So long and see you soon!

Its been a hectic last month for the museum and the curtains have finally fallen over the public gallery.

As a last swan song, the museum threw its doors open from 18 to 22 March during the Last Hurrah! Presented by the RMBR Toddycats, we wanted to give our friends a last chance to see the museum as it stood, before we close and re-surface again with a new name, identity and building at the end of 2014. It was also a way to thank everyone who believed in and supported what we do, having generously donated to our appeal to build a new Natural History Museum for Singapore.

Tours lasting an hour to two were conducted twice a day, with each tour helmed by an experienced guide who made every visitor’s day with their passion and knowledge of the museum and our displays. In total, 350 people visited over the 5 days and we finally ended at 10 PM on Friday night!

A recently pickled paradise tree snake

Guide Amy Choong shows some of the dried specimens and skins from the collection.

We hosted members of the Museum Roundtable on Friday afternoon!

Wednesday evening was Toddycats night at the Museum.

One of the last groups from Friday evening. Thank you for choosing to spend your Friday night at the museum!

Curious visitors from Thursday night.

We love the look on their faces!

And here is super guide Oi Yee, who showed up every single lunch time, cheerful, enthusiastic and always ready to share her knowledge with everyone!

 

***For more pictures, please see our Flickr collection***

On the Monday of our last week of operation, we hosted a special visit by President Tony Tan, who came to say goodbye to an institution he officiated the opening of, way back in 1988 when the collection made NUS its home.

There was no letting up on the stream of visitors and well-wishers right up to the last day!  On the 28th of March, the gallery was visited by two groups in the day, after which is was taken over by students taking MW5202 (Science Communications) who had to put together a museum tour for the evening! Phew!

It has been a busy but happy time for us, these last two weeks. We look forward to seeing you at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum soon!

President Tony Tan visits RMBR for a Last Hurrah too!

 

Text to ST article

Museum homecoming for President Tan

Tan Dawn Wei

ABOUT 25 years ago, President Tony Tan Keng Yam launched a collection that was to play an instrumental role in the growth of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in Kent Ridge.

Yesterday, it was like a homecoming when he was invited to tour the place, one week before the packing starts on one of the largest collections of South-east Asian animals in the region.

The museum is moving to a new and larger home next year, about 850m away on the National University of Singapore campus.

It will be renamed Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

“It’s very interesting for me to see how it has evolved and still playing an extremely valuable scientific and national role,” said President Tan after an hour-long tour of the public gallery and the compacter shelves, where most of the specimens are kept.

The collection has grown from 160,000 in 1988 – when President Tan, then education minister, opened the Zoological Reference Collection at the NUS science faculty – to 500,000 now.

Calling the museum a “national treasure”, President Tan said a proper natural history museum is “highly needed in Singapore” and will be a valuable addition to the country’s medley of museums and the study of nature.

Its director Peter Ng said the museum’s closure marks “the end of one cycle”.

In the last 25 years, it has grown beyond being just a reference collection for scientific research. In 2001, a public gallery was created as the museum embarked on outreach, education and heritage programmes.

“We want to do it on an even grander scale in our new home,” said Professor Ng.

(c) 2013 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

More here: http://www.science.nus.edu.sg/newshub/646-president-tony-tan-visits-the-raffles-museum-of-biodiversity-research

New articles on Nature in Singapore website

The following articles have been uploaded to the Nature in Singapore website (http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/index.html).

1. Ong, X. R., S. C. Chua & M. D. Potts, 2013. Recent records of the dung beetle Catharsius molossus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 6: 1–6. [PDF, 510 KB]
2. Neo, L., A. T. K. Yee, K. Y. Chong, H. H. T. Yeo & H. T. W. Tan, 2013. The vascular plant flora of abandoned plantations in Singapore II: Punggol end forest. Nature in Singapore, 6: 7–17. [PDF, 0.99 MB]
3. Ng, P. X. & H. H. Tan, 2013. Fish diversity before and after construction of the Punggol and Serangoon reservoirs, Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 6: 19–24. [PDF, 445 KB]
4. Low, B. W., K. S. Lim, F. Yap, T. K. Lee, K. C. Lim & D. L. Yong, 2013. First record of the Asian openbill, Anastomus oscitans (Aves: Ciconiidae) in Singapore, with notes on foraging and dispersive movements. Nature in Singapore, 6: 25–29. [PDF, 714 KB]
5. Low, J. K. Y., 2013. More noteworthy fishes observed in the Singapore Straits. Nature in Singapore, 6: 31–37. [PDF, 512 KB]

