Best of our wild blogs: 28 Mar 11


Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [21 - 27 Mar 2011]
from Green Business Times

Coral Reefs of Singapore - Terumbu Raya
from Biodiversity Singapore

Looking for dugong at Chek Jawa
from wild shores of singapore

Rose-ringed Parakeet eating seeds of peacock flower
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Elaeocarpus mass flowering and fruiting
from Urban Forest

A Surprisingly Wild Day at Chinese Garden
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore

铁路风景线 Green Corridor
from PurpleMangrove

squids @ terumbu semakau 23Mar2011
from sgbeachbum

Go Wild @ Pasir Ris Park & Mangroves
from Nikita Hengbok

Monday Morgue: Pink-eared Emperor
from the new Monday Morgue blog


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Use sniffer dogs to nab animal smugglers

Straits Times Forum 28 Mar 11;

IT IS disappointing to read that animal smuggling is on the increase in Singapore ("Animal smuggling on the rise"; March 21).

The illegal wildlife trade is exceedingly cruel and wasteful, and is now second only to the illegal trade in drugs and firearms. Reports have indicated that Singapore is ranked among the top 10 illegal wildlife smuggling hubs in the world.

While measures are in place to curb this trade in Singapore, there is, without a doubt, a need to do more and do so urgently.

In response to Animal Concerns Research and Education Society's (Acres) suggestion of using sniffer dogs to curb the trade, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) stated that "they were less cost-effective than other measures".

Can AVA clarify what the other measures are and whether they are already in place?

Sniffer dogs have been used successfully in several countries. Thailand, for example, which is also a hub for the illegal wildlife trade, now has a sniffer-dog unit. The unit is largely designed to serve as a deterrent to would-be smugglers and wildlife traffickers. The training and maintenance of the entire sniffer-dog unit functions on a meagre annual budget of 1.4 million baht (S$58,000).

In South Korea, Animals Asia Foundation's (AAF) detective dog, Simba, worked with the Incheon Customs Department to spearhead the fight against the trade in endangered species. According to AAF, Simba worked in Incheon airport with his handler to literally "sniff out" smuggled bear gall bladders, bear bile products, tiger bone, ivory and deer musk.

In his two years of employment, Simba repeatedly detected major finds almost every month - totalling an astonishing 142 separate animal parts. These included over 80 finds of bear bile and deer musk, as well as whole bear gall bladders, snakes and seal penis.

Simba even found four live baby monkeys and 22kg of marijuana for which he was not even trained.

The use of sniffer dogs is not only cost-effective but is time-effective as well. Acres hopes that AVA will reconsider our proposal and we will be keen to collaborate with them on this project.

Louis Ng
Executive Director
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres)


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Slight haze expected in Singapore over next few days

Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 11;

SINGAPORE: Singapore may experience slight haze over the next few days.

The National Environment Agency said satellite pictures over Sumatra detected isolated hot spots, but no smoke plumes were observed.

The 24-hour PSI reading at 4pm on Saturday was 35, which is within the "good" range.

Wet weather conditions are expected over the region in the next few days, although slight haze may still be seen.

Callers to the MediaCorp hotline said the skies appear hazy, while others complained of a burning smell.

-CNA/ac

Haze PSI reading rises slightly
Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 11;

SINGAPORE: The air quality in Singapore dipped slightly on Sunday with a 24-hour PSI reading of 42, as of 4pm.

This is an increase from Saturday's PSI reading of 35.

The National Environment Agency said the reading is still in the 'good' range, with rain helping to lighten the haze in the late afternoon.

However, NEA said Singapore may still experience slight haze from time to time when the winds are light.

-CNA/wk


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Indonesia airport foils smugglers with 40 pythons

(AFP) Google News 27 Mar 11;

JAKARTA — Indonesian airport officials said they had foiled an attempt by two Kuwaitis to smuggle 40 pythons in their luggage.

Suspects Yaqub Ebrahim and Ali Hasan were caught Friday at Jakarta's international airport as they tried to carry the sedated serpents onto an Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai.

