tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36907090597623184482024-03-06T15:44:17.510+08:00Sebana HornbillsThe Sebana Hornbill conservation project is a joint environmental effort by Sebana Cove, Johor Malaysia and The Green Volunteers, Singapore. The aim of this project is to provide wild Hornbills a safe sanctuary so that they will eventually breed.Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-9324751673744803622010-10-03T18:32:00.003+08:002010-10-03T18:35:32.967+08:00Hornbills in Bandung<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Behind Bars</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the benefit of the Singaporean crowd, no, we're not talking about hornbills pickled in the drink bandung *</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">shudder</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*. These are hornbills spotted in an ill-maintained(if one can even consider what little they seem to do </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">maintenance</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) zoo in Bandung, Indonesia. While in the wild these amazing birds would have very large ranges of kilometers of land, just for the benefit of mankind, they have been crammed into relatively tiny enclosures and expected to just deal with it. That's a whole different story we shall not get into; we'll just focus on the hornbills. Or at least, we'll try. No promises.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There were two tiny enclosures housing wreathed hornbills and oriental pied hornbills- both of which can be found in Java, assuming they haven't all been stolen from the wild to be sold in the infamous bird market in Yogyakarta, or put in other tiny enclosures around Indonesia. *oops...there we go again...*</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBGB9SZ2LjIrRhx_hyphenhyphenG1r2odZDfVyWh7JvDyr6BUsYQMO_lp2PwJl147MGiLeMRwTbXQOxC8YGEZC7WrjuJE7i6P9TM5PW28xBsGj4JimZKEQDp_My-vZOCPsVjH0xhZ1mWGm26FsFQA/s1600/IMG_4158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBGB9SZ2LjIrRhx_hyphenhyphenG1r2odZDfVyWh7JvDyr6BUsYQMO_lp2PwJl147MGiLeMRwTbXQOxC8YGEZC7WrjuJE7i6P9TM5PW28xBsGj4JimZKEQDp_My-vZOCPsVjH0xhZ1mWGm26FsFQA/s320/IMG_4158.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hornbill enclosure in the forefront of the picture</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuUs_xHBTmQQ-zl_TVEYNHP5ig02wDXJd375Q6u8A4r5KpVqxumDkQilKVWVfW8glWXL3juMQL-3RhN9Ygiw7uGbSEvqB7tjQ8NOuYYRlbVspQ_e-I_MulszAiaQZ014csr8HkjmeRsE/s1600/IMG_4167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuUs_xHBTmQQ-zl_TVEYNHP5ig02wDXJd375Q6u8A4r5KpVqxumDkQilKVWVfW8glWXL3juMQL-3RhN9Ygiw7uGbSEvqB7tjQ8NOuYYRlbVspQ_e-I_MulszAiaQZ014csr8HkjmeRsE/s320/IMG_4167.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the shadows (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhyticeros/Aceros</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> undulatus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYJRz0RXxFhZI3NUK-PP1V_dv_4CN0gDrLkdbDoAJ9t6q5JCU64ZRFiD-qc3KCL9YadyDCv_ZTrMLfzT-7Y1w_VBZ01JGID2A9YCF5h0qx3OlKBICUUei60K8tF3-MGhD3ceBg1yAp24/s1600/IMG_4170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYJRz0RXxFhZI3NUK-PP1V_dv_4CN0gDrLkdbDoAJ9t6q5JCU64ZRFiD-qc3KCL9YadyDCv_ZTrMLfzT-7Y1w_VBZ01JGID2A9YCF5h0qx3OlKBICUUei60K8tF3-MGhD3ceBg1yAp24/s320/IMG_4170.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wreathed hornbill (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhyticeros/Aceros</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> undulatus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqITgQRpkU7jOyDXoJ7NbAa6P8FlRoPZLX-qlVPqj9pGQ_yyn4r3f8CWARr0f2wuDvO3VgoHf3VW-2pY6DbcbZCraV2-3LviJez1AntmJfnqX90rNUqWxKB8QJAPi-3CNTcfFCgslkh2c/s1600/IMG_4163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqITgQRpkU7jOyDXoJ7NbAa6P8FlRoPZLX-qlVPqj9pGQ_yyn4r3f8CWARr0f2wuDvO3VgoHf3VW-2pY6DbcbZCraV2-3LviJez1AntmJfnqX90rNUqWxKB8QJAPi-3CNTcfFCgslkh2c/s320/IMG_4163.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wreathed Hornbills(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhyticeros/Aceros</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> undulatus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWqAgaL4I8VAAI5fjWdn2XkXeFs1YLuKy1MhMpn-1Fou7s-vhzCeQY12jm_ug0B8pTpC7n7Z3c8uucJnC7PSbqEZRRXJjg5z__mu8oVA-D18n3-g8Eu1yd1FBhQdIr4TwCJh1Gx7HxwY/s1600/IMG_4179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWqAgaL4I8VAAI5fjWdn2XkXeFs1YLuKy1MhMpn-1Fou7s-vhzCeQY12jm_ug0B8pTpC7n7Z3c8uucJnC7PSbqEZRRXJjg5z__mu8oVA-D18n3-g8Eu1yd1FBhQdIr4TwCJh1Gx7HxwY/s320/IMG_4179.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oriental Pied Hornbills</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Hornbills & Indonesia</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Indonesia is home to many different species of hornbills, including the Wreathed and Oriental pied hornbills in the pictures above. However, it is important to note that not all the species can be found on every island. Also, some islands of the Indonesian archipelago have endemic species of hornbills, found nowhere else except in those couple of islands. Island populations are often known to harbour endemic species of organisms simply because they are, to a certain extent, cut of from "the rest of the world" or more accurately, from other populations of hornbills. After a couple of hornbills have painstakingly got their feathery behinds to some remote island, one of two possibilities is likely to occur(there are other possibilities apart from the ones stated here, of course...):</span><br />
<div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They are unable to survive in this new, exotic environment and die out.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They manage to survive long enough to reproduce, enabling natural selection to take over and soon enough, you (possibly) have an entirely new species of hornbill. One that is more adept at facing what the island throws at them.</span></li>
</ol><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And before we get carried away with trivia about Indonesia and/or evolution, both fascinating in their own right, let's focus on the hornbills ya? We've gone on and on about Oriental Pied hornbills time and time again so me(we?!) thinks it's time to introduce yet another member of Club Hornbill- the Wreathed hornbill.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Wreathed Hornbills</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Big Wreathed hornbills are known to start making miniature wreathed hornbills at around 3 to 4 years old. In Indonesia and Malaysia, they are believed to nest throughout the year. Interestingly, these hornbills have ridges on their casques. These ridges are a rough indication of age since they accumulate ridges as they mature. You might be wondering what the point of knowing how old(or young, for all you age-sensitive folk out there) a hornbill is. Seeing as how no one has been able to master hornbill-speak, nerdy scientists with big, groovy brains have had to make some intelligent guesses and test out these guesses using the all important </span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=scientific+process#hl=en&expIds=17259,17291,20782,22881,25260,25532,25907,26714,26781,26993,52729&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=scientific+method&cp=12&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=scientific+m&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=7c8f32f65b860aba"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scientific method</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. This is what they've come up with so far:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Generally, hornbills' ability to make babies that survive to a ripe old age (and produce more babies of their own along the way) increases as they get older... up to a particular point, where it reaches a maximum and then, their ability to produce healthy babies decreases once again.It is believed that this is due to their increased ability to provide lots of nutritious food to the self-imprisoned mother and baby hornbills. </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why do older birds provide provide better for their families? Having more ridges may give the bird a higher "status", as compared with hornbills with fewer ridges on their casques. This enables their all mighty feathery behinds to shoo away younger birds when getting food, i.e. they get the best pickings! </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So let's say you're a female hornbill. Which potential Mr. Right are you on the look out for? The hornbill with fewer ridges and is only mediocre at providing for you and your babies... or the hornbill with a whole load of ridges and is well equipped to provide well for you and your babies? </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You decide :) </span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BirdLife International (2010) Species factsheet:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aceros everetti</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/9/2010</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Kemp, A. (1995). </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Hornbills.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> United States: Oxford University Press Inc., New York.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/index.shtml</span></span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0Bandung, Indonesia-6.91243 107.606903-7.0828429999999996 107.37344350000001 -6.742017 107.8403625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-40777429421638029932010-09-09T17:08:00.000+08:002010-09-09T17:08:26.989+08:00Circular motion<div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did-he-do-it? Did-he-do-it? </span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i></i>No, it's got nothing to do with Grant and what he did. Rather, it concerns one(or a couple) noisy bird that has been demanding answers in the vicinity of Sebana Cove. Ever the skeptic eh? Don't believe us? Go ahead then. Watch the video. We dare you!</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Flying in circles </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vanellus indicus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx5LYOOiuPCG0MBAmYvHdrCulVXgiCLWFtb8A5IzObpgL3OXqmiddPjRb1HvPqnYZXIgN-42beRpEJF920R9A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div></div></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hmm... okay. Maybe it doesn't sound quite like "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">did-he-do-it"</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, but apparently some people out there in our world so blue feel otherwise. So convinced are they that they're even going around calling it the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did-he-do-it</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> bird. We prefer to stick with the more unimaginative name of Red-wattled Lapwing(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vanellus indicus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This distinctively coloured bird is said to be relatively common in Malaysia, other parts of Southeast Asia(Singapore being the exception yet again- endangered there) as well as West and South Asia. Such distinctive colouration and yet we managed to overlook it in a book. Old age and failing eyesight, forgive us. We didn't manage to get close enough to get a good shot of this highly conspicuous bird, unfortunately. Even though it hung around the area for quite awhile, advertising its presence with its bird song, if you can call it that.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Red-wattled Lapwing</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vanellus indicus</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span> </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9B9HBm-JDD_34bTB-CEOh418aUVFgM5qzcDWZO03MDLTsw0uI23qI62IRmYElkEgsWwW7Bko5x35Uxj2rJjurVLsikUYHacSJ-IhSYWe7EFRLtHQaq6JnvZOrtNOfWukE-jWCwANZ-s/s1600-h/Unknown+Bird.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451726829545155586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9B9HBm-JDD_34bTB-CEOh418aUVFgM5qzcDWZO03MDLTsw0uI23qI62IRmYElkEgsWwW7Bko5x35Uxj2rJjurVLsikUYHacSJ-IhSYWe7EFRLtHQaq6JnvZOrtNOfWukE-jWCwANZ-s/s320/Unknown+Bird.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 218px; width: 320px;" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The bird was often on the ground, running around in short spurts, and then stopping just as soon as it had started. It descends to the realm of the flightless for a very predictable reason- feeding. It is known to pick insects, snails and other invertebrates off the ground. We didn't get to see it catch anything though; no, unfortunately, he(<i>or she</i>) did not do it.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vanellus indicus</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 24/3/2010</span></span></span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-48080805516163189662010-08-11T18:07:00.001+08:002010-08-11T18:36:50.396+08:00Avian toupee<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2Iv4oZfTj22B9CBG8egTnXBqD2TXt2HxLKi2ZgnuZ9eQADnYoai4BrSaL_hr0-i3KXctgNYkNmecdLtLMnUKycOsuzCVpVC86T4ot9KCfoki0e36Adle5OIhoso15W-zlUxZypXGC-c/s1600/DSC_0397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2Iv4oZfTj22B9CBG8egTnXBqD2TXt2HxLKi2ZgnuZ9eQADnYoai4BrSaL_hr0-i3KXctgNYkNmecdLtLMnUKycOsuzCVpVC86T4ot9KCfoki0e36Adle5OIhoso15W-zlUxZypXGC-c/s320/DSC_0397.JPG" width="212" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crested Serpent Eagle (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spilornis cheela</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We were making our way back for lunch after a somewhat disappointing walk(the hornbills were in hiding), and lo and behold! A find that made up for the hornbills going AWOL! A Crested Serpent Eagle, named as such because of it's black feathered toupee(okay so it's not quite a toupee but it sure looks like one) and it's diet which consists of a helluva lot of snake(as well as plenty of lizards).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interestingly, it's black toupee(or as the scientists call it- crest) stands on end when it gets agitated. Unfortunately this one was all calm, and stalking him(or her) while enthusiastically clicking away at our cameras didn't seem to ruffle its feathers.