Best of our wild blogs: 25 Dec 08

Happy Holidays!
from the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation blog

Merry Christmas
from the Butterflies Of Singapore blog

Reclamation at Sentosa continues until Jun 09
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Common Greenshank catching a prawn
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Phallic flower gets hot and steamy for sex
on the wild shores of singapore blog

The Unlikely Glamour
or what I would call a 'yaya papaya' on the Garden Voices blog

Classy vs. Tacky: Your Sea Urchin Xmas Edition!
on The Echinoblog

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Crabs discoveries put Singapore on the map

NUS scientists' photos of 600 crab species found in Vanuatu get published on National Geographic website
Ng Tze Yong, The New Paper 25 Dec 08;

THE National Geographic Society has published a series of stunning photographs taken by Singaporean scientists working on a remote South Pacific island.
Photograph by Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore

Shot during a 2006 expedition to the island nation of Vanuatu, the photographs of 600 crab species have astonished both scientists and laymen alike: They showcase the sheer biodiversity that can be found on just one tiny island.

A small selection was published on the National Geographic website last month, in an article titled A World of Crabs from One Tiny Island.

All 600 crab species were found on Espiritu Santo, the largest of 82 volcanic islands that make up the republic of Vanuatu, located 1,750km east of Australia.

Perhaps best remembered for being the location for the ninth season of the reality show Survivor in 2004, Vanuatu is also a magnet for scuba divers, famed for its World War Two shipwrecks.

During a five-month expedition to document the biodiversity on Espiritu Santo, more than 100 researchers from all over the world collected about 10,000 species of flora and fauna, marine and non-marine.

Of these, about 600 were crab species, which fell under the responsibility of the Singapore team.

The team was made up of four researchers from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, which is part of the National University of Singapore.

To get to Vanuatu, the Singapore team first flew to Sydney, then took a three-hour flight to Port Vila, the capital.

From there, the team hopped onto small, propeller-driven planes to Espiritu Santo.

It wasn't long before the team made their first discovery.

'It was a long trip and we lost our luggage along the way. When we went out to buy new clothes, we discovered to our surprise that the provision shops in Vanuatu were run by Chinese people,' said Dr Tan Swee Hee, a 37-year-old zoologist.

The scientists lived in hotels and college dormitories. Meals consisted mostly of beef, rice and pomelo juice.

They worked seven days a week, off a ship that trawled the seabed for specimens at depths of up to 500m.

Each haul brought up about 100kg of creatures like clams, sponges, sea lilies, sea urchins, snails and starfish, which were then sorted and examined.

Rough seas

'The sea was rough. We had swells of 2m to 3m. There was an excellent French cook on board but unfortunately, the food would all come out afterwards,' said Dr Tan Heok Hui, 37, another zoologist on the team.

During a dive, he was bitten by a moray eel when he was trying to collect shrimps from a coral.

'At first, I thought it was a small bite but when I looked at it, I saw a whole piece of flesh dangling off my finger. There was a lot of blood and there were tiger sharks around, so that was definitely quite a scary experience,' he said.

The wound, which needed five stitches, caused him to cut short his stay.

But the result has been worth it: 10,000 exquisite pictures of the crab species which will take years, if not decades, to sort out.

'We need to study their features carefully and compare them with similar specimens from around the world. It's a tedious process, because nobody wants to make the mistake of declaring a new species when it isn't,' said Dr Tan Swee Hee.

But already, the Singapore team has discovered and named two new crab species never seen before.

One is the Vultocinus anfractus, a fist-size crab that dwells on - and resembles - driftwood. The other is the Liagore pulchella, which resembles a smooth pebble.

'We live on this planet and it is shared with all these different species of animals. A basic question we want to know is: How many are there? It's like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle,' said Dr Tan Swee Hee.

'But we also want to know: Is there a new species out there we can exploit to help alleviate hunger? Or for medicine? After all, researchers are already studying the possibility of using crab poison for cancer treatment one day.'

OTHER CRAB SPECIES FOUND

Lybia tessellata (BOXING CRAB)

This feisty little fellow likes to carry live sea anemones in its claws, using them as weapons when threatened. Little wonder it's also known as the pom-pom crab

Hoplophrys oatesi (SOFT-CORAL SPIDER CRAB)

Looking like the crest on Spiderman's chest, the spider crab makes its home among soft corals.Its coral-like appearance of soft colours and spikes lends it a cloak of invisibility.

