e a r c h , m a n a g e m e n t ,conservation and education groupso f g o v e r n m e n t a n d n o n -government origins who exchangednotes about each other’s work. Weensured lengthy tea times so thateveryone had enough time tonetwork and develop new ideas!

With a greater number ofyoung volunteers entering the arenathrough museum activities, theloose though disciplined methodsthat had served well in the past hadto become more structured andidentifiable. And so the Toddycats!came into form in 2002, and today,a core group have stepped up totake the lead as project managers,and in the process, discover thecomplexity of coordinating aprogramme.

The Raffles Museum Toddycatshave also begun to work withmembers of other groups on severalprogrammes - National Parks Boardor NParks (Chek Jawa GuideTraining Workshops), SculptureSociety, NParks & Nature Society(Singapore) (Hopea sangal educationprogramme), National Archives ofSingapore (Pasir Panjang HeritageTrail), Sungei Buloh WetlandsReserve (International CoastalCleanup: Kranji-Buloh mangroves).

Just four years after the PublicGallery opened in 2001, the goal ofcontr ibuting to education,conservation and research by raisingpublic awareness, creating resourcesand nuturing a new generation ofvolunteers has reached out to morethan 20,000 people. We welcome youto contribute to this effort by writingto [email protected].

ISSUE NO.4 JUNE 2005A publication of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS

N E W S L E T T E RRaffles Museum

ISSN 0219-5747

Toddycats! - the birth of the RafflesMuseum Volunteers

Seining at Chek Jawa, 2001

Biodiversity Symposium 2003

WEBPAGEhttp://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/toddycats

NATURE AND HERITAGE

Pasir Panjang /Kent RidgeHeritage Trail – this trailexplores the fauna, floraand history of the area,the Battle of PasirPanjang and life in the60’s. The trail begins inNUS and ends at theReflections of Bukit Chandu.

Pedal Ubin! – guidesrelate fascinating storiesabout the flora, fauna,culture and history ofSingapore’s last idyllicoutpost in Pulau Ubin,on bicycle. And learn how tohandle a mountain bikeproperly in the process!

Sungei Buloh AnniversaryWalk – this event is also a trainingground for inexperienced butinterested volunteers keen tobecome a nature guide. After just 8hours of training, they guide as partof a team!

MacRitchie – Bukit Timahbriskwalks – this is a fast walkaimed at alternative users of foresttrails – briskwalkers. It also teachesparticipants the route fromMacRitchie to the summit of BukitTimah and trail etiquette.

H o p e a s a n g a l E d u c a t i o nWorkshop – this is a joint workshopprogramme offered by the Hopeasangal Working Group which trainssecondary school students to teachprimary school students all about trees.

Marine life in Singapore –volunteers with a flair for publicspeaking are provided with sometraining and a slide show which theymodify for assembly talks. Throughtheir presentation, they reveal excitingsecrets from our shores, discuss marineecosystems and the issues affecting theirhealth and survival.

Public Gallery guiding –ironically,this small area covers the greatestnumbers of topics as it featuresanimal life and issues in Singaporeand the region and tell stories fromthe museum’s large and more than100-year old specimen collection.

Chek Jawa Guide TrainingWorkshop – these workshops areconducted for volunteer Chek Jawaguides, and deal with the biologyof specific animal groups such ascrabs, sea stars and fish and thebackground to events surroundingChek Jawa.

ENVIRONMENT

International Coastal CleanupSingapore – Coordinated incollaboration with the NatureSociety (Singapore), this is thelongest running and largestenvironmental exercise in Singapore.It involves more than 2,000 volunteerswho fan out annually on the shorelinesof Singapore to battle marine trash.Zone Captains communicate withvolunteer groups, evaluate the site,coordinate manpower and conduct

data verification. Now in its 14th yearin Singapore.

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

Mangrove Mania – an avenue forv o l u n t e e r s t o a c c o m p a n yresearchers conducting ecologicalor taxonomic sampling in themangroves of Singapore. This helpsto introduce some of the poorlyknown mangroves of Singapore tovolunteers through a unique andmeaningful experience.

Entomology Interest Group – thisis group set up to develop somefamiliarity with the poorly knowninsect fauna of Singapore, even indegraded ecosystems and to learnsome of the common methodsemployed in entomological studies.

News and heritage sites –comprehensive research andgroundwork supports eachwebpage and blog that has beenestablished, and each of these aregrowing resources that requirescontinual work.