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpSR-spi8LY4lgxvBHMmFr5EgEwsnCum6Qq2FS1YYNrbAQpBjHb3kVTwwFvBIoIN1AyQqPSAxZMj4GMHnKAQUYLZQN6RmA5m_YmJCo56yuNuh8VwU4ebQA4p58NNXPa92TsBXItFDQb4/s1600/DSC_0404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpSR-spi8LY4lgxvBHMmFr5EgEwsnCum6Qq2FS1YYNrbAQpBjHb3kVTwwFvBIoIN1AyQqPSAxZMj4GMHnKAQUYLZQN6RmA5m_YmJCo56yuNuh8VwU4ebQA4p58NNXPa92TsBXItFDQb4/s320/DSC_0404.JPG" width="212" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crested Serpent Eagle (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spilornis cheela</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When you first look at the bird, all you think is woah! Big bird! But it's actually considered to be a "medium-sized" raptor. It's about 1/2 m to 3/4 m tall. Heck, there are hornbills bigger than </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">! Nevertheless, it is a beautiful bird and a very pleasing find! Not considered to be endangered because of it's large range, but sadly it is </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on the verge of extinction in Singapore</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It can be found from South Asia, and throughout much of Southeast Asia and parts of China even. Its species name comes from its Hindi name- </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dogra cheel</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was rather curious that a raptor should choose to perch on relatively low branches by the road, but apparently, some have observed this predator taking the easy way out and waiting for various vehicles to come along and squash some snake. Car-cum-meat-tenderizer? Also, as already mentioned previously, it didn't seem to be too bothered by us. We'd like to think it's because we were giving off peaceful, loving vibes.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeyttw-LMBjK-eANiWq9whicr66189e6n1KdXIJk8PwtD40QMUBgRUAP01Bb108KNAi0bAaHUan14h8ewReE-jvbV1kJ7DwavrFULCVQqjQ-3-TUIpvI7qoizXRUHFXv4E7UFd6yC_k0/s1600/DSC_0390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeyttw-LMBjK-eANiWq9whicr66189e6n1KdXIJk8PwtD40QMUBgRUAP01Bb108KNAi0bAaHUan14h8ewReE-jvbV1kJ7DwavrFULCVQqjQ-3-TUIpvI7qoizXRUHFXv4E7UFd6yC_k0/s320/DSC_0390.JPG" width="212" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snubbed by a Crested Serpent Eagle (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spilornis cheela</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What looked like a strange bald patch on his/her head(as seen in the photo above) is actually likely to just be it's baby feathers. Juveniles/younger birds tend to have more white bits on their heads apparently. So perhaps these white bits are vestiges of its younger days? The photo taken below in Indonesia provides a better view of those little white bits of feathers that occur on the head of this magnificent eagle.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cJjY3mx063_i4A9aGW6GAtdSvwuvwpaXnDnXJN-q73UwghON5wfPPu1roRA_05EgUCWBNfFwlgoY7ZxhboT1c1r67N72470gwLg0cXVhaIWWnqDDnB8IdOwcZvT9il2EtkA4vfwJoqI/s1600/IMG_4150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cJjY3mx063_i4A9aGW6GAtdSvwuvwpaXnDnXJN-q73UwghON5wfPPu1roRA_05EgUCWBNfFwlgoY7ZxhboT1c1r67N72470gwLg0cXVhaIWWnqDDnB8IdOwcZvT9il2EtkA4vfwJoqI/s320/IMG_4150.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All caged up at Bandung Zoo, Indonesia</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chickening around </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Adapted from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSiXrmQRf6Y&feature=player_embedded">this website</a> on 11 August 2010]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QSiXrmQRf6Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QSiXrmQRf6Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A little strange to be seeing an animal as beautiful and majestic as this eagle is, walking around like a lowly chicken. Or maybe it's just that elitist mentality creeping into our Singaporean brains...</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></b></span></div><div><br />
<div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">iloveindia.com. (n.d.). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Home : Wildlife in India : Indian Birds : Crested Serpent Eagle : Crested Serpent Eagle Facts</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from iloveindia.com: http://www.iloveindia.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tsang, K. (2007, June 15). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Crested Serpent Eagle: Snakes alive</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from Bird Ecology Study Group: http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2007/06/15/crested-serpent-eagle-snakes-alive/</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-72151652383660251612010-08-06T16:56:00.000+08:002010-08-06T16:56:07.297+08:00Starry starry night...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Taking a stroll pass what Grant has christened- </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Citadel</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, when we noticed too much chirping for our curious selves to resist. And strangely enough... it seemed to be coming up from The Citadel. So climb the millions of steps we did(okay, so maybe this is a bit of an exaggeration, hundreds of steps?), to find small black birds hidden under the roof. At first sight, they looked like small mynas. But wait, they have ... demonic red eyes! AHHHHH! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nah, they aren't in anyway demonic, but they are red. Which is a distinctive feature of these beautiful birds. That and their shimmery feathers that look metallic blue-green at times. And the reason they look like mynas- they're pretty much cousins! Sort of... They're all from the same </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">family</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The Sturnidae. For those unfamiliar with what a family is in biological terms, all living things are grouped together in certain groups. As one goes close and closer to the species level, organisms in the groupings become more and more closely related. The picture below should give you a pretty good idea about what we're failing at trying to explain.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sas.guidespot.com/bundles/guides_bo/assets/widget_akvPeY8m1gMB0GkMGFrybH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://sas.guidespot.com/bundles/guides_bo/assets/widget_akvPeY8m1gMB0GkMGFrybH.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Image adapted from </span></span><a href="http://sas.guidespot.com/bundles/guides_bo/assets/widget_akvPeY8m1gMB0GkMGFrybH.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this website</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> on 25th June 2010</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They're against the light, so they look completely black. But if you had been there with us(spiritually or otherwise...) you would have noticed that their "underbelly" was white with black stripes. Caused a little bit of confusion- aren't Asian glossy starlings supposed to be black all over with metallic shiny blue/green bits when under sunlight? Strange aliens sent from outer space pretending to be starlings to spy on us? Mutant birds carrying merciless diseases that will wipe out all of mankind? Questions, questions... and no closer to any answer! AHHHHH!</span></div><blockquote><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">GOD</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SPEAKS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: They were juveniles. </span></blockquote><blockquote><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">US</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh...</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOJ3n9kVps9S3Gv5sICnuOsaEnMTv21LiTfSEUV3CGwhKn3JpkupQkGOWVigayb_frrCn-6NTr8wvXhloEdIeDhPPBP6dSTV80TC1ZCnVaXqCrNN6sEmYUYWII4b1LiItlkHKLVdtJzs/s1600/IMG_3381.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOJ3n9kVps9S3Gv5sICnuOsaEnMTv21LiTfSEUV3CGwhKn3JpkupQkGOWVigayb_frrCn-6NTr8wvXhloEdIeDhPPBP6dSTV80TC1ZCnVaXqCrNN6sEmYUYWII4b1LiItlkHKLVdtJzs/s320/IMG_3381.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Juvenile Asian Glossy Starlings(</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d4449;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Aplonis panayensis</span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d4449;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">)</span></span></em></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Watch the video till the very end for a surprise visitor ;)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look out world!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ok6rEDkUwRU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ok6rEDkUwRU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heard the cackling at the end of the video? Maybe the Oriental Pied Hornbills wanted to steal the little starling's thunder :) The video ended when we decided to rush to the tree the hornbills were at- a African Tulip that was nearby. Unfortunately, they flew off as soon as we got there. Darn it! Such a tease! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BirdLife International (2010) Species factsheet: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aplonis panayensis</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/6/2010</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tan, R. (2001). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Asian Glossy Starling</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from Mangrove and wetland wildlife at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve: http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Aplonis_panayensis.htm</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">God*: refers to our bird guide book.</span></span></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-65807561649482681682010-06-25T21:27:00.000+08:002010-06-25T21:27:18.167+08:00Taking a strollEverything just looks so different in the morning light. Cliche as it sounds: the wonders of nature. How upsetting to think that one day, this may all be gone...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VCyifGOYN2Em7oQgk5ASDDywOTSbpZ3yDTTs7Bg7rUwTR3Xhuwqiqu0RJ__AEIASrDHKNt_01YvnXP2b4AI9LsjgjhyAh94j4AZb_atdor-VxMDMdx9DM4RKDWRPkoLBiFshWss_9ac/s1600/IMG_3783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-VCyifGOYN2Em7oQgk5ASDDywOTSbpZ3yDTTs7Bg7rUwTR3Xhuwqiqu0RJ__AEIASrDHKNt_01YvnXP2b4AI9LsjgjhyAh94j4AZb_atdor-VxMDMdx9DM4RKDWRPkoLBiFshWss_9ac/s320/IMG_3783.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tricksy picture</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>Walking on, surprise surprise! Two little wild boars! Looked like they were lost though. Male wild boars usually lead solitary lives but females live in small groups. Wonder what happened to momma boar...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Momma?</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-84896607039214772142010-06-24T12:15:00.000+08:002010-06-24T12:15:13.785+08:00What the...?<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pacific Swallows (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hirundo tahitica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/znxE-vr_Mzc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/znxE-vr_Mzc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bird A flies towards Bird B.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bird A attacks Bird B.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bird B squawks.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bird A flies away.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bird C: What did i miss? </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well, at least it looked that way when we first spotted these Pacific Swallows. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was only when we stood there and kept watching that we realised that it was a </span><a href="http://www.google.com.sg/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=fledgling+bird"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fledgling</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> up there! Often, when baby birds first leave their nest, they still stick close to mum and dad for a bit. Eventually they leave the comforts of home, unlike some</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Homo sapiens</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> who stick with their parents and mooch off them FOREVER AND EVER. This period is very important for the young bird. It is only then that it gets to see exactly how this whole hunting business goes about. It learns about all things good, bad, and ugly.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After weeks of confinement in it's cup-shaped mud pelleted nest(The full nesting period lasts from around 35 to 40 days), a completely helpless nestling, it has now emerged to experience all that is life. We wish it well :) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivX82Rp15_fsu93Wz3KiWNicriPLqIG6uyELNoNg0aOJy_DqWKgUGKEBYusfKRc5U0ZmsRE7qKdIVjJk1hgKXzNIo4FhOPIIormU7k7x0vC-R6jGhj1X3T3HB0BG2oQxwjIAF3FHmNGYY/s1600/IMG_3429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivX82Rp15_fsu93Wz3KiWNicriPLqIG6uyELNoNg0aOJy_DqWKgUGKEBYusfKRc5U0ZmsRE7qKdIVjJk1hgKXzNIo4FhOPIIormU7k7x0vC-R6jGhj1X3T3HB0BG2oQxwjIAF3FHmNGYY/s320/IMG_3429.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snuggling in a corner (Juvenile above)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pacific swallows can be found from South Asia(Parts of India and Sri Lanka), through Southeast Asia, up till the Pacific islands even! Their large range means they are not considered to be endangered or threatened. </span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unlike Swifts which are very much like flying vacuum cleaners eating anything that crosses their path while flying around in a frenzy, these birds sit and wait patiently until they spot something yummy with their keen eyesight. What follows is a high-speed aerial chase that is simply amazing to watch!</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These birds are relatively common, particularly near water bodies. So take some time off, sit back, relax, and watch these little acrobats do their </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thang. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh, and dont forget the mosquito repellent :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: We apologize for the bad quality of the video. Our excuses: Bad lighting and a crappy digital camera(On our Christmas wish list: a good camcorder. It is a time of giving ain't it?). Needless to say, no fault of the amateur videographer :P</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">References</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><w:sdt docparttype="Bibliographies" docpartunique="t" id="10036280" sdtdocpart="t"> </w:sdt></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hails, C. J. (1982). The breeding biology of the Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica in Malaysia. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ibis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> , 198-211.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tan, R. (2001). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pacific Swallow</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from Mangrove and wetland wildlife at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve: http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/index.htm</span></span></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-15391007195261863752010-06-23T13:10:00.000+08:002010-06-23T13:10:06.396+08:00Selamat jalan<b>19th June 2010</b> Leaving Changi jetty, on our way to Sebana Cove. A relatively pleasant, though uneventful, journey. No<a href="http://www.google.com.sg/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=kraken"> Krakens</a> or anything. Can't say we weren't the least bit disappointed...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The big blue, that's not quite blue</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zQTqHffQArQaehlthu_gzZmPwBqO9-XphaB53SPZkbY3MENQwRASLQZEwGUTcfEYb3IzIa7xDb2e3BhxAA3pbq8nvp2UhaulLWQUIgVScYA_zC-Ou2O9Wy_4WDZv3UqVV8O30nrVdYQ/s1600/IMG_3725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zQTqHffQArQaehlthu_gzZmPwBqO9-XphaB53SPZkbY3MENQwRASLQZEwGUTcfEYb3IzIa7xDb2e3BhxAA3pbq8nvp2UhaulLWQUIgVScYA_zC-Ou2O9Wy_4WDZv3UqVV8O30nrVdYQ/s320/IMG_3725.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What dreams may come</td></tr>