Pseudomicippe (FALSE VELCRO CRAB)

This smart aleck knows how to attach algae to its hooked hairs on its legs (just like velcro) as camouflage.

Vultocinus anfractus (DRIFTWOOD CRAB)

A new species discovered by the Singapore team, it is a fist-size crab that dwells on - and resembles - driftwood.

Pilumnus vespertilio (HAIRY CRAB)

This furball of a crab looks like a broom and behaves like one: As it scuttles along the seabed, sediment gets trapped in its long hair, allowing the slow-moving guy a ready-made camouflage.

Arcania gracilis (GRACEFUL JADE CRAB)

Looking more like an alien mothership, this crab's claws are long and slender, useful for catching those elusive worms. Aunties would be enticed by its shiny shell, which resembles polished jade.

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Singaporeans and shopping

Shopping with a conscience
We should be more discerning about where our dollar goes
Li Xueying, Straits Times 25 Dec 08;

CHRISTMAS is here. I was doing some shopping in preparation. With the piped-in Jingle Bells carol ringing in my ears, I was generally filled with love and goodwill towards all mankind.

Until I decided to buy some bread.

It was nearing 10pm, the closing time for a popular bakery outlet. A last-minute customer dashed in to buy a couple of buns. As she walked out, a sales assistant walked in.

Dragging along a black trash bag, she carelessly tossed into it the remaining 40 or so buns on the shelves.

I watched, hoping against hope that the perfectly fine buns were going to be put to some use. Instead, the sales assistant stripped off her plastic gloves and dumped them into the trash bag as well. It was clear that the buns were destined for the bin.

Appalled by the sheer wastage of food, I told myself that that was the last bun I would buy from the outlet - at least until the squandering stops.

With each bun costing on average $1.40, about $56 worth of food was wasted that night. If every outlet in this particular chain did the same, that would be $1,344 a night or $40,000 a month of bread gone to waste.

The wastage is unnecessary, given that there are over 20 charitable organisations here willing to transport bread from bakery to welfare homes. Bakeries need do no more than simply pack the unsold bread in bags.

Food From The Heart, for instance, collects from 110 bakeries and hotels such as Ritz-Carlton Millenia, benefiting 5,800 individuals a day.

Even more admirable are small-time bakeries like Cakes ETC in Ghim Moh, whose proprietor, his wife and his son, take turns to deliver their leftover bread to welfare homes.

In times of recession, when we are tightening our belts, we should be even more discerning about where our dollar goes. And we should judge companies by how socially responsible they are.

In Singapore, we do not have as yet a strong tradition of conscientious - or ethical - consumption. When most of us (myself included) consider a purchase, we look at the item's price, its quality, its design. When it is a food product, we also consider whether it is 'safe' to consume - for the sake of our health.

But we rarely consider the conduct of the company that we buy from, whether its actions are 'safe' and 'good' for society as a whole or the environment, not just us.

As consumers, we do wield a certain influence on how companies act and, yes, we can improve the world in the process.

In the West, an example of such influence was the boycott of tuna in the early 1990s.

Some people refused to purchase canned tuna because dolphins were routinely killed in the process of catching the fish. Though canned tuna did not contain dolphin meat, the product was deemed tainted because of the way tuna was caught.

The end result of the boycott was that the tuna companies found a way to catch tuna without killing large numbers of dolphins. Once canned tuna did not seem tainted, consumers began purchasing it again with a 'clear conscience'.

Today, in the United States, there is a new wave of consumers who are 'becoming...civically motivated in their shopping and purchasing habits', trumpeted an article in Time magazine late last year.

According to a report by Future Laboratory, an international brand strategy and trend-forecasting consultancy, these consumers are 'becoming more judgmental, less forgiving, and more determined to use their power'.

In Singapore, there are some glimmers of a movement in a similar direction.

A new environment-friendly HDB estate in Punggol, with green attributes such as solar-powered corridor lighting, proved popular when it was launched in March last year.

Around the same time, some Raffles Girls' School students started an organisation to lobby fellow youth, their school, and parents to use so-called Fairtrade products.

It is a good start. But what more can be done to push ethics into the consciousness of consumers?

One possible way is to set up a website - hosted perhaps by a respected organisation such as the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre - with listings of companies that are good corporate citizens.

Of course, the difficulty lies in defining what constitutes a good corporate citizen.

When is a company a good corporate citizen? What if it does good in some areas, but not others?

For instance, the bakery that I referred to at the start of this column has donated freshly-baked bread on an ad-hoc basis to charities. It has been a good corporate citizen in this respect.

