After yesterday's Biodiversity of Singapore Symposium II, the persistent rain kept me from my original plan to shoot sunbirds amongst the heliconias near the Symphony Stage at the Botanic Gardens. I ended up killing time and saying haibais at the rather excellent and cosy library at the Botany Centre (which also houses herbariums, tissue culture laboratories and what remains of the Taman Serasi hawker centre in the basement). Not surprisingly, the bibliotek is botanically (and horticulturally) biased, although there are some excellent natural history volumes on the shelf that I have never come across. Some back issues of the Gardens' Bulletin are available in the general section, but sadly no ducks are allowed in the much more substantial-looking reference section at the rear of the facility. Photocopying costs 5 cents a page, and the dailies are provided for visitors allergic to books.
To make up for the foiled plans of ducks, I sought to retrace the route taken with Art and Joe earlier this year. The weather was ideal, with balmy sunshine piercing through the rainclouds that gave up after a noon shower. Alas, the dead tree that we sampled was bereft of activity today, so I trudged on along the path that follows a lush jungle stream. Beside the countless invertebrates encountered, there was a small troupe of long-tailed macaques that hovered around a fallen jackfruit by the trail. Plaintain squirrels were everywhere. Their calls are recognisably mammalian. On the other hand, their smaller cousin, the slender squirrel, could be mistaken for a bird with its whistle-like twitter that bounces around like a foraging babbler. A pair were kicking up a fuss by the path, with one animal sticking resolutely by a large fallen tree trunk where I suspect a litter might be sheltering. It swung from side to side, nibbling at times on a tidbit, while the nearby monkeys scowled and stared. Less street-savvy than its larger kin, Sundasciurus tenuis is more closely tied to the shade and safety of the forest, as evidenced by its absence from parks and gardens beyond the central reserves, save a remnant population in the degraded rainforest of the botanic gardens. This rodent, it seems, faces a rather ratty future...
What the hell is this?
Posted by: | 24 May 2007 at 11:30 PM