Being in green again (2 weeks)

Nothing like a good war movie to set one in the mood.
Actually I don't mind going for in camp training. It is a must and beside, one get to visit good, relatively undisturbed forests (well some parts actually, provided the plants are not used for camouflaging).

Just hope I will be able to catch up with my work when I finish training.

Last words for a while

After 2 interesting weeks, decided to let the praying mantis go. Since I will be away for 12 days, decided that its just about time to let the little fella go out and see the world again. Rather than to be confined in a glass container with nothing but a few dried leaves, some ants and this huge face which appears everytime there's an earthquake in there.

It's been fun seeing a praying mantis at such close proximity. Hope it'll survive out there.

A cuppa anyone?

Hopefully there will be a day where all wastes can be recycled. That will be urban utopia man...

For now, we should be happy with bio batteries such as the one produced by a Singaporean team. Batteries powered by urine

Fallen leaves

Went down to Bukit Timah for another foray to collect Dipterocarp fruits. The sense of urgency is greater now that we noticed that less and less fruits are found, signalling the end of the masting season. Ha another deadline on my list. So after school, my boss and I with a student volunteer took a taxi down to the reserve. We wasted no time in entering the forest and collect as many seedlings as we can.

As we walked past Kruing path, near the big Shorea curtisii, an amazing sight greeted us. The ground was covered with fallen leaves. Leaves of light green, greenish brown, pale yellow carpeted the forest floor. For a moment, Autumn has decided to drop by for a brief visit and left this amazing tapestry.

The picture posted did no justice to the beauty of the moment. But for a while, all my deadlines, stress was just 'absorbed' by the tranquility of the moment.

Xenopeltis unicolor Reinwardt 1827

Found this snake in the middle of the night when a few of us were driving back from a night sampling trip in the mangroves of Natunas island. Darren was at the wheel, it was around 1 am in the morning. All of us were exhausted after a whole day of sampling, I was at the back of the car, windows rolled down, just feeling the cool night breeze on my face, listening to the sounds of the forests by the side of the road. Sometimes we will see oil lamps lits in used Redbull cans placed on the sides of the lamp. Very nice streetlamps, just a small yellow flame flickering in the darkness. If I lifted my head up, I will see a blanket of stars covering the night sky. By just focussing on the stars, one gets this giddying sensation that its the stars zooming past me and I am the stationary one.

This was the last night of the 5 day trip. We had practically sampled most of the habitats on the island. Found lots of amazing stuff, lots of herptiles but no snake yet.

Well, back to the story. Suddenly Darren exclaimed, 'Snake!' and quickly pulled over. All of us felt this jolt of adrenaline rushing through and we quickly ran out of the car and raced back to the road. True enough, lying immobile on the road was this snake around a meter in length. The poor fella must have been ran over accidentally by a scooter for on its side has a wide gnash. Around the scene was this very strong smel of garlic. It was later that I realised the smell was emitted by the snake during times of distress. Well the smell continued to fill the room when we brought it back to our lodgings.

I was struck by the beauty of the snake upon closer examination. It has a slightly pointed head, built for burrowing in the fields and its entire body was covered with this beautiful iridiscent sheen. It has a beautiful common name, the sunbeam snake, but its latin name Xenopeltis unicolor does not do justice to the amazing display of colors the snake has.

This beautiful snake ranges from Southern China to South East Asia. It's of course a native to Singapore as well, though sadly we do not have as much sutitable open areas such as forest clearings and gardens for it to burrow in and hunt for frogs and other reptiles. Still I hope to be able to catch a glimpse of it in our own backyard.

Gonypeta sp

After a weekend, still thinking about the praying mantis. Tzi Ming identified it as a Gonypeta sp nymph. Decided to try rearing it to its later instar and see what it turns out into.

Went back to the bag to search for it and lo and behold, its still very lively after 5 days of being kept in a ziploc bags with the seedlings. Found a nice container, added some wet leaves and found it some ants. As I glanced at it while I am typing this entry, it is on its second ant. Poor fella, it must be starving.

Bon appetitt.

Shrinking distances

Found an old friend online today. We have not been in touch for sometime. Turns out that she had just returned from a trip with her family to the States. We are comparing our jobs and family (hers and lack of mine actually) when she remarked, "My boy can walk now."

"Oh is it? Cool!" Images of the little toddler ambling across ran past my mind.

"Yah, wait I show you". She switches the webcam on. Soon after, indeed, this cute little thing waddled across the screen.

"Wow! Cute!" haha that is all I could respond via msn.

The baby was lifted up, so now I saw this cute face staring intently at the laptop screen. Instincts took over (I think I have a knack for spoiling kids). I quickly sent over all the emoticons I have that can move. That caught his attention. So this wordless exchange went on for a while, me sending emoticons over and the baby looking intrigued.

Weird, I am playing with a baby 40km away via Msn. Ha wonders of technology.

Anyway this lasted for a while until he found that grabbing the webcam, typing his entries on the keyboard is far more interesting. But heh. Novel experience.