It is up to the individual consumer to judge, weigh up a company's various actions and decide if it passes muster. It is also up to the customer to decide what causes he wishes to champion.

Some might feel strongly about the environment; others, about the elderly in homes. But the most important thing is to be aware and not let ignorance be an excuse.

As some social theorists have noted, conscientious consumption is one of the clearest and most basic ways for us to express our actual moral choices.

'Shopping is more important than voting,' some have argued. That is an exaggeration, but the sentiment does hold a truth: We do shop every day.

In Singapore, where shopping is the most popular leisure activity, we are perhaps better placed than most others to make a go of ethical shopping.

And when better to start than this festive season?

Big ticket items still popular this Christmas season
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia 24 Dec 08;

SINGAPORE: Economic woes aside, Singaporeans are still spending big on electronic items and toys as perfect gifts this Christmas.

With most companies still handing out year-end bonuses, Singaporeans are in high spirits to shop. But that does not mean they are less discerning.

"We compare different brands and check the reviews," one said. "I think it is a buyer's market now because the price has gone down considerably."

With those factors in mind, items that set consumers back by hundreds of dollars remain popular this festive season.

At Courts Megastore for example, lower-priced mini notebooks that can cost more than S$500 have topped this year's list of hot Christmas items.

Digital cameras come second, while full high-definition TV sets – mostly bought by families for themselves – are third.

Terry O'Connor, chief executive officer, Courts (Singapore), said: "You are talking about the 32-inch LCD, Japanese branded products from as low as S$599 or S$699. For a very affordable price, you can get big screen full-HDTVs below S$2,000 and sometimes, below S$1,500. It is a price-oriented market at the moment."

The same can also be said for toys.

Ng Peng Hwa, managing director, Lancashire Marketing, said: "Parents will still invest in their young ones by getting products that have good play value, that have enhanced features, that also give them value-for-money returns.

"In the first two weeks of December, we sold close to 500 dollhouse sets. And it is not just a dollhouse, it is the first interactive dollhouse in Singapore."

According to Mr Ng, demand from retail outlets has not dropped, despite the economic downturn. In fact, he is confident his company can sell up to 1,200 of the 2,000 sets that it brought in.


- CNA/so

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Lavish light-up? Re-direct generosity for Christmas, next year

'I enjoy driving past the house when the lights are on. But I question the extravagance.'
Straits Times Forum 25 Dec 08;
MR VERNON YONG: 'I refer to Tuesday's report, 'Bright Xmas at home' about the lavish light-up of Mr Leonard Francis' home. I enjoy driving past the house every evening when the lights are on. But I must question the extravagance, especially in the current economic climate and considering the current global drive to conserve natural resources. May I humbly encourage Mr Francis to re-direct his generosity for Christmas, next year, to the many charitable and voluntary welfare organisations in Singapore.'
X'mas XXL
Yen Feng, Straits Times 22 Dec 08;

CLUNY Road is one of the poshest streets in Singapore, but none of the private homes there inspire awe quite like that of Mr Leonard Francis.

The house features what is likely Singapore's most lavish display of Christmas decorations.

An $8,000 nativity scene, forged by Italian statue-makers, graces the front lawn, a life-sized Santa and his reindeer sit on the roof and the entire property is awash in light.

While Mr Francis was not home , he has developed a reputation as one of Singapore's most ardent Christmas decorators.

Last year, he reportedly spent $25,000 on the display and this year's edition has some new additions.

A new, larger 'star' looks down on baby Jesus, who is swaddled in the manger. Around the house, at least two more pine trees have been put up. Outside, along the home's grassy perimeter, more twinkling reindeer have joined the fold.

Mr Francis, who is Catholic, is following up on a tradition of decorating that was started by his grandfather, a former employee said last year.

It is one he wants to continue for his two teenaged sons.

On Monday, Mr Francis' home burst into colour when the lights came on at 6:35pm.

One neighbour came up to the house with a video camera in his hand.

Another, walking his golden retriever, stopped and took a photo with his cell phone, while traffic along the narrow road slowed to a crawl.

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Programme mooted in Malaysia to save Sumatran rhinos

The Star 25 Dec 08;

KUANTAN: Global warming, greenhouse gasses, destruction of forests, pollution of oceans, air and land are some of the problems affecting the environment.

Keeping this in mind, Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd decided to do its part for conservation efforts by organising an special programme in the East Coast Mall recently.