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</div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-73831912832241914262010-06-18T00:31:00.000+08:002010-06-18T00:31:17.710+08:00Snack on it #3<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Video of Great Hornbills(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buceros bicornis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Video adapted from </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjEak15gv8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on 17th June 2010]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/byjEak15gv8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/byjEak15gv8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So far it almost seems (from this blog at least) as though the only hornbill species that exists in this world so blue and green littered with bits of plastic and plenty of BP's petroleum, is the Oriental Pied(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros albirostris</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) with a couple of Black hornbills(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros malayanus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) thrown in here and there for some variety. So we figured it's about time you met the rest of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the Brady bunch</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Homo sapiens</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> meet </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buceros bicornis.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Otherwise known as, the Great Hornbill. One of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">most beautiful</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b>of hornbills. If you have been following this blog religiously like the good disciple that you are, you would realise that... wait a minute...these hornbills looks familiar! Well... not </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">these</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> particular hornbills exactly, but this species. That's because they played the lead role in a previous video posted under 'Snack on it #2'! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now for the formal introduction. These large birds are about 95 to 105cm and are found in some parts of India, throughout Myanmar and most of "Indochina", Thailand, as well as the northern parts of Malaysia and Sumatra.. What is distinctive about this species is its concave topped casque! Take another look at the video if you don't believe us. It's almost as though someone took a hammer to the topside of the casque.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It also has a pretty distinctive </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reverberating</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Woah! Big word there... say it with us: re-ver-ber-ating) call. It is this </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reverberating</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">call that inspired it's Malayali name: </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Malamorakki</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which means </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mountain shaker</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Interesting </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reverberating</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(the word is obviously misused here but... it's become our favourite word) name eh?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They are mainly frugivorous(fruits = yummy), as are most hornbills in beautiful Southeast Asia, though it does actively hunt to supplement its diet from time to time. This is particularly known to occur during breeding season. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, back to the video. What you have just witnessed courtesy of some unknown individual whose true identity has been kept secret by the mask that is the internet, is courtship behaviour. First, the male presents some food to the female- courtship feeding. Once she's well fed and happy, he figures it's only fair that he gets to father her babies after all that exhausting fetching of food from a tray provided by staff at the Zoo, so he tries to mount her. She thinks he ain't too bad, I'll give him access to my ovaries(or rather my eggs or he's going to keep bugging me. And... TADAA! They mated! Assuming all went well... around a third of a year later- baby bicornis should have arrived into the wonderful world of cages and gaping visitors to the zoo. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">References</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kemp, A. (1995). </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Hornbills.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> United States: Oxford University Press Inc., New York.</span>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-76172178099343779542010-05-21T18:39:00.000+08:002010-05-21T18:39:33.703+08:00They fly, they flutter<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oooh! Pretty butterfly! Eh....no...moth. Uh...butterfly? No, moth? Urm...maybe butterfly?!</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">URGH! WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?! Both have wings and fly! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Raise your hands if you get confused, or worse still, go by the colour method: butterflies are colourful and beautiful, moths are dull and ugly. *sheepishly raising our collective hands* Be prepared to be enlightened, fellow mortals. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKyavmCnWbANBEULzlYA6oZ6C6Jgz6ags2Vm2F0RkExJN3qvtTVuBZt6P8okZC_JZfFKWpzuDBSUXrCfURkHETOXIK3DAMnk4V39gIfzeUOOVBD42RdFOXg2dmurEqcKpwxglMwb7Tsg/s1600-h/IMG_2166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKyavmCnWbANBEULzlYA6oZ6C6Jgz6ags2Vm2F0RkExJN3qvtTVuBZt6P8okZC_JZfFKWpzuDBSUXrCfURkHETOXIK3DAMnk4V39gIfzeUOOVBD42RdFOXg2dmurEqcKpwxglMwb7Tsg/s320/IMG_2166.JPG" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Day flying moth (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Syntomis huebneri</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Diff</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Butterflies tend to close up their wings when they're sitting somewhere, whereas moths tend to rest with their wings open, like in the picture above, of the Day flying moth spotted at Sebana. Apparently butterflies are more self conscious about their bodies... seems to be that beautiful individuals tend to be eh? (not that we're saying that moths aren't beautiful, for all you moth-fans out there)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Butterflies are also usually out and about during the day, whereas moths, like Grant, are often only out drinking(Nectar, not beer! For the moths at least...) at night. One of several exceptions to this 'rule' is the moth above, which is hence unimaginatively named 'Day flying moth'.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Many butterflies are slim and smooth, whereas moths tend to be fat and fuzzy. Kind of like a teddy bear with wings. Well... not really, but you get the picture :)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Butterflies do tend to be more brightly coloured, whilst moths, our furry creatures of the night, tend to be dull coloured-brown, grey, black, or white. Moths that are active in the day, like the one above, tend to be more brightly coloured though.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look closely with your </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">superior ocular powers</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and you will notice(assuming that they keep still, which in reality, is an uncommon occurrence) that butterflies have knobbed/clubbed antennae whereas the antennae of moths is much more variable. This is pretty much why the Order Lepidoptera <b>used to be</b> further divided into the suborders of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhopalocera</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(clubbed antennae, i.e. butterflies) and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heterocera</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(non-clubbed antennae).</span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://biokeys.berkeley.edu/inverts/images/insecta/drawings/lep_antennae_clubbed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://biokeys.berkeley.edu/inverts/images/insecta/drawings/lep_antennae_clubbed.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clubbed antennae of most butterflies <br />
[Image adapted from </span><a href="http://biokeys.berkeley.edu/inverts/wingkey/lep_key.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on 19 May 2010]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Important Note</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: These are characteristics mankind(and possibly womankind as well) has described as belonging to butterflies or moths. There are plenty of exceptions! They are not going to comply with our rules just because we want it to! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be humbled by the grandeur that is nature :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>References</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The Field Museum. (2007). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Research & Collections: Zoology: Butterflies: Butterfly Basics: Butterflies vs. Moths</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from The Field Museum: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></b></span>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-15348484458741076662010-05-17T08:33:00.002+08:002010-05-17T08:39:42.366+08:00Yesterday Once More<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div style="text-align: auto;">"And not so long ago</div></span></div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How I wondered where they'd gone</span></div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But they're back again</span></div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just like a long lost friend"</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- The Carpenters (1973) </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIp4hqxerz2JVqIYimojWMy-OHf9n96vRiDaTuTAR32GDGehRvEtS9AOdVrtx7agxdjwaCLF55iHP6DcDToF0R-HJ0uK7RvinlzukbbIV0tr8ZCcfDHX4XD-IQIXVMyyLZfT7DtXnm__o/s1600/IMG_3471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIp4hqxerz2JVqIYimojWMy-OHf9n96vRiDaTuTAR32GDGehRvEtS9AOdVrtx7agxdjwaCLF55iHP6DcDToF0R-HJ0uK7RvinlzukbbIV0tr8ZCcfDHX4XD-IQIXVMyyLZfT7DtXnm__o/s400/IMG_3471.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fluffy marshmallows in the sky</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyzCRISaXDp1CGP90q9f3k0HUvUgcSqqNmJlK4fWGSCV9ehNY9Jf98NHSHlCw7RgM-ZbgSeGKWjGDdlE5JHkjbEzDes3yD0ZOwOCgOhWIzS2oh8nF-yZAu_uLGeibO9cDtVHF8jvjPbI/s1600/IMG_3447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyzCRISaXDp1CGP90q9f3k0HUvUgcSqqNmJlK4fWGSCV9ehNY9Jf98NHSHlCw7RgM-ZbgSeGKWjGDdlE5JHkjbEzDes3yD0ZOwOCgOhWIzS2oh8nF-yZAu_uLGeibO9cDtVHF8jvjPbI/s320/IMG_3447.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day is done...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTeoASHstVVWQ8IDUOhyqnrkjCG_9cY8_phTi5oADU8qhgspqh2PMLPJ-43JerP2au4Ub28f1YkHUwBJAkltLtWktjarTdGMFuVJ2NytZ3GLXD1EM-wZXZOXTOxRal-Em6SHUtMiR2IA/s1600/IMG_3443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTeoASHstVVWQ8IDUOhyqnrkjCG_9cY8_phTi5oADU8qhgspqh2PMLPJ-43JerP2au4Ub28f1YkHUwBJAkltLtWktjarTdGMFuVJ2NytZ3GLXD1EM-wZXZOXTOxRal-Em6SHUtMiR2IA/s400/IMG_3443.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gone the sun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-67796920038979542022010-05-15T00:16:00.001+08:002010-05-15T00:18:01.821+08:00The Hornbill Jig<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you've had the deluxe hornbill experience, you're unlikely to forget it anytime soon. These curiously large birds are characteristically noisy, have strange projections on their bills, and some are simply...grotesque! And did we mention they make the oddest, and most unpleasant of sounds? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yet it is precisely these things that seem to have been the source of inspiration for numerous tribes in the creation of costumes and folktales! And because we just </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">happen</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to </span><s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">have slave drivers for superiors</span></s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> be really committed to the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">great</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> numbers of readers we have, we figured we'll spend some of our </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">precious</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> time hounding people for pictures, as well as information, as to how hornbills are represented in various cultures. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For assistance with this post, as well as for allowing us to use these photos, we would like to thank </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Karelin Loh</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (Single, fabulous and *ahem ahem* available).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Far, far away, in the snow capped mountains of Myanmar, is the state of Kachin. The people of Kachin can be further broken down into several different ethnicities. Unsurprisingly, this is reflected in both their dressing, as well as their speech. Surprisingly, the Kachin are present not only in Myanmar, but in parts of China and India as well. Yet further proof of how colonial powers did not take into consideration how communities were spread when they decided to just go along and erect artificial boundaries to create countries. