Entries categorized as ‘visitor’
Andreas Wilting, a PhD student with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, visited the Raffles Museum from 16 to 18 Dec 2009 to examine specimens for his study on the phylogeography of cats and civets in Southeast Asia, in particular their evolution in the Sunda region. Andi is working on a research and conservation project called ConCaSa (Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah) in the Deramakot Forest Reserve (DFR), Sabah, which is home to some endangered mammal species.
Andy with our civet cat specimen.
[Photograph by Sum Foong Yee]
Categories: visitor
Assoc. Prof. YEN Shen-Horn (Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, TAIWAN) is an entomologist who works on systematics, evolutionary ecology and biodiversity databasing of Lepidopteran insects. He visited the Raffles Museum from the 7th to the 9th of November, 2009 to examine our small collection of moths belonging in the groups Zygaenidae, Psychidae and Pyraloidea.
Categories: visitor
RMBR warmly welcomed Prof Chan Tin-Yam and his team of scientists and graduate students from Taiwan ROC on 7 Oct 2009.
Based at the National Taiwan Ocean University, Prof Chan is an expert on lobsters and other non-brachyuran crustaceans while Ms Yang Chien Hui is a graduate student working on crustaceans.
The rest of the delegation comprised members from the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica: Ms Tsai Pei Chen (Dr Benny Chan’s research staff) who works on barnacles; Dr Liao Yun Chih, Postdoctoral Fellow (marine fishes) who works for Taiwan’s leading fish expert Prof Shao Kwang Tsao; and Mr Lee Mao-Ying, PhD student at the Laboratory of Fish Ecology & Evolution.
The group was here from 7 to 12 Oct 2009 to study the local and regional marine life as part of our ongoing collaborative research efforts. After a day of going through our collections of crustaceans, barnacles and fishes, the group spent the next few days scouring the fish markets in Singapore and Kuching, Sarawak, purely for research purposes of course.
We bid the group, and the bountiful marine life they are bringing back with them, a fond farewell yesterday.
From left: Prof Chan Tin-Yam and Ms Yang Chien Hui (National Taiwan Ocean University).
From left: Dr Liao Yun Chih, Ms Tsai Pei Chen and Mr Lee Mao-Ying (Academia Sinica).
[Photographs by Tan Heok Hui]
Categories: visitor
Dr Froehlich from the Smithsonian Institution, USA was back in RMBR on 9 and 10 Sep 2009 to gather more data for his research on primate brain size (see earlier post on 5 Jan 2009). We are glad that his research work here has been fruitful and it’s a no-brainer why he’ll be back in Jan 2010.
Dr Froehlich back in his usual research spot. [Photograph by FY]
Categories: visitor
The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) paid a visit to the museum on 7 Sep to research for their firefly project. They were hosted by our insect curator, Miss Lua Hui Kheng, who showed them our firefly collection. Accompanying them were staff from Pasir Ris Park and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
From left: Sunshine Sim, Mohamad Yusoff (both from Pasir Ris Park), Chan Su Hooi (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve), Sonny Wong (Malaysian Nature Society), Dr Nor Rasidah Hashim and Cik Wan Faridah Akmal Wan Jusoh (both from UPM). [Photograph by Miss Lua]
Categories: visitor
A group of 16 Education Officers from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia visited the RMBR on 19 Aug 2009. In Singapore from 18 to 20 Aug 2009 to observe and learn the various conservation education programmes in NParks and other institutions, the group had a whirlwind tour of Singapore’s well-known nature spots – Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Pulau Ubin (Chek Jawa), Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and The Botanic Gardens.
For the museum stop, the group was regaled with tales of Singapore’s ‘wild past’ by Siva, an instructor with the Department of Biological Sciences and coordinator of Toddycats, a group of nature and environment volunteers with the museum, during the Gallery tour. They were then taken on a tour of the wet and dry collection areas, where they saw specimens not on display to the public.
After a short coffee break, Siva shared with the group his many years’ of experience in organising outreach programmes, spiced up with humorous anecdotes.
We hope our Malaysian visitors enjoyed the visit and that they had an enjoyable and fruitful trip to Singapore.
Siva bringing the DWNP visitors on a tour round the RMBR Public Gallery.
The visitors were shown a colugo specimen in the collections area.
The visit wrapped up with a briefing on the museum’s outreach efforts.
[All photographs by FY]
Categories: visitor
Picture: Dr Tan Swee Hee and Professor Daphne Fautin [Photography by: James Koh]
Professor Daphne Fautin, University of Kansas, is visiting us again to work on the several new species of sea anemones that we had obtained in 2007 when she first visited us. Small as Singapore may be, there appears to be a high diversity of sea anemones (approximately 40 species) and up to four species may possibly be undescribed ones. Her trips to Singapore are marked by a punishing regime of field work that start at 2AM to coincide with the low tide. However, all the sleepless mornings are worth it when we find sea anemones that we have not seen before and also get stuck in the mud! She will be also transmitting to us her secret histological techniques that is fast becoming a lost art. She will be at the museum from 19 July to 1 August 2009.
Categories: visitor
From the left – Dr Nguyen Van Vinh, Dr Bae Yeon Jae, Dr Esther Clews (postdoctoral fellow at DBS) [Photograph by: Tan Heok Hui]
Professor Bae has published extensively on the taxonomy and ecology of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) and is one of the leading experts in the field. His special interest is in the burrowing mayflies but his research interests are broad, ranging from the Systematics, Ecology, Biogeography and Evolution of Ephemeroptera to aquatic insect biodiversity, stream ecology and conservation biology.
Dr Nguyen has worked extensively on the taxonomy of the mayflies and aquatic insect communities of Vietnam. He also is Head of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at Hanoi University.
Both researchers were here to give a workshop on “How to Identify Singaporean and Tropical Asian Mayflies”
Categories: visitor · workshop
Mark de Bryun – Bangor University, post doctorate working on phylogeography of selected aquatic organisms, stopped by RMBR for a few days after attending the Willi Hennig annual meeting at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. With him, is one of Ecolab’s recent alumnus, Tran Anh Duc, who also attended the Hennig meeting and is here in Singapore for his doctorate commencement.
Categories: visitor
The RMBR hosted the Minister for Foreign Affairs, BG George Yeo (extreme left), for a quick tour of the Gallery and facilities. He was accompanied by Professor Leo Tan (second from left), Professor Tommy Koh (centre), Professor Andrew Wee, Dean of the Faculty of Science (second from right) and Professor Peter Ng (extreme right).
The Minister was shown a specimen of a moth that he had previously sent to the RMBR for identification purposes in 1992. Here he is pictured with Ms. Lua H. K., one of our curators. He was rather amused by the fact that after all these years, the moth looks little different from the day he found it. This underlines the RMBR’s role as a depository and custodian of the Nation’s biodiversity, oftentimes collected by the most unlikley of persons!
Categories: visitor