"From many foiled cases, people often use the flights to Dubai to smuggle illegal animals," Salahudin Rafi, operational and technical director at airport operator Angkasa Pura II, said in an emailed statement to AFP.

He said the suspects usually sedated the animals so officers could not detect them.

"For the sake of flight safety and security, no animals are allowed to be brought onto aircraft without permission and special handling. Especially pythons, which are considered as wild animals," Rafi said.

The two suspects were questioned by airport authorities and the pythons were taken to the animal quarantine centre at the airport.


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Rare elephant found dead in Indonesia: official

Yahoo News 27 Mar 11;

JAKARTA (AFP) – A rare Sumatran elephant has died in Indonesia after blocking a village street for a week, an official said Sunday.

The female elephant was in a "weak condition" after becoming separated from its herd about a week ago in Bengkalis district, Riau province, conservation agency official Adit Gunawan told AFP.

"It was hungry. We gave it food, water and medical attention. We tried our best to nurse it back to health but it wasn't getting better and died on Saturday evening," he said.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death is being carried out, he said.

Antara state news agency reported that the elephant, along with her two calves, had been blocking a tarred road near a housing complex since last Monday. The elephant could have been poisoned, the report added.

However Gunawan said there was only one calf, which would be taken to the agency's elephant training centre and "may be released to the wild again if conditions allow".

"I don't want to speculate the cause of death until we get the formal autopsy report. It might have died from stress, lack of food or poisoning," he said.

There are at most 3,350 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the environmental group WWF.

Conflicts between humans and animals are increasing as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.

Wild Sumatran elephant dies in Riau
Antara 27 Mar 11;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - An adult wild elephant that blocked a street in Balai Raja vilage, Mandau subdistrict, Bengkalis district, Riau province, on March 21 finally died on Saturday night.

The Sumatran elephant was found dead in the Duri area of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia in Bengkalis district, said Heri who had evacuated the ill-fated animal`s body.

The authorities from Riau province`s natural resources conservation agency (BKSDA) had attempted to help the ailing elephant by giving it bottles of infusion and taking its blood sample, he said.

"Bottles of infusion have been given and a blood sample has even been taken to find out the causes of that elephant`s sickness," Heri said.

The BKSDA authorities had also brought a tame elephant from Minas elephant training center to help it, he said adding that the BKSDA and WWF authorities had conducted an autopsy on the dead elephant.

Near the dead elephant, there were two baby elephants.

Samsuardi of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Riau province said the wild elephant could have been poisoned and it was the sixth elephant which died this year.

Along with its two babies, that ill-fated elephant was found blocking an asphalted street to Cendana housing complex in Balai Raja vilage on March 21.

The housing complex for teachers was located next to an oil-producing company, Chevron, Berton Panjaitan, a local resident, said.

Conflicts between elephants and humans remain a serious problem to the people of Bengkalis.

In November 2010, for instance, tens of wild Sumatran elephants repeatedly invaded Petani village, Mandau subdistrict, Bengkalis district over a period of several days.

The wild elephants` presence had forced many of the villagers to stay home as working on their farms as usual had become risky.

The Petani village`s head, Rianto, said that situation had made his people stay at home rather than going to their farmings.

In June 2010, a herd of wild elephants also attacked Petani village, damaging four houses.

The wild animals also killed a resident recently. The villagers, whose houses were damaged, took refuge at their in relatives` houses and neighbors.(*)
(R013/HAJM/f001)

Editor: Ruslan Burhani

Elephant’s Death Sparks Call for Govt to Set Up Human-Animal Conflict Team
Jakarta Globe 28 Mar 11;

Pekanbaru, Riau. Despite valiant efforts to save it, a Sumatran elephant died in Riau on the weekend, prompting the World Wildlife Fund to call on the government to set up a team to manage human-elephant conflict in the region.

The weak adult female elephant, which was accompanied by two calves, was found on March 21 blocking access to a housing complex in Balai Raja village in Bengkalis district, Riau.

