Saturday 29 August 2015

eco-tourism at its worst

and irony at its best

Green Humour Comic Strip by Rohan Chakravarty, January 20, 2015 on GoComics.com

Tiger reserves are set up to protect the tigers and wildlife within the area, but with the rise of nature tourism, the need to cater to the many tourists that come for glimpses of tigers increases. Resorts and lodges are built within or near the parks itself, taking away space for wildlife to roam. Of course, some may argue that the resorts take up a small portion of the land compared to the hundreds of squre kilometres the park occupies, but with the problem of shrinking habitats and forest destruction, what undisturbed land left is precious.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

a blue whale's heart

So I was browsing through the news today during my free time, and I saw this article titled "See the world's biggest heart" in BBC Earth. 

In short, a group of experts from the Royal Ontario Museum jumped at the opportunity to dissect a 23.3m long blue whale that had washed up on the shores of Newfoundland. It was found that the heart was the size of a small golf cart, and had weighed 180kg. The aorta (blood vessel that carries oxygenated blood from the heart), though not able to fit a human in it, was most likely able to fit a human head within. Picture of the heart:

Image by Jacqueline Miller via BBC Earth
Blue whales can grow from 25 to 32 metres long - that's longer than the length of one SMRT train car! Weighing up to a whopping 181,437 kg, it's no wonder that they are the largest mammals on Earth at present. Yet they are the gentle giants of the sea (if you don't provoke them) and feed on krill, which looks similar to shrimp. 

Despite their gentle nature, blue whales are loud - their calls are measured at a 188 decibels, compared to a jet which reaches just 140 decibels. Blue whales prefer cold, temperate waters, and swim hundreds of kilometres to warm waters to mate and breed during mating season. But don't expect to see a calf born to a mother whale every year! The gestation period of the blue whale is 10-11 months, and a calf is only born every few years.

Blue whales are actually listed as endangered under the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List. What's really sad is that with climate change and global warming, these blue whales could become even more threatened. As global warming affects temperatures of the oceans, blue whales would be hard pressed to find cooler waters to feed in. 

While their numbers have increased after being protected, they are stilled threatened by environmental change and collisions with large ships. They sometimes become entangled in fishing nets as well which brings them harm.

Help spread the word about the blue whale - the giant with a big heart.



Information gathered from:

Saturday 22 August 2015

hills are beautiful

but so are the wildlife living in, on or around them. 

I used to think that Singapore didn't have much wildlife, that the birds we see on the streets and the occasional monkey were all that we have. Now, I know better. According to the NParks website, Singapore is home to approximately:

364 species of birds
107 species of reptiles
58 species of mammals
28 species of amphibians
290 species of butterflies and 
68 species of freshwater fishes.

This is amazing, especially since much of Singapore's forests have been felled due to urbanisation.

On another note, it was revealed back in 2003 that Singapore has lost up to 73 percent of its plant and animal species in the last 200 years. While the data might not be as relevant now, it reminds us that loss of biodiversity and extinction of species is a major problem. The Cream-coloured Giant Squirrel used to be abundant in Singapore, but is now feared to be extinct locally. This squirrel can grow up to 1 metre long and weigh up to 1 kg. Imagine that! The cute little guy below is the squirrel I'm talking about. 

Cream-coloured Giant Squirrel, photo taken at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum during my visit there

Coming back to the topic at hand, analysis in 2002-2003 have shown that 4,866 species of plants, 627 species of butterflies, 234 species of fish, 111 species of reptiles and 91 species of mammals have died out locally over the last 200 years (the last 210 years now). Using Singapore as an example, scientists then predicted that Southeast Asia (SEA) will face the extinction of many species like Singapore, in the future. 

With the recent news on the local extinction of Sumatran Rhinoceros in Malaysia and the spate of illegal hunting activities in SEA forests, the possibility of turning this crisis around looks slim.


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To learn about the many species of animals in Singapore, head to: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/biodiversity/wildlife-in-singapore/species-list
To read the article about the extinction of Singapore's plant and animal species referred to in the post, head to "Singapore Extinction Spells Doom For Asia?" written by John Pickrell in England, July 23, 2003