Strange Insect spotted at Night Safari

Saw a strange insect crawling its way across a walkway at the Night Safari last Thursday. Wonder what is this insect. I immediately blocked the way and waited until it crossed the walkway so as to prevent people from stepping onto it. It's really a long wait as it really crawled very slow.

After confirmed by Ming and Luan Keng, and also my friend Peiting, it's a Pill Millipede. Pill millipedes are short compared to other millipedes, with only eleven to thirteen body segments, and are capable of rolling into a ball when disturbed. This ability may however have evolved separately in each of the two orders, making it a case of parallel evolution, rather than homology. Pill millipedes are herbivorous, feeding on decomposing plant matter.

Snake Eating Skink

I was at Sungei Buloh last Thursday and so fortunate to see a specticular 'Snake-Eating-Skink' scene.

The Green Forest Weed Snake is about 1.5m long, which is the longest I have seen so far. It is usually very difficult to be spotted as it camouflages itself very well among the green leaves. I spotted it along Route 1 and wondered why it stayed so still and looking at the ground.

 

 

When I took a closer look on the snake, following its head to its tail, I was surprised by its length.

 

 

 

Out of a sudden, it dashed downwards to the ground and pulled back with a Skink in its mouth. Its action was so fast and swift, and a quick bite on the baby Skink and immediately killed it.

The Snake then slowly pulled itself back and disappeared behind the trees.

A GrassHoppers Re-Union

Spotted a group of Grasshoppers gathering on a plant eating, just like a 'Re-Union' meal. Although Grasshopper is quite common in plants, but so many of them together is so amazing!

A Fruitful Inter-Tidal Adventure - Part 1

After staying overnight at Semakau on 25 July, we went for an early inter-tidal walk the following morning at a new area we have not visited before and might give us a lot of surprises.

Indeed, I am pleased to see a Giant Clam burrowed itself in a rock, so beautiful and amazing. Looks like a rock having a big mouth with a green lip, it's really 'A Kiss of Life'.

 

 

Cryptic Rock Star was the first thing we saw when we first climbed down the rocks to the inter-tidal area, and I also found a Horseshoe Crab with it's sharp tail poking upwards, to give us a warm welcome. Unlike the StingRay, the sharp tail of the Horseshoe Crab is not harmful, it's just to turn itself upright when it's in an upside down position. The blood of Horseshoe crab is Blue in colour.

 

 

 

Spotted an Onch crawling slowly on the sandy shore, and it's also one of the biggest I have ever seen. There were also many upsidedown Jellyfish found in this area.

 

 

 

As usual, Swimming Crab is the most fierceful creature and always really to attack any intruder. I still prefer the small Fiddler Crab, especially this particular one who stayed so calm to pose for my macro shot.

 

 

 

It's good to see quite a number of Carpet Anemones in this area, showing a sign of good seawater quality for marine lifes. Missed seeing these Gigantic Carpet Anemones which I previously saw at Chek Jawa. I can find more Carpet Anemones in Semakau now as compared to Chek Jawa.

 

 

 

In my memory, I hardly found any Octopus in the usual inter-tidal area. Most of them I saw there were already caught by the Hunters during the Guided Walk. But in this new inter-tidal area, there were many different colour Octopuses spotted and I could easily see them swimming gracefully in the water. Octopus is the most intelligent creature and it's able to change its colour, camouflages itself well with the surroundings. The ink it releases has 2 purposes:
1. Confuse its preys to let them falls into its trap so that it can easily eat them.
2. Confuse its predators so that it can easily escape from them.

A Fruitful Inter-Tidal Adventure - Part 2

Though this new inter-tidal area has many things to see, but you really need to watch your steps as we spotted Stonefish, which is a dangerous fish that you do not want to step on. If you being bitten and poisoned by a Stonefish, you can basically rest at home for a month as you will not be able to walk.

It was the first time I saw a Stonefish and it's quite ugly and difficult to notice.

 

 

 

 

There were many Nudibranchs found in this area also, and this Black Margined Nudibranch spotted was pretty hugh, but it seemed to be under lots of stress and cramping itself up.

 

 

 

 

A volunteer found a Dog-Faced Water Snake and Ron highlighted that it's not poisonous. He even caught it for our photo shooting. Bravo! I also spotted another Dog-Faced Water Snake near the area where I found the Giant Clam. This area is really full of wonders.

 

 

 

 

The animals really grows well in this area as even the Snails and Slugs we saw are very lively and healthy, and pretty hugh. I found a Big Noble Volute, much bigger than my fist. The Nerites found on the rocks were also seen actively crawling from rock to rock, and I think there were few hundreds of them.

Semakau : Hunting Seeking (25 July 2009)

It's a day of Hairy Crab as more than 10 Hairy crabs were spotted at my Zone in this Hunting Seeking, and also lucky to see a BIG ONE! This was the biggest Hairy Crab I have seen so far, about the size of my palm. I also pleased that it stayed so calm for me to capture a nice photo of its face.
Hairy Crab is 'mild' poisonous due to the food it eats and also the environment it lives, which is near the Sponges. Its hairs is able to stick up the particulars in the surroundings, and therefore camouflages itself well and makes it difficult to be spotted.

Another 3 nice crabs that were spotted are the Orange Swimming Crab, Saw-Edged Spooner Crab and the Yellowish-Green Fiddler Crab.
Swimming Crab is quite common in inter-tidal area, and is also one of the most fierceful as it always in an On-Guard position when senses danger. It has a pair powerful pincers and some of them are poisonous and not edible.

 

Fiddler Crab is an interesting crab as the male crab is usually colourful and has one big colourful pincer and one smaller pincer. The big pincer is not meant for fighting, but it's for scaring away other male crab and also to attract the female crab. The male crab can only use the smaller pincer to eat, and therefore eats much slower than the female crab.

This was the first time I saw a Noble Volute in a shiny blach shell, as usually they are in a brownish stripes shell. Noble Volute is a very fierce predator and feeds on bivalves. It uses its mantle to clamp onto its preys and then uses its long 'tongue-like' mouth to feed on them the moment when their shell open.

While walking back after completing the Hunting Seeking, spotted a school of Catfish swimming near the shore. There were about few hundreds of them and created a very beautiful formation.

Semakau : Guiding (11 July 2009)

This guiding was my 3rd guiding experience in Pulau Semakau since I first learnt about this place. This time I partnered with my colleague Casey to guide a group of NUS High Students and their teacher.
Being a guide, I usually don't take photo unless it's really pretty ike the Knobby Seastars.

The Knobby Seastar is the icon of Semakau and you should not tell people you have come to Semakau if you have not seen one here.

Our Hunters caught many animals for us to see and talk about during the guided walk, but we have to end early due to a heavy rain.

While waiting at the shelter area for the rain to stop, I managed to find a White Seashell and an insect on a leaf.

 

 

Although the guiding was disturbed by the heavy rain, it's still a fruitful experience for me and looking forward for my next Semakau guiding.