Musings after night cycling

Had a great time during the National Day weekend (6-7th August) with the Odacians (thanks for inviting me along) night cycling. We transversed through the nice quiet spots along Dempsey Road, moved to Fong Seng behind NUS, West Coast, Pandan Loop, Tanjong Pagar, Esplanade, Kallang and finally East Coast beach itself.

My bike cranked up halfway and I could only move with one gear but it was really an enjoyable ride. At the last stop at the East Coast Jetty, all of us were lying down, some drifted off to dreamland while others sang or watched the lone Orion constellation in the sky. The other teachers and myself were walking around, surveying the change in the sky as dawn breaks.

Was leaning over the railing to watch the waves roll in and out of the beach and feeling 'drifty' due to lack of sleep when Gayle popped this question which brought me rapidly back to Earth. What type of waves are these? Longitundinal or transverse? Heh its really amazing how the mundane things you take for granted have these huge gaps in knowledge you never noticed. I quickly tried to recall all the things I learnt about waves. Images of how a fishing float bobbed up and down the waves travelling through a pond flashed across my mind as I desperately tried to recall whatever bits of physics present in the wee hours of the morning.

Hmm.... transverse? I eventually ventured a guess. But knowing at the same time the answer is not complete as one sees the waves lapping to and fro the beach.

Heh I dunno, sorry Gayle. Another humbling experience on how much more reading I have to do.

Reading up I did. Went to one of my trusted websites - Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and sniffed around. Found a good deal of information on tidal influences due to the movement of Earth, Sun and the Moon of course. Made a note to read up in detail once I get accustomed to seeing so many physics terms thrown around again.

Nothing there about the nature of the waves. Went to something simpler but equally good, 'open source' Wikipedia.

...Ripples on the surface of a pond are actually a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves; therefore, the points on the surface follow elliptical paths. Wikipedia writeup on waves.

Excellent. Cased solved. The fishing float does not float up and down. It follows an elliptical path.

Another misconception cleared. Thanks Gayle.

Nepenthes rafflesiana

Nepenthes rafflesiana
Originally uploaded by _Cheng Puay.

Largest pitcher species in Singapore. Very nice cup with red striations and intricately patterned peristome (rim of the pictcher). Interestingly, some pictchers grow 2 kinds of cups. The ones growing near the ground is different from the ones growing from branches suspended in the air.

Pitchers are also generally good climbers. I saw the likes of R. rafflesiana snaking up to 4 meters high on trees. Wonder if the diet of the plant varies with height or is the climbing a response to getting enough light for photosynthesis?

More on praying mantis

Was just commenting on how cute the praying mantis I found was. Then I came across this article. Praying Mantis Makes Meal of a Hummer.

Maybe I should blog about the voracious appetite of the American Bullfrog one of these days.

Praying Mantis on Dipterocarpus kunstierii

praying mantis.JPG
Originally uploaded by _Cheng Puay.

Was photographing some seedlings which this tiny fellow popped out. It's less about 1 cm in length and blends in perfectly with the brown D. kunstierii seedlings which I was photographing.

Fortunately this time round I had both my cameras with me.

Thank goodness to the amazing macro abilities of Nikon 4500.

Choosing my battles

I had the priviledge of knowing Prof Peter Ng when I was at the age of 15, during Sec 3. He was a biology teacher then, in the midst of completing his PhD I think. In a typical day, he casually strolls into the classroom not holding any books at all and just deliver the most amazing stories on diversity and ecology. I remember being very impressed by the latin names he just casually throws out as if he's ordering a cup of coffee and knowing that humans are known as Homo sapiens, the gorilla is known as Gorilla gorilla, the domestic dog Canis familiaris.

15 years later and I am still using these same examples to my class when I introduce diversity.

My first brush with conservation came also from him. After the June holidays, Prof Ng came back from Pulau Tioman (which is now one of my favorite places) and brought to class a buffulo leech. Of course everyone were highly impressed and fascinated by this immense leech attached to the side of the plastic vial.

"Be careful" he intoned, "The fella has not been fed for weeks". Till now the image of the leech moving in the vial is still very vivid.

And he brought us, the entire class of Secondary 3 kids, to Lim Chu Kang mangroves. Armed with a few nets and the Singapore Science Center Guide to Seashore Life. We basically had a great time trudging in the mud and trying to catch mudskippers and crabs. I think this is when I got hooked for life.

15 years later and I am still doing the same thing at Sungei Buloh. Albeit now doing more plant stuff.

Thank you Prof Ng, for preparing me for my battles.

An excerpt of his interview with Chang Ai Lien at Inside Track

...the most important battles aren't fought, they're negotiated. Direct confrontation with the powers-that-be is silly.

A few years ago, some nature-lovers were arguing that Marina South should be preserved as a wetlands area. Most of us scientists refused to join in. It didn't hold water since you don't conserve an area just because a few ducks happen to be floating around the cattail reeds. If somebody wanted to build a condominium on Bukit Timah Hill, we'd fight.