ISSUE NO.4 JUNE 2005

2


Programmes of the Raffles Museum Toddycats!

ISSUE NO.4 JUNE 2005N E W S L E T T E R

Raffles Museum

PANGLAO 2005PANGLAO 2005 was an international deep

sea expedition conducted in the Bohol and Suluseas of The Philippines between 21st May and 1stJune 2005.

It was organized by the Department ofAgriculture (DA) of the Philippines, France'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Museum Nationald'Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), NUS Facultyof Science (FoS), the Raffles Museum ofBiodiversity Research (RMBR) and the NationalTaiwan Ocean University (NTOU).

PANGLAO 2005 is the third major deep-seaexploration of the Philippines.

Traps, dredges and trawls reaching 2300metres were carried out at 77 stations andnumerous strange and unique creatures wererevealed by the deep. Interestingly, some rarespecies turned out to be abundant in specificlocations. Some of the colourful catch from theexpedition featured here will be worked on byscientists over the next few years. Photos by ChanTin-Yam.

For updates, see Raffles Museum Newshttp://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/news/index.php

In March 2004, environmentaljournalist Debby Ng emerged froma dive trip amazed at the beauty anddiversity of marine life. The site?Pualu Hantu - an island just 40minutes away from mainlandSingapore. Dismayed at its uncertainfate, she approached the RafflesMuseum of Biodiversity Researchto think of ways to contribute to itsc o n s e r v a t i o n . S i n c e m o s tSingaporeans were unaware PulauHantu existed, and Debby was agood writer, it was suggested shehighlight the island's marine life byrecording her experiences on a weblog or blog. It took just 10 minutesto setup the blog using a laptop anda wireless network and Debbiestarted writing the same night.

The blog, coined "Pulau Hantu,a celebration of marine life" ishosted by Habitatnews, the RafflesMuseum's nature informationwebpage. Debby eventually addedsome truly exciting photos whichattracted even more attention. Withthe help of the local dive e-community FinsOnline, the frequentupdates and interesting experiencesbegan to attract attention.

With many divers asking to jointhe frequent dive trips, SeahoundsScuba, later to become the first localNational Geographic dive center inSingapore, stepped forward to helprun these trips. And Debby got

certified as a dive masterto better lead her trips.

Pulau Hantu continuesto surprise with the divers encountering yellow-l i p p e d s e a k r a i t s ,reticulated pufferfish,turtles, octopus, and thevery rare mobula ray,comets, tiger-tail seahorse(a new record) and acolourful nudibranch seenin the tropics for the first time!

The group of divershelping out on trips, sharing

discoveries and photographs andcontributing posts are known as theHantu bloggers. In January 2005,Debby gave a comprehensive interviewabout the project on News Radio93.8FM's Living Room. In other efforts,they organised a mangrove cleanup'topside' and areinvolved in ag i a n t c l a mrestoration projectwith the TropicalMarine ScienceInstitute, NUS.

In March2005, the PulauHantu bloggerscelebrated theirfirsta n n i v e r s a r y.During the dive,

they were rewarded with the sightof an adult hawksbill turtle.Through their passion for this iconicl i t t l e i s l a n d , t h e y h a v edemonstrated that Singapore has atreasure of marine life right at herdoorstep in the Southern Islands.

Webpage:http://www.pulauhantu.org

All images courtesy of The Hantu Blog.


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Pulau Hantu - A Celebration of Marine Life

PROFILE

Can you spot the Octopus eyes?

Copperbranded or Long-beaked butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus)

The reef is alive with wonderful, colourfulnudibranchs like Cuthona sibogae!

In September 2002, a Hopea sangaltree was rediscovered by Joseph Laiand friends during a survey of thetrees of Changi. Listed in theSingapore Red Data Book as locally'extinct' , the discovery wascelebrated by the naturalists, themedia and the public througharticles, photographs and publicwalks amidst the speculation thata mystery may also have beensolved - this may be the species oftree that gave Changi its name.

Yet a mere two months later, thetree was felled by a propertydeveloper. Although fuelled byfears about its stability, the deedw a s c a r r i e d o u t w i t h o u tappropriate checks. Ironically,Changi is in the Tree ConservationArea , which should haveencouraged greater caution. Thepublic outcry that followed wasappeased somewhat by the swiftlegal action that followed.Compensatory costs and a finetotaling $84,035 was meted out inMarch 2003 by District Judge KowKeng Siong who said this of theHopea sangal tree - "Unfortunately,having weathered more than acentury of the forces of nature, itwas not able to survive the senselessact of man".