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Binding these unique communities, is their celebration of the Manau festival, during which, the Manau dance is...well...</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">danced </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">around the colourfully decorated poles you see below. The designs on the beams are inspired by nature, as is often the case with rural tribes- animals, plants, the Sun, the Moon, and even Earth!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On one of the horizontal cross beams(there are 12 beams in total), though not visible here, a hornbill head is carved at one end, and on the other, the tail of the hornbill, since this bird plays a very central role in the origins of the Manau festival. In fact, the hornbil was often interpreted as being symbolic of the chief, who maintained unity and order.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ-7r-OFdsD3uUny4-uCXso7keW8qEytLhX9NM_aBiGA9TE_VU2CtCskfyC_LWJei0Y7fW_AvHlIfs1kQ8KUzGenjXWgR8eT5GXZ4K_5XaPefE1tg_4Gt-aSL0x4pMvR1wCxamL1PZa0/s320/4482028466_d455d56a76_b.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Manau Festival...poles?!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ-7r-OFdsD3uUny4-uCXso7keW8qEytLhX9NM_aBiGA9TE_VU2CtCskfyC_LWJei0Y7fW_AvHlIfs1kQ8KUzGenjXWgR8eT5GXZ4K_5XaPefE1tg_4Gt-aSL0x4pMvR1wCxamL1PZa0/s1600/4482028466_d455d56a76_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are several different stories that tell the origins of this festival. One of the many versions:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once upon a time, the Sun God summoned to his court a community of birds, for the sole purpose of entertaining him with their dance. This group, led by a Hornbill proceeded to dance for him. Later, these birds then taught the Kachin the same dance, and it has been danced by the Kachin ever since, in honour of a spirit.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The details are a little sketchy, mainly because information on tribal stories is, unfortunately, difficult to come by. So much knowledge not yet formally recorded down, whether the subject matter is culture or nature. Will we lose everything before we even begin to understand our world?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLT2uNc1UkALRaFVzOWteZvpr5w4jrXOL4b8F6MnBRLt-eYShzzGH4RJUvupPwAvksyEovdjxpV-MGop33B5vGePB2OBTzr3kOp4r4ry-v3nt_DKMBEe2h0kZXQz0kcppt5f1JGSDVPs/s1600/4482027490_183b1c6c9a_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLT2uNc1UkALRaFVzOWteZvpr5w4jrXOL4b8F6MnBRLt-eYShzzGH4RJUvupPwAvksyEovdjxpV-MGop33B5vGePB2OBTzr3kOp4r4ry-v3nt_DKMBEe2h0kZXQz0kcppt5f1JGSDVPs/s320/4482027490_183b1c6c9a_b.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Leaders of Manau festival, followed by the various clans</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbJlMKyVoPbIa16-H6TLTkUItc0MrFRz72o2eRRapgs8Cm_bQKkHAO-wDwQMaDd2Vsg0Ek5w6c3lorfT7Z4_CbqCy9JWFtaxVPFDp_2wWI7Y1fp_YPQ93cULo0ud1jhQbjtHhb7JPea4/s1600/4482023616_41a6ca2dbf_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbJlMKyVoPbIa16-H6TLTkUItc0MrFRz72o2eRRapgs8Cm_bQKkHAO-wDwQMaDd2Vsg0Ek5w6c3lorfT7Z4_CbqCy9JWFtaxVPFDp_2wWI7Y1fp_YPQ93cULo0ud1jhQbjtHhb7JPea4/s320/4482023616_41a6ca2dbf_b.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headdress of the leaders constructed of hornbill and peacock feathers</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>References</b></span><br />
<div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sadan, M. (2002). The Kachin manau and manau shadung: the development of an ethno-cultural symbol in Burma. In T. R. Alexandra Green, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Burma: Art and Archaeology</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (pp. 119-132). Chicago: Art Media Resources.</span></span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-22600766410920579402010-05-12T22:53:00.001+08:002010-05-12T23:00:43.183+08:00The legend of the Ceibo<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This plant is a relatively short tree(trees are plants, but plants are not always trees) with brilliant red flowers. It's beauty has helped in bringing this plant all the way to Asia from South America(via itchy human hands), where it originates. Here it is known as the Cockspur coral tree. But back home, it is known by a different name. It is known there as, the Ceibo.</span> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kXUc9yDhUrc8a0CX50v1eYkGY7jXvR5xkEKppwvKdCvP5wRyHuv6i26kWgMh_-gWPXXF5qyNFhRsQAXN8NsYNMHfujc85zFjWYQQ0cbEqvaJiaCgNikqm3obPw_jltQT5l_KZ9thEvs/s1600-h/DSC_0043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kXUc9yDhUrc8a0CX50v1eYkGY7jXvR5xkEKppwvKdCvP5wRyHuv6i26kWgMh_-gWPXXF5qyNFhRsQAXN8NsYNMHfujc85zFjWYQQ0cbEqvaJiaCgNikqm3obPw_jltQT5l_KZ9thEvs/s400/DSC_0043.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Flower of the Cockspur coral tree, aka Ceibo (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Erythrina crista-galli</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">L</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ong, long ago, in the farway land of South America there lived an Indian Queen(or princess...depending on who's telling the story...). Now, in normal fairy tales, princesses and queens are always fair and beautiful. But this is no ordinary tale! This queen was HIDEOUS! She had the kind of face that made babies cry; the kind of face...only a mother could love! But.. she was blessed with the most melodious, sweet voice ever heard to be heard. A voice truly deserving of being called beautiful. And the name of this unconventional princess- Anahi.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All was well in these distant lands, until one day, strange men landed on the shores of South America and claimed the land for their own. Her people fought hard, but alas! Anahi was captured and taken prisoner. She was brave and determined. She wasn't about to go down without a fight! In an attempt to escape, she killed the guard who was tasked with watching over her.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unfortunately, she didn't manage to escape their clutches. And this time, they condemned her to be burned at the stake the next night! She was tied to a tree and set aflame. </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The morning after, in the clearing where Queen Anahi was burned, something mysterious was to be seen. A single tree grew in the very spot this queen was burnt at. A single tree, with twisted branches, with beautiful red flowers in full bloom. There stood the Ceibo.<b> "</b></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not bad for our first attempt at story telling eh?</span><applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> [applause] [/applause]</span></applause><br />
<applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </applause><br />
<applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As seems to be the case with many myths and legends, there are a number of versions to this tale, depending on who you're hearing it from. The basic outline of the story is pretty much the same though- Native woman is captured. Native woman is burnt at the stake. Native woman 'turns' into Ceibo, or as we know it, the Cockspur coral tree. It's just the little details that differ, so we've just gone ahead and picked the version we like best. Deal with it. </span></applause><br />
<applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </applause><br />
<applause><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Many plants and animals feature in stories the world over, particularly in stories told by tribes, since it is these communities that are(arguably) closest to nature. Unsurprisingly, highly conspicuous as they tend to be, hornbills too feature in many stories in the regions where they may be found. If you should come across one such story, please do let us know. Sharing is caring after all...(or is it the other way around eh?)</span></applause><br />
<applause><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </applause></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">References</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ruggero, C. (2006). Ceibo. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from Bewildering Stories: http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue227/ceibo.html</span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-5543159151859096862010-05-11T00:02:00.001+08:002010-05-11T00:04:14.373+08:00Road trip of sorts<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the long way back to Singapore, we stopped over at a quaint fruit stall by the side of the road.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKq_6CzrMCADmyjg_FtuOjqW9nHqE16eCoqTwa0DLcJyvh03cZitUgNSO3-fGJSVJU2rTJ8zszeH0FgaHwQWKsu9vyPkRQVQSGz3-OEIRcZrtAolAB9Dxc7be8ark6EgNwqNa0gLiAiY/s1600/IMG_2375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKq_6CzrMCADmyjg_FtuOjqW9nHqE16eCoqTwa0DLcJyvh03cZitUgNSO3-fGJSVJU2rTJ8zszeH0FgaHwQWKsu9vyPkRQVQSGz3-OEIRcZrtAolAB9Dxc7be8ark6EgNwqNa0gLiAiY/s320/IMG_2375.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Roadside Fruit Stall</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grant taking his pick of jambu fruits.These delightfully juicy fruits are sought after by many animals, including fruit bats, monkeys, and the Jambu Fruit Dove. The high water content of these fruits make for a refreshing thirst quenching snack, particularly on one of Southeast Asia's brutally hot days.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0rVR09vgbBMAepf8cgsjpLIlt94rCMsitOO-TzrFCa5QPsPxYJBRGFq3yxuq9c6irOtdATPj1abgr_KsMO_QIeaqi-vc3TNwKBNgQPDTXv2x4cUHfiLDpzzHYDFzlIcxrLhbWTP3wn-c/s1600/IMG_2377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0rVR09vgbBMAepf8cgsjpLIlt94rCMsitOO-TzrFCa5QPsPxYJBRGFq3yxuq9c6irOtdATPj1abgr_KsMO_QIeaqi-vc3TNwKBNgQPDTXv2x4cUHfiLDpzzHYDFzlIcxrLhbWTP3wn-c/s320/IMG_2377.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBB_La9OuRBr0_WPV4n9pyn_5hWAEG-CsS34p5Ct1-Pcab-V53wqLsXLd3vezhDR0Lo4yCjfWELJOzRrftvKeABobAguUQkNpl8k5wIWWFyQCEFME_ef-MJ_oV96G7M2T-d1HNtOkjlFc/s1600/IMG_2376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBB_La9OuRBr0_WPV4n9pyn_5hWAEG-CsS34p5Ct1-Pcab-V53wqLsXLd3vezhDR0Lo4yCjfWELJOzRrftvKeABobAguUQkNpl8k5wIWWFyQCEFME_ef-MJ_oV96G7M2T-d1HNtOkjlFc/s320/IMG_2376.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Brilliantly pink and juicy: Jambu Air</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another fruit commonly cultivated in Malaysia is bananas! There are 2 main types of bananas, with a grand total of around 300 species! (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Who knew?!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) The ones you see below are the "fruit" type, meaning that they are usually eaten raw when they've turned banana yellow :) The other type is known as the plantain banana.This variety is usually cooked before consumption, and is even known to some as the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vegetable banana.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> To find out more about how bananas have featured in history, from banana toys to banana skirts... take a look at this quirky </span><a href="http://www.bananamuseum.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Don't suppose banana skirts will be in fashion anytime too soon though. Such a pity.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Z6L1rAy9olBEBtZURxCqnTe72kl0fWoBk1DKgwY8IU6eOD6H1ixLo8VebK_nbmUKrg7FKpZ_70F_V33SZw0SXa0l1qplRXS1lzVum5rsz6HxP8aTurbqOhNk8unXSG2-X-PrboF9BdI/s1600/IMG_2381.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Z6L1rAy9olBEBtZURxCqnTe72kl0fWoBk1DKgwY8IU6eOD6H1ixLo8VebK_nbmUKrg7FKpZ_70F_V33SZw0SXa0l1qplRXS1lzVum5rsz6HxP8aTurbqOhNk8unXSG2-X-PrboF9BdI/s320/IMG_2381.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Banana-mania</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was rather unfortunate that this shop also had a Baya weaver bird's nest displayed. The nest of this bird is often collected and sold, simply because it is beautiful. However, after the nestlings have fledged, this painstakingly constructed nest is not simply abandoned to the forces of nature. It is also known to be used by other small birds. Other birds also take material from these nests to build their own nests. Removing these nests from the environments means that these birds are either deprived of a home entirely, or they have to spend more time and energy searching for suitable nesting material; time and energy they could have devoted to something else, like feeding.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTq_xtHu3ViAdYunEmJWPY7iXR8JGk9Ybe-dqrd5d-zuYsWfauNyWdzSGrNcOxOEA4eF3vGT2NeCAzv0vbiX1wy78jcQw_06K9wkWbaI2P6uthfarmzJ5I7ykTpBugn_Eoqnh7vNClUng/s1600/IMG_2386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTq_xtHu3ViAdYunEmJWPY7iXR8JGk9Ybe-dqrd5d-zuYsWfauNyWdzSGrNcOxOEA4eF3vGT2NeCAzv0vbiX1wy78jcQw_06K9wkWbaI2P6uthfarmzJ5I7ykTpBugn_Eoqnh7vNClUng/s320/IMG_2386.JPG" width="226" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Baya weaver bird's nest (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ploceus philippinus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The mating game</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:</span><br />
<div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Male builds part of the nest, and waits...</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Show time! Female inspects the nest with a discerning eye. Not like she wants a defective male passing on his defective genes to her babies!</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If she's satisfied, she gives him the ultimate prize- access to her eggs </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">More often than not, she's left on her own to finish up the nest</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She lays her eggs and the heavy responsibility of parenting is solely hers</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The male then sits by another nest he has painstakingly constructed, to woo any other female that comes along</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's simply amazing, the amount of work that goes into the construction of that one nest. And it could all end up being futile if females don't like the nest! They may not get PMS, but life sure ain't easy for males either eh?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>References</b></span><br />
<w:sdt docparttype="Bibliographies" docpartunique="t" id="7149481" sdtdocpart="t"> <w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></w:sdt></w:sdt><br />
