Singapore Zoo signs global biodiversity conservation agreement

Promoting conservation in Singapore
Today Online 30 Jan 10;

Biodiversity conservation got a boost in Singapore yesterday, with an agreement signed between Wildlife Reserves Singapore, its Conservation Fund and two other organisations, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch. Projects in the pipeline include a joint turtle initiative to conserve the endangered Giant River Terrapins in Singapore - and their wild cousins in Cambodia.

The agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects. In welcoming the collaboration, Ms Claire Chiang, who chairs the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level." President S R Nathan witnessed the signing of the agreement. Ernest Chua

Pact to step up diversity
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPOREANS can look forward to more diversity at zoos and parks here.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) - the parent company of Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo - on Friday signed an agreement to collaborate with the New York's Wildlife Conservation Society.

The pact will see both parties cooperating in field conservation projects and sharing best practices and technical expertise.

'I think there will be a multiple effect of conserved animals here, as a result of the collaboration,' said WRS chairman Claire Chiang, who added that WRS was involved in six conservation projects last year.

She added that the agreement 'represents another important step forward in out ongoing commitment to preserve our ecosystems and precious wildlife species.'

President SR Nathan witnessed the signing at the Singapore Zoo on Friday.

Wildlife Reserves and partners sign MOU to promote conservation message
Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE: Biodiversity conservation looks set to get a boost with an agreement signed on Friday by Wildlife Reserves Singapore and three partners – its Conservation Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore manages the Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and the Night Safari.

Among many projects under the partnership, endangered Giant River Terrapins – which are only a few months old – from the Singapore Zoo, along with their wild cousins in Cambodia, will be part of a Joint Turtle Initiative in Asia.

The Wildlife Conservation Society currently manages 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries. It also manages five parks in New York City - the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.

One other project the partnership will undertake is a turtle workshop for specialists in Asia, which will give them the opportunity to take stock of the current situation of endangered turtles in the region, as well as share their conservation strategies.

2010 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity, and in the spirit of that, all four organisations said they hope the collaboration will tap into the knowledge from all four sides, and will help enhance global conservation efforts.

The parties also committed to exchanging best practices and technical expertise, along with promoting public awareness about the importance of preserving global biodiversity.

Ward Wood, chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said: "Not only is every culture imbued with nature, but from a very pragmatic point of view, we need nature in order to continue to survive."

Claire Chiang, chairperson of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "It will only do good to the way we manage our zoos better, we will discover the rainforest biodiversity. We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level."

The partners said the agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects.

- CNA/yb

Endangered animals get new lease of life in Singapore
Philip Lim AFP Google News 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE — Sporting spiked hair and silver earrings, Samuel Tay hardly looks like a typical midwife.

The 25-year-old zookeeper beams with quiet pride as he watches over his "babies" -- row upon row of snakes bred for Singapore's popular zoo.

"These are my kids. Why do I need kids when I have so many already?" he told AFP, gesturing to tanks where newborn reptiles, including some from highly endangered species, receive tender loving care.

From jaguars and chimpanzees to Komodo dragons and manatees, heavily urbanised Singapore is gaining a reputation as a successful nursery for some of the world's rarest animals.

With a breeding programme for 315 species, around one in six of which are threatened, the Singapore Zoo is seeing a steady stream of locally born additions to its collection, currently numbering more than 2,500 animals.

Tay, a zoologist by training, is one of Singapore's frontline warriors in the battle against animal extinction, and visitors from around the world help fund the campaign.

The Singapore Zoo and its attached Night Safari, dedicated to nocturnal animals, each welcomes more than a million visitors a year.

Last year, 142 animals were born in the zoo, 32 of which were threatened species, officials said.

Experts from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), the operator of the city-state's zoo, night safari and bird park, do not rely on Mother Nature for results.

"We are very pragmatic, in the sense that if we need to make things happen, we will go all out to make things happen," said the group's assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha.

The latest star of the programme is a baby Komodo dragon hatched in December -- the first born in an Asian zoo outside the giant lizard's native Indonesia.

The hatchling was the culmination of three years of effort by zookeepers watching over every step of its parents' courtship and mating to make sure everything went as planned, said Tay.

"It's always supervised contact, we never leave them alone together," he said.

This interventionist approach is extended to other creatures at Singapore's wildlife attractions, including the Jurong Bird Park, another major tourist draw.

"We don't take a wait-and-see approach. We will give it a certain amount of time for the animals to decide for themselves if they do want to mate, but if things don't go right, then we usually come in," Guha said.

Aside from making enclosures look and feel like native habitats, cutting-edge technology and scientific methods are deployed to make sure animals mate with the best possible partners at the most opportune time.

They include matching viable females with genetically superior males using semen analysis and monitoring the females' fertility cycles through regular ultrasound tests -- something that not all zoos can afford to do.

"Diagnostic facilities are not cheap," noted senior veterinarian Abraham Mathew. "You need the manpower and you need the expertise to do this. All zoos actually want to do this type of work, but whether they can do it or not would depend on their management," he said.

A mobile ultrasound machine used by the zoo costs around 20,000 Singapore dollars (14,200 US) and includes an expensive probe that allows veterinarians to accurately check female animals' fertility out in the field.

Such resources have helped make the city state a breeding hub for threatened animals, said Guha.

Zoo staff hope a pair of pandas to be loaned by China will produce offspring in the coming years.

"For us, captive populations form an insurance population, so it is our objective to make sure that there are sustainable numbers in captivity," Guha said.