Concerned residents called the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), but the elephant collapsed on Wednesday morning. A BKSDA medical team took blood samples and gave the animal intravenous fluids, but were unable to save it.

Veterinarian Rini Deswita, from the BKSDA, said the elephant was suffering from gastrointestinal problems and was not able to keep any food down.

“It was also severely dehydrated,” Rini said. “We will know the precise cause of death after we perform an autopsy.”

Samsuardi, who works on Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation at WWF Riau, said he suspected the elephant had been poisoned.

His organization on Sunday called on the government to immediately establish a so-called Flying Squad to address human-elephant conflict in Balai Raja.

“Balai Raja contains the largest population of elephants in Riau,” said Syamsidar, a spokesman for WWF Riau, on Sunday. “But because their habitat has been destroyed to make way for residences and plantations, the animals are suffering.”

In 1990, 16,000 hectares of land in Balai Raja was set aside for the Marwa Wildlife Sanctuary. Today, however, only 120 hectares remains, most of which is secondary forest.

Didi, a Balai Raja local, said residents had tried to feed and bathe the female elephant after seeing it mistreated. Some residents had thrown objects at the elephant after it ate their crops, he said.

“Just look at the wounds on the elephant’s ears,” Didi said. “There is a large chance they were caused by people from around here.”


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Malaysia: Leopard cat found dead by the road

P. Chandra Sagaran New Straits Times 27 Mar 11;http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

SUNGAI SIPUT: A Tamil Daily journalist on his way to an assignment in Ipoh, found the carcass of a Leopard Cat or Kucing Batu on the roadside yesterday.

S. Lingeswaran, 26, from Makkal Osai, and his brother Uthayakanthan, 15, were on their way to attend a convocation ceremony at Politeknik Ungku Omar in Ipoh at 8.30am, when they spotted the dead animal near a cement factory off Jalan Kanthan-Ipoh.

"I saw it lying by the roadside but it was already dead. I called the Civil Defence Department who later sent a team to remove the carcass."

Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), also known as Bengal Cat, is a small wild cat of South and East Asia.

The name is derived from the leopard-like spots prevalent in all sub-species, but its relation to the leopard is distant.

Sungai Siput Civil Defence Department coordinator, A. Balasundram, said the carcass was taken to the Kanthan police station where it was later buried.


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Tsunami harpoons Japanese whaling town

Shingo Ito Yahoo News 27 Mar 11;

AYUKAWA, Japan (AFP) – The Japanese whaling town of Ayukawa has survived the wrath of environmental groups for decades, but had no defence against a giant tsunami that wiped out the industry here, possibly for ever.

One of only four communities in Japan that have continued to hunt and eat whales in defiance of international opposition, the town was already down to a single operating company, Ayukawa Whaling.

The March 11 tsunami that slammed into Japan's northeast coast took most of Ayukawa with it, destroying 80 percent of houses and leaving 400 of its 1,400 residents unaccounted for.

The wave shattered Ayukawa Whaling's storage facility and carried its fleet of three whaling ships hundreds of metres inland where they now lie grounded and impotent.

"This is the biggest ever crisis for us," said company chairman Minoru Ito.

Ito, 74, survived the disaster, along with all of his 28 employees, after they fled to higher ground in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that triggered the tsunami.

The survival of their livelihoods is another matter and Ito said he had already decided to lay everybody off and suspend all whaling operations until further notice.

It was a tough decision. Ito has been hunting whales for half a century and his father was an Ayukawa whaler in the town's boom days.

"For me, whaling is not just culture or tradition. It's part of my life," he said.

The history of commercial whaling in Ayukawa dates back to the early 1900s when three major whaling firms set up in the town, which lies on the eastern tip of Ojika peninsula, bordering the Pacific.

The industry lost ground during World War II, but bounced back with the growing demand for whale meat as a cheap and plentiful source of protein in the lean post-war years.

Temples dedicated to the souls of whales attested to the town's heritage, and tourists were drawn by a whaling museum -- now gutted by the tsunami -- that boasted skeletons, hunting tools, educational displays and a 3-D cinema.