Knowing what I do of human nature, I tend to be very cynical. I think conservation faces an uphill battle of enormous magnitude.

The other side is: I may fail, but I'm not giving up without a fight.

The 'three laws' of thermodynamics can also be applied to life: you can't win, you can't break even, you can't get out of the game. Which means that you're left with only one option - you lose. But you can manage your losses. It's all about how big you lose and how long you stave off defeat.

A long hard climb

Here's a passage from Lance Armstrong's book 'It's not about the bike'. Found it specially moving. One last tribute to Lance and his illustrious career.

... From then on, all we did was eat, sleep, and ride bikes. Spring had just begun moving up into the mountains, creating a constant fog and drizzle that seem to muffle the piney woods. We rode in the rain everyday. The cold seared my lungs, and with every breath I blew out a stream of white frost, but I didn't mind. It made me feel clean...

We rode and rode through a steady rain, for four hours, and then five. By the time I got to the foot of Beech, I'd been on the bike for six hours, drenched. but I lifted myself up out of the saddle and propelled the bike up the incline, leaving Bob Roll behind.

As I started on the rise, I saw an eerie sight: the road still had my name painted on it.

My wheels spun over the washed out yellow and white lettering. I glanced down between my feet. It said faintly, Viva Lance,.

I continued upward, and the mountain grew steeper. I hammered down the pedals, working hard, and felt a small bloom of sweat and satisfaction, a heat under my skin almost like a liquor blush. My body reacted instinctively to the climb. Mindlessly, I rose out of my seat and picked up the pace. Suddenly, Chris pulled up behind me in the follow car, rolled down the window, and began driving me on. "Go, go, go!" he yelled. I glanced back at him. "Allez Lance, allez, allez!" he yelled. I mashed down the pedals, heard my breath grow shorter, and i accelerated.

The ascent triggered something in me. As I rode upward, I reflected on my life, back to all the points, my childhood, my early races, my illness and how it changed me. Maybe it was the primitive act of climbing that made me confront the issues I have been evading for weeks. It was time to quit stalling, I realised. Move, I told myself. If you can still move, you aren't sick.

I looked at the ground as it passed under my wheels, at the water spinning off the tyres and the spokes turning around. I saw more faded painted letters, and I saw my washed out name: Go Armstrong.

As I continued upward, I saw my life as a while. I saw the pattern and the priviledge of it, and the purpose of it, too. It was simply this: I was meant for a long hard climb.

Happy Birthday Singapore

Heh feeling a wave of patriotism. Must be the fireworks. Anyway I think one of the perks with teaching is that I can get to sing the national anthem and renew my pledge regularly.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Scaphium macroptera

Another member of the mast fruiting event. This is otherwise known as the Cheng tng tree. The fruit of the plant consists of the seed embedded in a brown gelatinous mass (which the the jelly like substance we get in the Cheng tng dessert) subtended by a boat shaped leaf which acts like a sail. When the fruit descents, the boat shaped leaf traps air and acts like a single blade propeller, whirling downwards in a swift dizzying spiral. This probably slows down the speed of descent and cushions the impact of the fall.

The brown gelatinous mass serves as nutrients for the germinating seedling, which wastes no time in growing its radicle and shoots. What emerges is a stout shoot, unfurling 2 broad leaves to capture sunlight.

Thanks to kind permission from Nparks, we managed to collect some for growing in the school. What will happen in the next will be a detailed documentation on the rate of growth of the seedlings, and of course lots of photography and the eventual tranplanting of the young shoots back to the forest.

For Ferrer, Beuna Vista Social Club

Another member, Ibrahim Ferrer, from the original Beuna Vista Social Club has passed away. Sad news indeed. I was introduced to their music watching a film made on this cuban musical group some years back. Somehow the images of these men, all over their seventies, chomping their cigars and still leading a fulfilling life with a measured grace which only age could bestow, fascinated me. And their music, though sang in cuban, is filled with the flavor of life. What a way to live one's life, still being able to enjoy one's interest till the day one leaves this world.

I hope I can still go out for walks in the forests 40 years later.

Here's to you Mr Ferrer. Thank you for your music and inspiration.

"Stuck in the Mud"

Its been a very fulfilling 2 weeks. Well not writing wise, but everything else. After a good trip down to Sungei Buloh with my students (I must really commend them for their enthusiasm) we managed to plant 90 seedlings (R. apiculata) and tagged them successfully for future monitoring. The students (Ada, Zhongning and Amanda) gamely gave their heart and all their energy in taking care that the seedlings were planted properly and mapped out the three plots we set up.

It was really an indescribable feeling at the end of the day seeing the seedlings standing out there in the mud, now finally having a better chance of maturing into full grown mangrove trees. Went back again yesterday for an ICCS recce to survey the cleanup sites. The seedlings are still doing fine, just reappearing from their submersion from the high tide.

The three brave ladies have set up a blog to document their experience in the mangroves, the blog aptly named Stuck in the mud. Just ignore those bits where they complained about how I gave them a hard time.

Mighty Mouse

Oh man... Check it out.