The ‘Save Our Sumatran Rhinos’ programme received good response from visitors particularly children, who learnt more about environmental issues.

As the specie was categorised as critically endangered in 1996 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Honda took up the challenge to be only corporate sponsorship solely dedicated to the animal.

There are less than 24 Sumatran rhinos left in Sabah, around 60 left in Peninsular Malaysia and less than 300 worldwide based on the last comprehensive estimate.

If nothing is done to save them in the next 15 to 20 years, the animal will most likely become extinct based on the current rate of loss.

Several trees were displayed for members of the public to write and paste their pledges to save the environment and the Sumatran rhino.

To complement the programme, the organiser also conducted a sand art workshop and taught the children to make simple items such as pen holder, kite and paper bag using recycled items.

Since it was the school holidays, the children enjoyed the activities.

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Ipoh rubber tapper caught for poaching Malayan sun bear

Caught with bear meat in fridge
Hah Foong Lian, The Star 25 Dec 08;

IPOH: A rubber tapper has been detained for allegedly poaching an endangered Malayan sun bear in the wild for his own consumption.
The 56-year-old tapper, who has a wild boar trading permit for the past three years, was arrested following a tip-off to the Selangor Wildlife and National Parks Department.

Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department director Shabrina Shariff said her officers raided the rubber tapper’s home at Jalan Ketoyong in Tanjung Malim at 11am on Tuesday after receiving information from her Selangor counterpart.

“We found the head and four limbs of the protected animal in a refrigerator.

“There was also 15kg of the animal meat stored in a plastic bag in the freezer,” she said at her office here yesterday.

She added that pellet marks from a shotgun could be seen on the animal’s head.

Shabrina said she believed that the Malayan sun bear was an adult animal weighing some 95kg but its sex could not be determined because all its organs were removed.

The suspect, she said, had told her officers that he had poached the endangered sun bear for his own consumption.

Explaining that the sun bear was a protected animal, Shabrina added that the general belief was that the sun bear was used as an aphrodisiac for men and that its meat fetched some RM200 per kg.

She said her officers had lodged a police report and the suspect would be prosecuted under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972/76.

The case would be mentioned in court next year, she added.

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Gas-producing countries set up Opec equivalent

Energy group to study price-setting and ways not to flood market
Straits Times 25 Dec 08;

MOSCOW: With Russia's support, a dozen large natural gas-producing countries including Indonesia and Malaysia have founded an organisation that will study ways to set global prices for the fuel, much as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) does for crude oil.

The development on Tuesday seems likely to further unnerve European Union nations, already wary of their dependence on Russian energy and what critics say are efforts by Moscow to use oil and natural gas exports as leverage to reassert sway over former Soviet nations.

Russia's foray into energy diplomacy, affecting natural gas producers from the Middle East to South America, also underlined its ambitions to assert itself on the world stage despite the slump in energy prices.

Initially, officials from member countries said, the group will focus on coordinating investment plans to dissuade countries from flooding the market with gas.

But if its longer-term goals are realised, the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries holds the potential to extend an Opec-like model of price modulation to another basic commodity, even as natural gas is expected to play a larger role in global energy supplies.

The forum 'will represent the interests of producers and exporters on the international market', Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the gathering of energy ministers. 'The time of cheap energy resources and cheap gas is surely coming to an end.'

The formation of the group was a coup for Russia, the world's largest producer of natural gas and oil. But most members also belong to Opec, which has been at odds with Russia over its reluctance to reduce crude oil output in coordination with the oil cartel.

The countries in the forum have been meeting informally since 2001; what was new on Tuesday was the group's adoption of a charter that would establish a permanent secretariat. Doha was chosen as the group's headquarters.

The Russian government, in a statement, said falling energy prices had impelled members to quickly formalise their organisation. As in Opec, the ministers in the new group espoused an ideology of defiance to the industrialised countries that are the primary customers, and stated the rights of commodity exporting nations to coordinate efforts to improve the terms of trade.

Moscow, which also belongs to the Group of Eight industrialised nations, insisted the group was not a cartel, like Opec. A deputy chairman of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Mr Aleksander Medvedev, said the natural gas business, which relies on long-term contracts, would make the use of production quotas, the backbone of Opec's pricing policies, impossible.

But the Energy Minister of Venezuela, the country that initiated the formation of the original Opec in 1960, was not coy about his hopes for the new group as liquefied natural gas traded on spot markets is projected to become a more important fuel in the global energy mix.