<div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tan, R. (n.d.). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mangrove and Wetland Wildlife at Sungei Buloh Nature Park: Birds: Baya Weaver</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Retrieved May 10, 2010, from Print to Web; Convert to Conserve: http://www.naturia.per.sg</span></span></div></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-12402563729268594132010-05-06T02:22:00.001+08:002010-05-06T02:23:14.851+08:00Oh Sweet Passerine<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oriental Magpie Robins were once widespread in Singapore as well. In the 1920s it was even said to be amongst the 3 most common garden birds in Singapore. Now, this small bird with a big voice is regarded as being endangered here. Fortunately, this adaptable bird has a very large range(from tropical South Asia to Southeast Asia) and apparently, globally its population is stable. In Sebana, at least, it appears to be doing just fine :)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nLNNgdDAjtRX15jk27xMWA-F3CrNP7IvS8CavSZtFnzWdHkGVz6h52m_YHlRjwmyHdX83U5C_zG8VAgBR46Kks8OEeBJ4KLmnq7mtSb9i92NXE0gqs-IwX-tSM0ni8pwpYcgfMzE5i0/s1600-h/DSC_0139.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451716320418491842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nLNNgdDAjtRX15jk27xMWA-F3CrNP7IvS8CavSZtFnzWdHkGVz6h52m_YHlRjwmyHdX83U5C_zG8VAgBR46Kks8OEeBJ4KLmnq7mtSb9i92NXE0gqs-IwX-tSM0ni8pwpYcgfMzE5i0/s400/DSC_0139.JPG" style="height: 213px; width: 320px;" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Male Oriental Magpie Robin </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Copsychus saularis</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These petite birds are known to forage for insects on the ground and on low branches, attacking them by pouncing on them. So small... yet so </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vicious. </span></i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notice the picture below: The male is black, whilst the female is grey. One tends not to notice the female because she's usually more quiet, unlike the attention seeking male. Not that we mind his attention seeking little self of course, live music and all. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, it's hard to tear your eyes away from the beautiful male to take a look out for the comparatively drab female.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmVLL82IKLjZzaE8_WKfbWQ56XtOYZS-mfbRk2NbUdupxIXUYZqaXujJjAGUiuZbG7wllqkBjz33R3CC9i82tQeOVZtbJNkTBlEuUAAORXxHerPSZ9CDELKfh9ef0znnmxnm4dHdh39Y/s1600-h/DSC_0136.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmVLL82IKLjZzaE8_WKfbWQ56XtOYZS-mfbRk2NbUdupxIXUYZqaXujJjAGUiuZbG7wllqkBjz33R3CC9i82tQeOVZtbJNkTBlEuUAAORXxHerPSZ9CDELKfh9ef0znnmxnm4dHdh39Y/s1600-h/DSC_0136.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451716131268522002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmVLL82IKLjZzaE8_WKfbWQ56XtOYZS-mfbRk2NbUdupxIXUYZqaXujJjAGUiuZbG7wllqkBjz33R3CC9i82tQeOVZtbJNkTBlEuUAAORXxHerPSZ9CDELKfh9ef0znnmxnm4dHdh39Y/s320/DSC_0136.JPG" style="height: 320px; width: 213px;" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Male(above) Female(below) <br />
Oriental Magpie Robins </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Copsychus saularis</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the male finally does manage to get his girl(or probably any girl for that matter...), they settle down into a nice little cavity, usually in trees. Very much like hornbills eh? The female assumes the traditional role of being responsible for most of the parental care- preparing the nest, feeding the chicks etc. while her man spends his energy and time defending his prime mating territory from other eager males. So territorial are they, that they are even known to respond to their own reflection! Considering that the male is now somewhat free from parental duties... one wonders... is he polygamous? Does he sow his wild oats when no one's looking?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Males serenade females with their beautiful voices, sometimes coordinating it with a little 'dance' as well: the tail jiggle. In Southeast Asia, mating season is from January to June. So that's when they're going to be singing their little hearts out. Enjoy a brief sample below :)</span><br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: auto;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Come fly with me*, let's fly, let's fly away...</b></span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzTKLaeimjoAkD_ripXZtKUcvi4olWtnaYPwZj-fQhlFkVvmG6Wl4ac-V75bmsC4vGNye6o6axHM97smFUvMA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Considering how delightful this little ball of feathers is, it really is unsurprising that it has been given the honour of being the national bird of Bangladesh. It even appears on their currency, forever marking their presence in history.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.banknotenews.com/files/bangladesh_2_2007.00.00_p6c_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://www.banknotenews.com/files/bangladesh_2_2007.00.00_p6c_r.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bangladeshi 2 taka note</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> [Adapted from </span><a href="http://www.banknotenews.com/files/tag-bangladesh.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on 5th May 2010]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Copsychus saularis</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 24/3/2010</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Come fly with me: Sung by Frank Sinatra, lyrics by Sammy Cahn</span></span></div><div><br />
</div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-82369473929183602372010-05-05T13:37:00.026+08:002010-05-05T14:34:22.129+08:00Half Crow Half Pheasant<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We hardly ever seem to be capable of coming up with a decent name for all that we encounter. Nope. Instead, being </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">highly evolved</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> organisms capable of free and original thought, unrestricted by mere animal instincts(or so you would think), we choose to name one animal after another- Anemone coral, Cat fish, Dogfish, Whale shark... need we say more? Fortunately or unfortunately, the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centropus sinensis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> hasn't been able to escape from this... </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">phenomenon</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Introducing.... </span><br />
<blockquote style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">THE CROW PHEASANT! </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though we prefer to call it the Greater Coucal, if only to protest against the simply </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">unacceptable</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> combination of the names of two other animals to name this one-of-a-kind bird.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZRX5Mq4Jc7NSoGObH23CepLsbIRH4p41qhfUMdtY8ZeOfVUl4gEeRoKQHGc_T6W7avK4S2hnnltiaCAUwlfW_7xcUBFrQ0nZOTTDQhsUy10TQ-e9qIpgiQ0aT_bLBhsjcS0iQ-fC9os/s1600-h/DSC_0112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZRX5Mq4Jc7NSoGObH23CepLsbIRH4p41qhfUMdtY8ZeOfVUl4gEeRoKQHGc_T6W7avK4S2hnnltiaCAUwlfW_7xcUBFrQ0nZOTTDQhsUy10TQ-e9qIpgiQ0aT_bLBhsjcS0iQ-fC9os/s400/DSC_0112.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greater Coucal </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centropus sinensis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXp5N9r0dHkLA2g1uM0mkWZwCusQOcUkE_jB67ItaeX5SUvHpJfLK1rRINm2RvfxEalLEOKXgWnM2gJlZ1YjKx7qT88N_p7tLOHiQcOnFfJgA_aBhYaCoIHijBV_S5_Hd_XQiajbuSxog/s1600-h/DSC_0114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXp5N9r0dHkLA2g1uM0mkWZwCusQOcUkE_jB67ItaeX5SUvHpJfLK1rRINm2RvfxEalLEOKXgWnM2gJlZ1YjKx7qT88N_p7tLOHiQcOnFfJgA_aBhYaCoIHijBV_S5_Hd_XQiajbuSxog/s400/DSC_0114.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greater Coucal, possibly with its own nest</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centropus sinensis</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We saw two Greater Coucals by the nest shown above. Unfortunately...we were dealing with yet another camera shy individual so both photos above are of the same, other, un-camera shy bird. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This relatively large bird which is about 48-52cm, is a common resident throught Southeast Asia, except in Singapore(what a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">shocker</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...*rolling our collective eyes at this point*). Interestingly, although the Greater Coucal is part of the cuckoo order of birds, which are known to be parasitic*, this bird does not try to pawn off its parental duties on some poor unsuspecting bird. </span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bet you didn't know</span></b><s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(because neither did we)</span></s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Surprisingly, there is a reversal of gender roles amongst these birds (but then again...maybe we're the one's who've got it on the wrong way around). The papa Coucal does more parenting than the mama Coucal! He's got the heavy responsibility of building the nest, warming his little babies by sitting on them(well...not </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">them </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">them- rather, the eggs they're in). And after all that's done, he even does the baby bird feeding. The females do help... but they prefer sitting around looking pretty, advertising their... </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">goods</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greater coucals are known to be monogamous birds(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You jump, I jump</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">). Whether, or how frequently they cheat on their </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">other halves</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, we're not quite sure of, unfortunately. BUT, amongst a close relative of the Greater coucal, the Black coucal(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centropus grillii</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) (</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), females commonly have more than one partner! So while the male is left busy attending to their offspring.. she's off making more babies with some other sexy, dashing, Romeo...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.birdinfo.co.za/rarebirds/pics/01_black_coucal_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.birdinfo.co.za/rarebirds/pics/01_black_coucal_1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Black Coucal</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centropus grillii</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) <br />
[Image adapted from </span><a href="http://www.birdinfo.co.za/rarebirds/01_threat_to_black_coucal.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on 5th May 2010]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The result of this reversal of sex roles, is that the females are the macho ones in the relationship, i.e. they're bigger and heavier (&</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;">meaner</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;">?) Who said females were the weaker sex eh? :)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></span></b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Parasitic* : No, "parasitic" here does not mean that they burrow into the skin of other animals and proliferate and possibly even kill their host. With regards to birds, this usually means that they lay their eggs in other birds' nests, leaving others to raise their babies, which may or may not be baby killers. In the extreme case of the European cuckoo, when hatched, the young will clear the nest of its other unrelated occupants- by shoving them out of their nest, to their DOOM! Clearly, babies are not as</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">sweet</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">innocent</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> as we think they are.</span></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></span></b><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Andersson, M. (1995). Evolution of reversed sex roles, sexual size dimorphism, and mating system in coucals (Centropodidae, Aves).</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Biological Journal of the Linnean Society</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, 193-200.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Robson, C. (2005).</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Birds of Southeast Asia.</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">United States and Canada: Princeton University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stanford University. (1999, December 30).</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brood Parasitism.</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Retrieved May 5, 2010, from Stanford University: http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Brood_Parasitism.html</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-42467961009739943122010-05-05T08:48:00.002+08:002010-05-05T08:53:03.789+08:00Snack on it #2<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, we were spending a couple of hours on YouTube <s>wasting our time away watching funny videos</s> scouting around for a video on hornbills, when we stumbled upon this! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We love movies. We love hornbills. Enjoy :)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Video from BBC Worldwide [Video adapted from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQR-8EVuX8">this website</a> on 5th May 2010]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="405" width="660"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5xQR-8EVuX8&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5xQR-8EVuX8&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="368"></embed></object></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-92002225958505139982010-03-19T22:47:00.005+08:002010-05-05T14:35:37.649+08:00Said a thousand legged worm...<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spotted this centipede(below) </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">moving</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(scurrying? crawling? what exactly </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">do</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> you call this kind of movement eh?) into the grass while we were out and about, on the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hunt</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for hornbills. Strange that it was out and about during the day, when centipedes are known to be mostly nocturnal. He didn't get the memo? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not sure what's its species though. If you know of a centipede that has a yellow body and red/orange legs let us know?