But the industry had long been in decline, especially since commercial whaling was banned in 1986.

Japan has continued to hunt whales under a loophole that allows killing of the sea mammals for what it calls "scientific research", although the meat is later sold openly in shops and restaurants.

Japan's argument that whaling is an integral part of the island nation's culture finds some of its strongest voices among the residents of Ayukawa, for whom the prospect of stopping hunting is inconceivable.

"We should resume whaling at any cost," said 70-year-old Ryoetsu Okumi. "Whaling is my job and my life. If someone takes whaling from me, nothing will be left.

"Anti-whaling groups may be pleased with this disaster, but we will never surrender."

The tsunami came shortly after Japan recalled its Antarctic whaling fleet a month early, citing the threat posed by the militant environmentalist outfit Sea Shepherd.

The group, which says its tactics are non-violent but aggressive, has hurled paint and stink bombs at whaling ships, snared their propellers with rope and moved its own boats between the harpoon ships and their prey.

Okumi's defiance was not shared by all Ayukawa's residents, some of whom said the tsunami had probably dealt a death blow to the town's already ailing whaling operations.

"I'm afraid that not so many people will stay under this kind of condition. It's hard to resume," said retired whaler Taichi Endo, 82.

And despite hopes that the central government will step in and help Ayukawa Whaling get its ships back in the ocean and back to work, local officials were also pessimistic about the future.

"Whaling represents Ayukawa. That's for sure," said Shin Okada, a local government official.

"But facing reality, I have to say the current situation is quite hard."

Greenpeace Japan said its opposition to commercial whaling, including Japan's "scientific research", remained unchanged, but insisted its primary concern was for the victims of the tsunami in Ayukawa.

"We hope all survivors, including whalers, will recover," said spokesman Junichi Sato.


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Coastal buildings and shipping may change with rising of oceanic wind speeds and wave heights

The rise of winds and waves
The Australian National University Science Alert 28 Mar 11;

Oceanic wind speeds and wave heights have increased significantly over the last quarter of a century according to a major new study undertaken by ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young.

Published in Science, the study is the most comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken.

Other authors include Swinburne University oceanographers Professor Alex Babanin and Dr Stefan Zieger.

“Careful analysis of satellite data shows that extreme oceanic wind speeds and ocean wave heights have increased dramatically over the last 23 years,” Professor Young said.

“Off the southern coast of Australia, the highest one per cent of waves have increased in height from approximately five metres to almost six metres over the last 20 years.

“Extreme conditions are where we are seeing the largest increases, but mean conditions are also going up.

“Extreme wind speeds have increased over most of the globe by approximately 10 per cent over the last 20 years, or 0.5 per cent every year.

“Extreme wave heights have increased by an average of seven per cent over the last 20 years, or 0.25 per cent a year in equatorial regions and 0.5 per cent a year in higher latitudes.

“The results have potential impact on the design of coastal buildings and other structures as well as shipping. They could also have a profound effect on the transfer of energy (heat) between the sea and the atmosphere – one of the great unknowns of climate change.

“Using recently developed satellite data allowed us to investigate trends on a global scale for the first time. This has really given us a much clearer picture of what is happening in the world’s oceans.”

The study looked at satellite data over 23 years from 1985 to 2008, and was funded under an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, with sponsorship from MetOcean Engineers.

Scientists find waves are getting bigger
Bridie Smith Sydney Morning Herald 25 Mar 11;

Ocean wind speeds and wave heights around the world have increased significantly over the past quarter of a century, according to Australian research that has given scientists their first global glimpse of the world's rising winds and waves.

Published in the journal Science today, the research – the most comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken – used satellite data collected from 1985 to 2008.

It shows the extreme wave height off the coast of south-west Australia today is six metres on average, more than a metre higher than in 1985.
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"That has all sorts of implications for coastal engineering, navigation and erosion processes," said Alex Babanin, an oceanographer at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, and co-author of the paper.

However, there are greater uses for the data compiled by Professor Babanin, his Swinburne colleague Stefan Zieger and the Australian National University vice-chancellor, Ian Young.