A unique working group wasformed by representatives fromNational Parks Board, NatureSociety (Singapore), SculptureSociety of Singapore and RafflesMuseum of Biodiversity Research.This group was to oversee the useof the nine pieces of the Hopeasangal's tree trunk which had beenrescued from sawmills by the quick-thinking Joseph Lai and friends. InSeptember 2003, a Sculpture

Symposium was conducted toexplain the sculpting process byThe Sculpture Society and educatethe public about the tree. In April2004, the nine sculptures wereinstalled at and adopted by theSingapore Zoological Gardens.

During this launch, the WorkingGroup conducted the Hopea sangalEducation Programme to schoolchildren attending the launch -theyrelated the Hopea sangal story,explained the ecology and role oftrees, illustrated how high the treewas by having students lie prostrateto measure out the trunk, anddiscussed how to actively protecttrees!

The programme was a success,and the Raffles Museum volunteers,the Toddycats, were roped in tocoordinate the programme. Thistime instead, students fromNanyang Girl's High School(NYGH) were trained by membersof the Working Group andsubsequent ly conducted aprogramme for primary schools inNovember 2004. That same month,Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yewplanted a Hopea sangal sapling inHenderson, grown from a seedlingretrieved from the original treemore than two years ago bymembers of the Nature Society(Singapore).

In January 2005, an amendedParks and Trees Act was passed inParliament. It provided enhancedprotection for nature and increasedthe provision for fines andcompensation for damage to trees.

The Hopea sangal tree spent av e r y s h o r t t i m e i n o u rconsciousness, but it has led to anescalation of awareness, reflectionand protection for other trees inSingapore.

URL:http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/heritage/changi/


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Hopea sangal, a Tree Rediscovered, Felled and Remembered

Felled logs carted away (20th Nov 2002)

Joseph Lai finds logs in sawmill

Sculptor at work.

The move to the zoo.

Sculptures finallyon display.

Launch of the sculpture exhibit.

MM Lee plants the sapling.

The Raffles Museum has beenblogging! The museum news page wasconverted into a weblog since June2004 to allow updates to be quicklyand easily posted to the internet. Checkthe page for the latest news aboutresearch, visiting scientists, expeditions,interesting specimens, public talks,volunteer activities, resources on theinternet, and other local andinternational news.

Well illustrated with photos, iton occasion features articles andamusing cartoons from around theworld!

URL:http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/news/index.php

Articles from The RafflesBulletin of Zoology volumes 1 - 52(1928-2004) are now available fordownload as pdf files. From 2003(Vol. 51 onwards), the pdfs werecommercially produced and are ofa higher quality. From 2005onwards, the Raffles Bulletin ofZoology will be solely an onlinepublication.

A subject and author index, nowavailable only for issues between1928-1993, is currently beingupdated, and eventually theabstracts for all articles will beadded to this webpage as well. Thismaterial has been released under aCreative Commons License whichessentially allows users free accessfor education and research.

URL: http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/

ISSUE NO.4 JUNE 2005N E W S L E T T E R

Raffles Museum

Bibliography of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology

Raffles Museum News

The Scientific Resultsof Ex Anambas (2002)

In 2002, the Workshop onManaging Potential Conflicts in theSouth China Sea ini t iatedExAnambas . Organized on behalfof the authorities of the South ChinaSea by the Indonesian Institute ofSciences and the Raffles Museumof Biodiversity Research, itsuccessfully fulfilled the politicalobjectives underlying the mission(see Newsletter No. 3).

The initial results have beenpublished as the 130-page "ScientificResults of the Anambas Expedition2002" in The Raffles Bulletin ofZoology, Supplement No. 11 (2004),describing the expedition and listthe non-flowering and floweringplants; polychaete worms andselected groups of molluscs,crustaceans, aquatic insects,echinoderms and fishes. Newspecies are described and checklistsare included. The articles can bedownloaded from the Ex Anambaswebsite.

URL:http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/exanambas

8

The Raffles Museum Newsletter is published byThe Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Faculty of Science,

National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260.Editors: Chua Keng Soon & N. Sivasothi. Articles by N. Sivasothi

Website at http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/newsletter/

Notice: The Zoological Reference Collection will be closedfrom July to early November 2005 for renovations.

We apologise for the inconvenience.

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