</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </b></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unknown species of centipede</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Class: Chilopoda</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></span></i></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxUUsOPO8vy2rnrDIPgbFvB_UwIK3ardoH9FiBMzig2d-8PCdrKbyNX2RWB03h19WtWPwS6uspDvF772zOgHQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Centipedes are rather curious looking animals with their multitude of legs! But wait... what's the difference between a centipede and a millipede? It's all in their legs :) Nah, don't need to actually </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">count</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> their legs, just need to check how many legs they have per segment of their body:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(a) Centipede: One pair of legs per segment</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(b) Millipede: Two pairs of legs per segment</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Millipedes are also usually fatter, unlike the slim(and sexy?) and flat centipede. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Take note though that the first pair of legs on the centipede has been modified into...</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">FANGS </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">! (Also unlike millipedes. Not like they need venom to attack plants right?) These little creatures are capable of </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">injecting venom</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> into whatever they bite...and that includes </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">you</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Apart from some pain, this is </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">usually harmless</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Unless, of course, you're fortunate enough to be allergic to its toxins. They grab and sting their prey with their fangs. While they are known to be carnivorous, some species are known to eat their greens(plants) as well.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before you write of these creatures as cold, vicious little things, interesting fact: they're caring mothers *awwww...* Female centipedes are known to curl around their eggs to protect them. Some even "lick" their eggs regularly to keep it clean and free of fungi.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, the centipedes you normally find in your home(if you haven't exterminated them in panic already...) are actually beneficial! They eat other pests like...the dreaded... ubiquitous... unsquashable... COCKROACH! So think twice before you smash the next centipede you find. They are our allies in our fight against the unkillable one!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">References</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Australian Museum. (n.d.). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Animals: Myriapoda. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Retrieved March 19, 2010, from Wildlife of Sydney: http://faunanet.gov.au/wos/group.cfm?Group_ID=14</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ramel, G. (n.d.). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Insects: Chilopoda (Centipedes)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from Earthlife: http://www.earthlife.net/insects/chilopod.html</span></span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-37485871811097905332010-03-19T22:44:00.003+08:002010-05-05T14:37:45.113+08:00The Shama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once again we saw the White-rumped Shama. Perhaps there is a healthy and stable population of these delightful birds at Sebana? Unfortunately we did not get a chance to get a good shot of the bird on our previous visit. We've done a little better this time :) Enjoy the video. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The "bird call" in the video is actually that of a</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> primate</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">! It's </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grant's bird song</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> :) He was trying to encourage the bird to sing, though it refused to do so while this video was being taken. Stubborn little brat. Oh well... there will be other opportunities.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Male white-rumped Shama taken at Sebana </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Copsychus malabaricus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx3gdj9R_ufcN1JFDQwaogXLEIeS31M1VniauQ-DQJ41uztmcDVfc7gl4wpLJZm92gez6DrUQa7haQlOxEctw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was another White-rumped shama seen together with this one, possibly a female. Trying to impress the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chicks*</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with his melodious voice eh?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The white-rumped shama has a very large range: it is found from Northern India all the way down to Indonesia! [Sounds</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> familiar</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">? It should- the range of the Oriental Pied Hornbill(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros albirostris</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) is similar]. When animals and plants have very large ranges, this could be because they are highly adaptable. It is those organisms that are very specialized, in that they can only survive within a very limited set of environmental conditions, that are usually more likely to become endangered and <i>go the way of the dodo</i>*. The slightest itty-bitty change in the environment can drastically affect these organisms. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Animals we usually consider pests, on the other hand, are able to withstand the changes that we 2-legged, upright walking apes have made to this little planet of blue and green. Whilst the shama is not considered a pest(probably because we find it attractive... shallow individuals that we are), it is also adaptable and this has enabled it to conquer a large land area. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsq4Zn9l4Oyzy8QwylfivmKQYLbQGdbO5nb7XTpsLl1r7EpDWlFIR9Gf3RoExdjsMXo600PyXEf27GtMiodnQCee4JQskAeNZI_lZxI4xgCEFXlRCPxjFBfPU-99QRt7NiMlLkcG6hIE/s1600-h/DSC_0115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsq4Zn9l4Oyzy8QwylfivmKQYLbQGdbO5nb7XTpsLl1r7EpDWlFIR9Gf3RoExdjsMXo600PyXEf27GtMiodnQCee4JQskAeNZI_lZxI4xgCEFXlRCPxjFBfPU-99QRt7NiMlLkcG6hIE/s400/DSC_0115.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>White-rumped Shama</b> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Copsychus malabaricus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></td></tr>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unfortunately, their beautiful voices mean that they are often captured for the bird trade causing them to become locally extinct in some areas. (The Star: </span><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/28/nation/4401752&sec=nation"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Illegal bird trafficking</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) All to feed Man's greed for all things pleasing to the senses. One of those places is Singapore, where this bird is on the red list. However, there is some good news in all of this: globally, they are not endangered. IUCN* states the conservation status of this bird as being of "Least Concern". But with increasing deforestation depriving these birds, as well as many others such as hornbills, of homes, this bird too may one day cease to exist.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The highly territorial nature of these birds has helped trappers catch this bird by setting up a "decoy shama" in a chosen area and spreading a glue-like substance around this bird. When it calls, other white-rumped shamas in the vicinity come to chase the intruder away but end up being caught in the process. These beautiful birds are then doomed to a life of cage-dom* </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interestingly, Singapore's former $50 note features the White-rumped Shama! This note was from the bird series of notes that is no longer in circulation today, though some still hold on to it hoping to make a small fortune from it in the future.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQCZzVLlIssV87dtoA1FnMd1Hp5GK5gQKGoRhXtQe-OmtCU9VF79QOOsvf9Ze63-4IDafp8HLvJnbV3FGdVrGVG4yyBQeQ2F1OfqhVh4SjLG2xBpLiQtkwEluOSLlKcDeEw-pwt-9z8Y/s400/White+rumped+shama+note.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Singapore currency with White-rumped Shama</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Image adapted from </span><a href="http://www.sgmoneycollections.com/goldenorluckynumbers.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this website</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on 14 March 2010]</span></div></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQCZzVLlIssV87dtoA1FnMd1Hp5GK5gQKGoRhXtQe-OmtCU9VF79QOOsvf9Ze63-4IDafp8HLvJnbV3FGdVrGVG4yyBQeQ2F1OfqhVh4SjLG2xBpLiQtkwEluOSLlKcDeEw-pwt-9z8Y/s1600-h/White+rumped+shama+note.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cage-dom: Cage + "dom" as in "freedom" or any other "dom"s you can think of </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chicks: Here it refers to other female birds rather than juvenile birds</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dodo: A now extinct bird</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Copsychus malabaricus</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 17/3/2010</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chris R. Shepherd, Jeet Sukumaran, Serge A. Wich (2004) Open Season:An analysis of the pet trade in Medan, Sumatra 1997 - 2001 TRAFFIC Southeast Asia</span></span></span></span>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-31586958993442291022010-03-19T21:44:00.002+08:002010-05-05T14:40:25.919+08:00Chasing the Oriental Pied<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We managed to see a great deal of the Oriental Pied hornbill on our visit to Sebana from the 6th to 7th of March, due to our <s>luck</s> <i>superior hornbill locating skills </i>:) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whether it was the same couple of birds we kept seeing or different birds, we're not sure of though. We saw up to 3 Oriental Pieds at one point, perched on a dead tree before they all took off(Below). It was a good day :)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqLgM1G74NqRNaE8i7-o5Wa32yq9Bhj7Xr2ratYiNQTnfknp4q7bywjFAnazUH8uOmGJ69JU6O_vr8Vt31K4jiQenZTQrQI2qqMluMUmMq4kWR1Lnpf85kDTMX4dMO89mH-pDvX9bUn4/s1600-h/DSC_0158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqLgM1G74NqRNaE8i7-o5Wa32yq9Bhj7Xr2ratYiNQTnfknp4q7bywjFAnazUH8uOmGJ69JU6O_vr8Vt31K4jiQenZTQrQI2qqMluMUmMq4kWR1Lnpf85kDTMX4dMO89mH-pDvX9bUn4/s320/DSC_0158.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oriental Pied Hornbill perched on tree</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anthracoceros albirostris</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></div></div></span></td></tr>
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</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This particular Oriental Pied(Below) was seen with just one other. We even saw one feeding the other, i.e. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>allofeeding</b>*! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Apparently, in Oriental Pied pairs allofeeding occurs throughout the year. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Both the male <b>and the female</b> feed each other.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Also, where one flew, it's <i>other half</i> followed. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">They're in love/lust :) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*awww...* These birds lay their eggs sometime from January to March so, maybe this is going to lead to some baby-Oriental-Pied-making soon?</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEige6qcAIMv2tpqAudZkih8XEihpGW9MPVZdF1ESVNrUQE2T_LgB2AXYOLpLYZ2nPEHMMC9G25yv3lymgtfmUN9f8eZtTFU6JoR7WLZcm56BVid_xe2vIQQ_KGj5Q8kJ3pHza1S0oMk5A4/s320/IMG_2159.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">riental Pied Hornbill</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros albirostris</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEige6qcAIMv2tpqAudZkih8XEihpGW9MPVZdF1ESVNrUQE2T_LgB2AXYOLpLYZ2nPEHMMC9G25yv3lymgtfmUN9f8eZtTFU6JoR7WLZcm56BVid_xe2vIQQ_KGj5Q8kJ3pHza1S0oMk5A4/s1600-h/IMG_2159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div style="text-align: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gwo3vTQMyU5kwau3iD3h5tz8Yeve1cDkuqydjJAUK9L-n6eB5PEJ1eGS6RkUDQRUeUxxNTE21KQ77QMZwaSm41ULxJgl2OyCNjfLyNN2_JSBASdXgn1JpjXIkoKgjzJgUs56iggzzEI/s320/IMG_2156.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oriental Pied Hornbill</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros albirostris</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gwo3vTQMyU5kwau3iD3h5tz8Yeve1cDkuqydjJAUK9L-n6eB5PEJ1eGS6RkUDQRUeUxxNTE21KQ77QMZwaSm41ULxJgl2OyCNjfLyNN2_JSBASdXgn1JpjXIkoKgjzJgUs56iggzzEI/s1600-h/IMG_2156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Got eyeballed by this one while we were under the tree with our unnatural appendages(i.e. our binoculars) glued to our faces. Curious fella. Felt special :)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After hanging around the tree for a bit, the 2 of them flew off to a palm tree a distance away(Below). Unlike some larger species of hornbills, Oriental Pieds are not particularly noisy in flight, though still audible.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DwKdvARBDww-qeTVptoYPdFygpHv3Ax0xz4e62a4D7vsfawTVUhab5JjInPpoSiLDeuKS92N_XEHCBio22e43HsJ1V8tITEm7rS6n4FKeYMuUBkKg4my41pMmy0Ekki1HYRDXjQBCnM/s1600-h/IMG_2162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DwKdvARBDww-qeTVptoYPdFygpHv3Ax0xz4e62a4D7vsfawTVUhab5JjInPpoSiLDeuKS92N_XEHCBio22e43HsJ1V8tITEm7rS6n4FKeYMuUBkKg4my41pMmy0Ekki1HYRDXjQBCnM/s320/IMG_2162.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Spot the 2 Oriental Pied Hornbills</b> </span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(<i>Anthracoceros albirostris</i>)</span></div></div></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We didn't see any Black hornbills(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anthracoceros malayanus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) this time though.</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Oh the disappointment!