To date scientists have largely focused on temperature as an indicator of climate change. But climate is about much more than temperature, as winds and waves control the flux of energy from the atmosphere to the ocean.

"Scientifically, this is another set of environmental properties which can be used as indicators of what is happening to the climate," Professor Babanin said. "Temperature changes the global patterns of the pressure, pressure defines the winds, winds define the waves. It's all connected."

The trio established that between 1985 and 2008, global increases in wave height were most significant for extreme waves – large spontaneous waves. They increased in height by an average of 7 per cent in the past 20 years. In equatorial regions the rise was 0.25 per cent a year, while in higher latitudes the rise was up to 1 per cent a year. The mean wave height also increased, but to a lesser degree.

When analysing extreme wind speed data over the world's oceans, the researchers found they increased by 10 per cent in the past two decades, or by 0.5 per cent a year.

Professor Babanin said waves were generated by wind. However, the data show the lift in wind speed was greater than wave height increase.

He said he doubted the 23 years of data could be immediately used to forecast future wind and wave conditions.

"These are the environmental properties which can be used as indicators for the climate behaviour along with the other properties, such as temperature and precipitation, and extrapolations have to be made with caution," he said.

World's wind and waves have been rising for decades
Wendy Zukerman New Scientist 24 Mar 11;

Wind speeds and wave heights over the world's oceans have been rising for the past quarter-century. It's unclear if this is a short-term trend, or a symptom of longer-term climatic change. Either way, more frequent hurricanes and cyclones could be on the horizon.

Ian Young at the Australian National University in Canberra and colleagues analysed satellite data from 1985 to 2008 to calculate wave heights and wind speeds over the world's oceans. They found that winds had strengthened – speeding up over most of the world's oceans by 0.25 to 0.5 per cent, on average, each year. Overall, wind speeds were 5 to 10 per cent faster than they had been 20 years earlier.

The trend was most pronounced for the strongest winds. For instance, the very fastest 1 per cent of winds were getting stronger by 0.75 per cent per year, says Young.

Average wave height was also on the rise, but less so; and the highest waves showed the strongest trend.

The results were compared against conventional measurements taken from deep-water buoys and numerical modelling. "There is variability, but the same general features are observed," Young says.
From space to sea

Previous attempts to investigate these phenomena used observations from ships and buoys, but these could generally provide only a regional picture. Using altimeter data from satellites allowed the team to detect decadal trends on a global scale for the first time.

Satellite altimeters use radar to measure the height of points on the Earth's surface, and can measure wave height very precisely. Measuring the amount of backscattering from the radar signals, meanwhile, can help calculate wind speed.

The global view afforded by the satellites reveals stronger trends in some areas than in others. For example, both wave height and wind speed have been increasing more rapidly in the oceans of the southern hemisphere than in the north.
Wave driver

Young can only speculate on what is causing the increases. "If we have oceans that are warming, that energy could feed storms, which increase wind speeds and wave heights," he says. But with a data series that covers just two decades, it's too early to tell whether there's a long-term trend at work. "We don't know the driving force."

Considering there are so many regional forces influencing waves and wind, "it's surprising that there is such a uniform trend", says Mark Hemer, a wave researcher at the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Hobart, Tasmania. Variability in winds and waves associated with weather systems such as El Niño and La Niña, the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode could all help to explain it, he says.

In either case, if winds continue to strengthen and waves to rise – even if only for a few years – it suggests more intense storms, hurricanes and cyclones are on the horizon, says Young.

However, Tom Baldock, a coastal engineer at the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Australia, says that although there is no reason to doubt the analysis, it doesn't mean more coastal natural disasters will necessarily ensue. "Tornados, hurricanes and cyclones occur through complicated regional weather conditions, and are not just related to wind speed and wave height," he says. For example, there are higher wind speeds at high latitudes, but most cyclones hit around the equator.

The new study may be more relevant to the burgeoning offshore gas, wind, wave and tidal power industries, Baldock thinks. "Larger waves are a hazard for any offshore construction."

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1197219


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