'We see this organisation as Opec,' Mr Rafael Ramirez said on the sidelines of the meeting. 'We are producer countries and we have to defend our interests.'

But Opec has not had a good track record of being able to control prices over the year. Despite pledges of cuts this year totalling 4.2 million barrels a day, or nearly 12 per cent of Opec's capacity, oil prices, which topped US$145 a barrel this summer, continue to fall. Prices settled on Tuesday at US$38.98 a barrel in New York.

A study that the group commissioned said natural gas prices would inevitably remain linked to the price of oil.

However, the study said that the environmental benefits of natural gas, including lower releases of greenhouse gases, are not priced into the fuel, offering room to negotiate higher prices.

The study also concluded that the market for shipborne natural gas is transforming the fuel into a global commodity, suggesting the industry will transform from one modelled as a utility serving pipeline customers to one built around trading.

The forum members include Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Venezuela, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and, as observers, Equatorial Guinea and Norway.

NEW YORK TIMES

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First detection of Ebola-Reston virus in pigs

FAO/OIE/WHO offer assistance to the Philippines
FAO Newsroom 23 Dec 08;

Manila/Roma, 23 December 2008 - Following the detection of the Ebola-Reston virus in pigs in the Philippines, FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that the government of the Philippines has requested the three agencies send an expert mission to work with human and animal health experts in the Philippines to further investigate the situation.

An increase in pig mortality on swine farms in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in 2007 and 2008 prompted the Government of the Philippines to initiate laboratory investigations. Samples taken from ill pigs in May, June and September 2008 were sent to international reference laboratories which confirmed in late October that the pigs were infected with a highly virulent strain of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) as well as the Ebola-Reston virus.

Ebola-Reston in swine

Although co-infection in pigs is not unusual, this is the first time globally that an Ebola-Reston virus has been isolated in swine. It is not, however, the first time that the Ebola-Reston virus has been found in the Philippines: it was found in monkeys from the Philippines in outbreaks that occurred in 1989-1990, 1992, and 1996.

The Ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family (filovirus) and is comprised of five distinct species: Zaïre, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston. Zaïre, Sudan and Bundibugyo species have been associated with large Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa with high case fatality ratio (25-90%) while Côte d'Ivoire and Reston have not. Reston species can infect humans but no serious illness or death in humans have been reported to date.

Since being informed of this event in late November, FAO, OIE and WHO have been making every effort to gain a better understanding of the situation and are working closely with the Philippines Government and local animal and human health experts.

The Department of Health of the Philippines has reported that initial laboratory tests on animal handlers and slaughterhouse workers who were thought to have come into contact with infected pigs were negative for Ebola-Reston infection, and that additional testing is ongoing. The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) of the Philippines Department of Agriculture has notified the OIE that all infected animals were destroyed and buried or burned, the infected premises and establishments have been disinfected and the affected areas are under strict quarantine and movement control. Vaccination of swine against PRRS is ongoing in the Province of Bucalan. PRRS is not transmissible to humans.

The planned joint FAO/OIE/WHO team will work with country counterparts to address, through field and laboratory investigation, important questions as to the source of the virus, its transmission, its virulence and its natural habitat, in order to provide appropriate guidance for animal and human health protection.

Basic good hygiene

Until these questions can be answered, the FAO and WHO stressed the importance of carrying out basic good hygiene practices and food handling measures.

Ebola viruses are normally transmitted via contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected animal or person. In all situations, even in the absence of identified risks, meat handling and preparation should be done in a clean environment (table top, utensils, knives) and meat handlers should follow good personal hygiene practices (e.g. clean hands, clean protective clothing). In general, hands should be regularly washed while handling raw meat.

Pork from healthy pigs is safe to eat as long as either the fresh meat is cooked properly (i.e. 70°C in all part of the food, so that there is no pink meat and the juices run clear), or, in the case of uncooked processed pork, national safety standards have been met during production, processing and distribution.

Meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be eaten and should not enter the food chain or be given to other animals. Ill animals should be reported to the competent authorities and proper hygiene precautions and protection should be taken when destroying and disposing of sick or dead pigs. The Philippines Department of Agriculture has advised the Philippine public to buy its meat only from National Meat Inspection Services certified sources.

As a general rule, proper hygiene and precautionary measures (wearing gloves, goggles and protective clothing) should also be exercised when slaughtering or butchering pigs. This applies both to industrial and home-slaughtering of pigs. Children and those not involved in the process of slaughtering should be kept away.

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