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It is only to be expected, since Black hornbills don't usuallyly come out to the fringes of forests, unlike Oriental Pieds. Perhaps they're just more shy? We were somewhat lucky the previous time. But, we did get to see much more of the Oriental Pied...so it works out?</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Allofeeding: When one bird feeds another. Reasons can vary (Google: </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com.sg/search?hl=en&q=allofeeding&meta=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq="><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Allofeeding</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">Reference</span> </span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Kemp, A. (1995). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hornbills.</span> United States: Oxford University Press Inc., New York.</span></div></span></span>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-56492474735750441872010-03-14T12:43:00.005+08:002010-05-17T08:33:39.370+08:00Postcard worthy...almost<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSYvnBNifDoFKDlepMnr6IFErGPKGHqeSv7WoyiEY46FPMr_x0qCoGWbWA4Aop5LDXJURGpmt6XiLo01S8N72HKw1zhvgQrIi2mSH2HFPX1SL-rpXP5eCSJxjFLqylW4dzRCib5NYpf0/s1600-h/IMG_2168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSYvnBNifDoFKDlepMnr6IFErGPKGHqeSv7WoyiEY46FPMr_x0qCoGWbWA4Aop5LDXJURGpmt6XiLo01S8N72HKw1zhvgQrIi2mSH2HFPX1SL-rpXP5eCSJxjFLqylW4dzRCib5NYpf0/s320/IMG_2168.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Sebana Cove</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aUaIOKkAJCsq2WQ9Jt9E41v8FaBmqumwhBeZ6G4Hi7mxkOO9ha-GW-OtYEIXFgnyMSN0V7O9DzBngo6vqZMXb8ys9nMJcgXoyoVJmMXrlCqrIJPqix8IPpq1lKytXM29-hLUWNtqb5U/s1600-h/IMG_2174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aUaIOKkAJCsq2WQ9Jt9E41v8FaBmqumwhBeZ6G4Hi7mxkOO9ha-GW-OtYEIXFgnyMSN0V7O9DzBngo6vqZMXb8ys9nMJcgXoyoVJmMXrlCqrIJPqix8IPpq1lKytXM29-hLUWNtqb5U/s320/IMG_2174.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mangroves at Sebana</span></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8temrjykndchFy3e3Hy6pc2YMYU3fnKW6LOrGUxe0DMWiauglcqOAxKnMChL8to9d7NGqIJQizEGz8vX3gRiHnfd5VkpI3lIiHH-hZELVGkeRncofBqfswauxeFDiqpsUjyoSJ-GTGXk/s1600-h/IMG_2169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8temrjykndchFy3e3Hy6pc2YMYU3fnKW6LOrGUxe0DMWiauglcqOAxKnMChL8to9d7NGqIJQizEGz8vX3gRiHnfd5VkpI3lIiHH-hZELVGkeRncofBqfswauxeFDiqpsUjyoSJ-GTGXk/s320/IMG_2169.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Immigration Customs jetty at Sebana</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-58577115508759190102010-03-12T21:42:00.015+08:002010-06-24T12:39:37.126+08:00Slurping it up<div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sunbird drinking nectar from</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Heliconia sp.</span></span></i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxdvOihKfdz0tIW8DWwTej73VvDyXRipC25okA6cpFU2jR3ALYgAiDjWrx141uF6VNDq0pVpJHEeB8Gs7rVZA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here we have an adorable sunbird drinking nectar from flowers of a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heliconia sp.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> plant. It was spotted at the herb garden, though many sunbirds can be seen at Sebana as well. They are small, noisy little Old World* Birds. These tiny birds drink nectar, and take the ocassional insect. They are fairly common so keep a look out :) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Old World*: Refers to Europe, Asia and Africa. In this case, members of the sunbird family have representatives in Africa, Asia and parts of Australia even.</span></span>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-71580372691383002262010-03-11T12:40:00.000+08:002010-06-24T12:46:31.551+08:00In the mood... for luuurve ;)<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">All living things seem to exist for one purpose and one purpose only- to achieve </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">immortality</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">! It would probably explain Man's preoccupation with sex, since it gives us a chance to make miniature "copies" of ourselves... thereby ensuring that the species doesn't die out and, that a part of us lives on...FOREVER(assuming our progeny go on to make miniature copies of themselves as well). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Of course there are plenty who have sex purely for recreational purposes. For them, pleasure and not baby-making is the purpose. This does not just include us "top-of-the-food-chain-ers". Currently, it is believed that Bonobo monkeys and dolphins are every bit as </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">horny*</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> as us, if not more. (Google: </span><a href="http://www.google.com.sg/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enSG370&q=bonobo+monkeys&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq="><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Bonobos</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">). Along with our preoccupation comes our eternal search for the elixir of... sexual desire.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">You hear Tongkat Ali, a plant native to Malaysia and Indonesia and one of the first thing that springs to mind to all who are familiar with the plant is, "aphrodisiac". </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mr Rahib a plant expert examining the</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Eurycoma longifolia</span></span></i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> a.k.a. Tongkat Ali</span></span></b></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMij75ofuoTyNZSejJeArtUJ0Q-JKZmTPJHtnob8l92ZL9d3EmRklygACaxI4Yg05I8AdDl8ma7BHj_GqD0YgrXCh-LTqhkYQfEPxf8OUXznmsVpGECKpuC61ubJs8qlT54ODrwbDcqRs/s1600-h/IMG_2137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMij75ofuoTyNZSejJeArtUJ0Q-JKZmTPJHtnob8l92ZL9d3EmRklygACaxI4Yg05I8AdDl8ma7BHj_GqD0YgrXCh-LTqhkYQfEPxf8OUXznmsVpGECKpuC61ubJs8qlT54ODrwbDcqRs/s320/IMG_2137.JPG" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">With regards to the above claim</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">: Studies on rats showed that those fed tongkat ali exhibited increased sexual performance. This does not automatically translate into the plant being able to increase the sexual performance of human males also since rats and humans are not one and the same. Studies on humans are, unfortunately, lacking...but </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">clearly</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">, that hasn't stopped desperate individuals.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Less known are the </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">other medicinal uses </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">of this plant. It is widely used in traditional medicine to cure indigestion, treat malaria and even as a tonic after childbirth. And the list goes on! Scientific studies have shown that the plant does have antibacterial, anticancer, antitumour, antimalarial and antiulcer properties, so there is some truth to its medicinal properties.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Unfortunately, it's H1N1-like reputation as a cure for erectile dysfunction(Are there </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">really so many</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> men out there who can't...get it up?) means that it is in great danger of being </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">over-harvested.</span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
And next, a fruit some ayurvedic practitioners claim "promotes energies of love". *rolling our collective eyes* Every other fruit, these days, seems to be guilty of getting us </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">in the mood</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">-avocados, bananas, strawberries, figs, rasberries... We can't help but be skeptical of such claims. (where are the citations eh?)</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Pineapple fruit</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Ananas comosus</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CqUGZUaO5xpona1oezq6THzOv77RjX9hBOhsGHmHmtXaOMU7LpJTafhbNBQczFZA_cL3PxTiU9Vlxs1633D-3HviiftKO5uZ_a749PFiOFpBJ12CbBFt89s3WDvmyO2tpGkznGbzPk0/s1600-h/IMG_2128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CqUGZUaO5xpona1oezq6THzOv77RjX9hBOhsGHmHmtXaOMU7LpJTafhbNBQczFZA_cL3PxTiU9Vlxs1633D-3HviiftKO5uZ_a749PFiOFpBJ12CbBFt89s3WDvmyO2tpGkznGbzPk0/s320/IMG_2128.JPG" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Pineapples are native to South America but are today cultivated throughout the tropics. As such, people around the world have found uses for this yummylicious* fruit(as well as the rest of the plant). <b>Traditional medicinal uses</b> include usage for abortion, to aid in digestion, to prevent conception, to treat arthritis, and as an anti-inflammatory. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">In fact, in the <b>Cook Islands</b>, a concoction consisting of an unripe pineapple is used to treat men believed to be impotent.</span></div><div><blockquote></blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">" A suitable-sized stone is heated until it is red-hot and dropped carefully into the mixture </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">in the coconut. A man considered to suffer from... impotence, sits with the steaming coconut </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">pointed at his genitals, with a cloth wrapped around him. The healer massages him from the </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">flanks to the genitals with coconut oil. Should the genitals retract in the steam, they will </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">return to normal with massage"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Adapted from Medicinal Plants of the World II, Ivan A. Ross, 2001</span></div><div><blockquote></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">We don't think this sounds like a particularly pleasant experience but, then again, it's not like we've had the good fortune to actually experience this. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Don't diss* it till you've tried it, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">perhaps?</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References</span></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">AyurvedicCure.com. (n.d.). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aprodisiacs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from AyurvedicCure.com: http://www.ayurvediccure.com</span></span></span></div></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chua, T. K., Koh, H. L., & Tan, C. H. (2009). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Guide to Medicinal Plants, An Illustrated, Scientific and Medicinal Approach.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.</span></span></span></span></div></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Low, W.-Y., & Tan, H.-M. (2007). Asian traditional medicine for erectile dysfunction. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Hournal of Men's Health & Gender</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> , 245-250.</span></span></span></div></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ross, I. A. (2001). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Medicinal Plants of the World Volume 2.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.</span></span></span></div></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></i></span></b></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"></w:sdt></span></span></i></span></span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><div class="MsoBibliography" style="display: inline !important;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom. (n.d.). </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Food of Love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from Vegetarian Society: http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/forget.html</span></span></span></div></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></i></span></b></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805"><i></i></w:sdt></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><div class="MsoNormal" style="display: inline !important;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></o:p></div></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></i></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Zebutionary</span></span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Diss*: </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To insult or criticize </span></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Horny</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">* : Slang term for being sexually aroused, or lustful</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yummylicious*:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yummy + Delicious </span></span></div></div></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-40147121422472660922010-03-11T12:38:00.000+08:002010-06-24T12:47:18.947+08:00Little critters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Where there are plants, there will be little not-so-creepy crawlies. Such is the beauty of nature where everything is connected to something else.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This bug in the picture below, please let us know if you know what it is, because we sure don't! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Some unknown bug</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIpbrFjrpw3skxjPSUFq9EfVRkuzZjBUCWIWcvcdJXeK_Oa3i-lmLuSUNNnAf37GUdsoiTfl_MjMUyGsiDY74XQaYLC8NMEqsAhVE6dR3FiDKjG7n5IzSNdSkh-4X-PEM0NBkjKCqPqc/s1600-h/IMG_2135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIpbrFjrpw3skxjPSUFq9EfVRkuzZjBUCWIWcvcdJXeK_Oa3i-lmLuSUNNnAf37GUdsoiTfl_MjMUyGsiDY74XQaYLC8NMEqsAhVE6dR3FiDKjG7n5IzSNdSkh-4X-PEM0NBkjKCqPqc/s320/IMG_2135.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There were many butterfly plants grown in the herb garden(since these are believed to have medicinal properties as well), so it's not surprising that we saw a number of butterflies. But they do tend to be such fidgety little creatures so it took quite a bit of patience and determination to take pictures of the following butterflies JUST FOR YOU :)</div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Possibly a Striped Albatross butterfly </b>(<i>Appias libythea)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTozyvjs20aNOj7IzA6_2hB1ivoISTb6m3MAK7B_GUd2w_8IeNaU76GLAXfgC6rpGblOzsgOzwDLbl_YLNaQFswSc6XprceDIBEsMzrEkEvAeMTzg2F8pSNVWLZdtqwYDMXHEG5Ke5FY/s1600-h/IMG_2114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTozyvjs20aNOj7IzA6_2hB1ivoISTb6m3MAK7B_GUd2w_8IeNaU76GLAXfgC6rpGblOzsgOzwDLbl_YLNaQFswSc6XprceDIBEsMzrEkEvAeMTzg2F8pSNVWLZdtqwYDMXHEG5Ke5FY/s320/IMG_2114.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Pretty little butterfly<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">(Family: <i>Hesperiidae</i>)<b>, possibly a Palm Dart</b>(<i>Telicota augias</i>)</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopg0NthSUwSCXJoHSJYjdBDURHfjvFkjDmYI9Vt3uRlPmfpQ04hyphenhyphenJhj-wOiYljy7izuusl-lJef6p7YoYx8TuNGt5NjW6d-LvswhRJQVHu7Sp5N8U-ZzNxICsjuhLeYligge8cu-u-P4/s1600-h/IMG_2131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopg0NthSUwSCXJoHSJYjdBDURHfjvFkjDmYI9Vt3uRlPmfpQ04hyphenhyphenJhj-wOiYljy7izuusl-lJef6p7YoYx8TuNGt5NjW6d-LvswhRJQVHu7Sp5N8U-ZzNxICsjuhLeYligge8cu-u-P4/s320/IMG_2131.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beautiful as they are, butterflies are not necessarily well liked by farmers. More butterflies means more <i>butterfly-sex</i>, which means more fat, little caterpillars munching away on the precious leaves of plants, painstakingly grown. But whilst these creatures <i>take</i> as caterpillars, they <i>give</i> as butterflies. After they have morphed from their former flightless selves into their now fluttering selves, they help plants out by pollinating them. They transfer pollen from plant to plant as they fly around drinking sweet nectar from different flowers. (Take a look at <a href="http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-66_pollinators-butterflies.htm">this website</a> for more details) If flowers are not pollinated you don't get the seeds and fruits we love so much. The plants need the butterflies and the butterflies need the plants.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Short horned grasshopper aka Locust</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi841iQybyAjrPkcH5g7kPF0P_pUw3ZfVr1r4Io-HaxLzz2PTCcr9i-XLTgB20BLG6slGqggB4ScigetntdSc7cFZg_5Ef44vHpvRqN62MsG2xeg3Yp5j8ypG71Oj-N9Q195jgFtoNhtWU/s1600-h/IMG_2040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi841iQybyAjrPkcH5g7kPF0P_pUw3ZfVr1r4Io-HaxLzz2PTCcr9i-XLTgB20BLG6slGqggB4ScigetntdSc7cFZg_5Ef44vHpvRqN62MsG2xeg3Yp5j8ypG71Oj-N9Q195jgFtoNhtWU/s320/IMG_2040.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Locusts are actually grasshoppers. It is the common name given to short-horned grasshoppers. Grasshoppers usually have very long antennae. But, as can be seen from the picture above, these guys don't. This little guy was hiding away in the plant. Had he been seen, this little guy would probably have been killed :( They do feed on the plants after all, and hence, can cause much damage to the farming industry. Does it always have to be a war? Man vs. nature? Or at least parts of nature...</div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-52623985609336622010-03-11T12:30:00.005+08:002010-06-24T12:41:02.919+08:00Poisons and remedies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's conspicuously yellow-orange. It's big. And it looks somewhat strange and obscene. You're looking at... the Nipple fruit plant(otherwise known as the Cow's Udder plant, or the Titty fruit plant), named so for obvious reasons. This is one plant you're unlikely to EVER forget if you've seen it but once. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Nipple Fruit</b> (<i>Solanum mammosum</i>)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjND5RhVHZ1WyI48xtPqPBoE8N2dgrfooGnrPWxw5fqNAxDaofYZbfpJCnLuNsisVHE4Ph8lg5P5BLBIYn-yei6IkTXOdRjrt_yB7DlbmAJMgChFCE6R_IetMlksZBSVau9x-8ihU8b_XA/s1600-h/IMG_2036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjND5RhVHZ1WyI48xtPqPBoE8N2dgrfooGnrPWxw5fqNAxDaofYZbfpJCnLuNsisVHE4Ph8lg5P5BLBIYn-yei6IkTXOdRjrt_yB7DlbmAJMgChFCE6R_IetMlksZBSVau9x-8ihU8b_XA/s320/IMG_2036.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This memorable plant is native to South America and is believed to have medicinal properties. Some use the juice of this fruit as a <b>detergent</b> to wash clothes even! But take note, though, that this plant with suggestive fruits is <b>poisonous</b>, so you munching on any part of it is definitely not advisable.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And from the incredibly weird, now we move on to the incredibly beautiful- A plant that is native to tropical and temperate Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia even(though some believe it was taken there by <i>Homo sapiens </i>bent on disrupting ecosystems, as always).<br />
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The Sacred Lotus.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Fruit of the Sacred Lotus </b>(<i>Nelumbo nucifera</i>)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span> </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-QOa63OxPJIH0ie1buAipwXfjCP07AaRH-9999TqsVc2hloYhhP-tT_QGDFd6yjMNG5mUIyw5tI1MhKmRKuXs_tY6oWS5mkO0FRoTpXOGccaWU7D5tTFfY-pvr9_Y0Fhumn_DCZ-kZQ/s1600-h/IMG_2042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk-QOa63OxPJIH0ie1buAipwXfjCP07AaRH-9999TqsVc2hloYhhP-tT_QGDFd6yjMNG5mUIyw5tI1MhKmRKuXs_tY6oWS5mkO0FRoTpXOGccaWU7D5tTFfY-pvr9_Y0Fhumn_DCZ-kZQ/s320/IMG_2042.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
The seeds can be removed and eaten raw. Makes a pretty good snack actually, and it just happens that it promotes virility too(or at least it is believed to...). Don't all go rushing at once to get yourself some lotus seeds now! As far as we know, there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence that this is indeed true.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sacred Lotus flower</b> (<i>Nelumbo nucifera</i>)</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14QWl7a54uS4_grm05-3hMHiu6P7cFKBD-n1yHxGwvtT5j3WryIbRmp7xr4iLYesEN7G_67J5TsXUWbbuOu5iW5k9l5SLMx0msb1qag09-noBnM6xb5mexJtizjBT051OCCaiN0NsLIY/s1600-h/IMG_2086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14QWl7a54uS4_grm05-3hMHiu6P7cFKBD-n1yHxGwvtT5j3WryIbRmp7xr4iLYesEN7G_67J5TsXUWbbuOu5iW5k9l5SLMx0msb1qag09-noBnM6xb5mexJtizjBT051OCCaiN0NsLIY/s320/IMG_2086.JPG" /></a></div>Interestingly, the lotus is supposedly able to <b>regulate the temperature of its flowers</b> just as we are able to regulate our own body temperatures! It is believed that it keeps its flowers warm to attract heat-loving insect pollinators(one of many possibilities).<br />
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Research has found that beetles that venture into the flower get trapped within it at night when the petals close up. Shielded from the cold night air, they are kept warm within the flower, enabling them to stay active. This possibly encourages a mating and feeding frenzy all night long :) In the process, pollen gets rubbed all over the little guys(and gals). And in the morning, when the flower opens up once more, they fly off to some other flower to repeat the entire process once more, unintentionally helping the plant as well.<br />
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They're not completely sure yet, so it's still pretty much anyone's guess for now.<br />
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They're not just important to the ecosystem, they're important to us humans as well. Buddhists and Hindus consider this flower to be sacred, for instance. Also, all parts of this plant are believed to have some sort of medicinal value. It is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat intermittent fever, diarrhoea, premature ejaculation, and to prevent excessive bleeding from the uterus and abdominal cramps. These are just a few of the ailments it is used for. Scientific studies also seem to show that this plant truly is a very useful plant. It has been shown to posses a whole list of '<i>anti-something</i>' properties! : antianxiety, antibacterial, antidiarrhoeal, anti inflmatory, antioxidant and antiviral.<br />
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Is it any surprise then that such a plant is considered sacred? We don't think so :)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>References</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Boo, C. M., & Kartini Omar-Hor, C. L.-Y. (2003). <i>1001 Garden Plants in Singapore.</i> Singapore: National Parks.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Chua, T. K., Koh, H. L., & Tan, C. H. (2009). <i>A Guide to Medicinal Plants, An Illustrated, Scientific and Medicinal Approach.</i> Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Trade Winds Fruit. (n.d.). <i>Nipple Fruit.</i> Retrieved March 11, 2010, from Trade Winds Fruit:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/nipple_fruit.htm</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Yoon, c.k. (1996, October 1). <i>Science: Heat of Lotus Attracts Insects and Scientists.</i> Retrieved March 11, 2010, from The New York Times:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.nytimes.com</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690709059762318448.post-20782191321060128502010-03-10T22:10:00.007+08:002010-06-24T12:42:53.061+08:00Up close and personal with the plantae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Herbs</i>- plants prized for 'special' qualities they supposedly possess. This can involve anything from making food scrumptious and curing us of our ills, to even *gasp* getting rid of <i><b>bad juju*</b></i>!!<br />
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In the quaint, little herb farm we visited, we saw a many, many, MANY plants so the few covered in this post in no way provides an exhaustive list of the herbs grown there. First up....<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b>Cat's Whiskers </b>(<i>Orthosiphon aristatus</i>)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9blD3WCm68tmatVXZFSjH-vzomq_ZnSPAsM3q2x2USjkxgi9rCsnns3tVaEjHwTWPFrPFKbgCKFdV9gwYNJCAPV52x74M3Od0ZPHOnspBEk36QXtt9XwAS-ni2DCVMTDDmPkqOu939hw/s1600-h/IMG_2035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9blD3WCm68tmatVXZFSjH-vzomq_ZnSPAsM3q2x2USjkxgi9rCsnns3tVaEjHwTWPFrPFKbgCKFdV9gwYNJCAPV52x74M3Od0ZPHOnspBEk36QXtt9XwAS-ni2DCVMTDDmPkqOu939hw/s320/IMG_2035.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The beautiful flower above belongs to a plant known as Cat's Whiskers. Usually common names reflect the appearance of the plant or animal. This is, of course, purely subjective. Some person in history decided that the flower of this particular plant looked like a cat's whiskers so there you have it! Frankly, we think it takes a little imagination(or maybe more than just a little...). </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The plant is native to Southeast Asia and can even be found all the way in Australia's North Queensland. Tea made from this plant has been used to treat kidney diseases, wasting disease, dysuria(painful or difficult peeing), and kidney/urinary stones or discharge.<br />
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And if you're not suffering from any such ailment, grow this plant anyway! It's great at attracting butterflies :) </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b>Japanese Pagoda Plant</b> (<span class="ProfBotNameTitle"><i>Clerodendrum paniculatum</i>)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwhyW6fEJQXqt4fRRNhHW_epKExOqM4Z6bvyTryIfO6_Q2zNvIfCY2ZUCq2iwcqDp1PxjAzBGQsAiDQC26_688G1iW5OF_QZ29GJe5ez-qbXtQoUs0PqnV1ZjmRDCBYBjk-q1q3kB8nA/s1600-h/IMG_2051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwhyW6fEJQXqt4fRRNhHW_epKExOqM4Z6bvyTryIfO6_Q2zNvIfCY2ZUCq2iwcqDp1PxjAzBGQsAiDQC26_688G1iW5OF_QZ29GJe5ez-qbXtQoUs0PqnV1ZjmRDCBYBjk-q1q3kB8nA/s320/IMG_2051.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Okay... so this "pagoda" is a little <i>'senget-ed'</i>; still looks beautiful though. It is native to South, as well as much of Southeast Asia. Do not be deceived by its name. The 'Japanese' here refers to the flowers looking like a Japanese pagoda rather than its origin. This plant grows to be rather large, but <b>do not</b> confuse it with the Japanese pagoda tree. Two completely different trees that are in no way closely related to one another, despite their similar names.<br />
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This plant attracts many butterflies too, and over on the other side of the planet, they attract hummingbirds as well. Hummingbirds can't be found in asia of course, since we have sunbirds pretty much taking up their niche over here. Wonder if sunbirds have this same magnetic attraction to this plant as well? </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b>A pretty daisy</b> (Family: <i>Compositae)</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DfMxIdh6pthcdio9NsJdPXcOBM4LmSjwE2QhBq62Vkz_9RsjK9Oz5J-rQq5beOYUGHh6X67pqYRrsnU-UB5APbQXvQrb4RlAsvVbWB2r22pueMgoCzjP6CFuPR7SpMz4e9jwYPu_CtI/s1600-h/IMG_2043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DfMxIdh6pthcdio9NsJdPXcOBM4LmSjwE2QhBq62Vkz_9RsjK9Oz5J-rQq5beOYUGHh6X67pqYRrsnU-UB5APbQXvQrb4RlAsvVbWB2r22pueMgoCzjP6CFuPR7SpMz4e9jwYPu_CtI/s320/IMG_2043.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This plant wasn't actually being grown, but its flower was just so beautiful we feared karmic retribution had we not taken a photo of it. The group of flowers this daisy falls under encompasses both daisies as well as sunflowers. What's special about these plants? Their 'flowers' have small tiny little flowers(called florets) within them. <i>Flowers within flowers!</i> Only the tiny little florets are truly considered flowers though. <i> </i><br />
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Even these plants are used as traditional medicine. Some believe this plant to have anti-inflammatory and astringent properties. As far as we know, no clinical studies have been conducted to test if this is indeed true as yet though.<i> </i><br />
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<i>Note</i>: These are not the only plants which have such "double" flowers.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>References</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CDhava%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CDhava%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CDhava%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
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<div class="MsoBibliography" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US">Ayurvedic-medicines.org. (n.d.). <i>Herbal Medicines: Daisy</i>. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from Ayurvedic Medicines: http://www.ayurvedic-medicines.org/<o:p></o:p></span><w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Boo, C. M., & Kartini Omar-Hor, C. L.-Y. (2003). <span style="font-style: italic;">1001 Garden Plants in Singapore.</span> Singapore: National Parks.<span lang="EN-US"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoBibliography"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Shipard, I. (n.d.). </span><i style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Free Herb Information: Cat's Whisker's</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from Herbs Are Special: http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Zebutionary</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bad juju: To be haunted by a bad vibe or aura.</span></div>Hornbillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150692504978741949noreply@blogger.com0