Preparing for the move, articles in Straits Times and 联合早报

Text to ST article

Animal specimens prepped for move

By Tan Dawn Wei Assistant News Editor

Curators at NUS museum will pack up collection after it closes on March 31

ITS new home will not be ready until later next year, but the 500,000 specimens at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research are already being prepped by their guardians for the big move.

The museum’s public gallery, which opened in 2001, will welcome its last visitors on March 31 before curators get down to some serious packing.

Work actually started on preparing for the move as early as last year, after the National University of Singapore (NUS) managed to raise $46 million from private and public donors for a purpose-built museum that will house one of the largest collections of South-east Asian animals in the region.

“This building is 25 years old. The collection has expanded a lot since,” said Mr Kelvin Lim, curator of invertebrates. He has been with the museum, at the Department of Biological Sciences, since 1991.

The four curators will now busy themselves with cleaning the specimens, taking inventories and chasing researchers and students to return specimens they have taken out on loan.

They have accepted that not all that went out will be able to make their way home.

“If people don’t return them, there’s not much you can do,” said Mr Lim. “Some researchers die too.”

But the highly valuable century-old specimens inherited from the British – as well as extinct and endangered animals – stay in the custody of the museum.

Even curators like Ms Lua Hui Kheng, who has been tending to this collection since the 1970s, thinks twice about handling them sometimes.

“If you’re not in the mood, don’t do it,” said the mollusc and insect expert.

Many of the mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates in the collection are seasoned “travellers”.

Some originated from the Raffles Museum, founded in 1849, which later became the National Museum.

When the latter decided not to focus on natural history, the collection was given to the Singapore Science Centre in 1970 and then to the former University of Singapore.

It has moved from five World War II huts where the National University Hospital now stands, to the university’s Bukit Timah campus, to then Nanyang University’s library building, and finally to its current home at NUS.

The caretakers are glad that the collection will be going to a bigger, better home – the 7,500 sq m Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, named after the philanthropist because of a sizeable donation from the Lee Foundation, on the NUS campus.

But while the new museum will have about 10 times more gallery space than the current one, that is hardly good news for the curators.

“You actually don’t want the specimens to be shown, because you’re scared they will deteriorate,” said Ms Lua.

(c) 2013 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

Native Fig Species as a Keystone Resource for the Singapore Urban Environment

A new book Native Fig Species as a Keystone Resource for the Singapore Urban Environment by A. F. S. L. Lok, W. F. Ang, B. Y. Q. Ng, T. M. Leong, C. K. Yeo & H. T. W. Tan has been published and is available for download here

Join us for “The Last Hurrah!” (Update: Registration closed)

We’ve been talking about it for a long time and it is finally here! RMBR will close from the April 1 and as a final thank you gesture, we’d like to invite everyone to join us for a Last Hurrah!

We’ve certainly come a long way since 1986, when the collection first moved in, and it has been 12 years since the Public Gallery was opened. Our museum logo was unveiled on day the Public Gallery open to emphasis education and outreach. Now, this chapter of the museum  is drawing to a close and we are getting ready to start a new one at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

The Public Gallery is already partially closed and it has been a hectic time for everyone. However, veteran guides of the museum could not allow this young lady to sail off with a whimper. We have got together to celebrate the museum with a final series of tours!

Lunch time and evening tours are being offered from 18 to 22 March 2013. Each session is limited to just 15 persons as the space to move around the museum is small. With a larger space beckoning, this is one farewell that need not be tearful.

Join us for a Last Hurrah at RMBR and see the skeletons in our closets!

To register, please visit http://tinyurl.com/rmbr-lh (spaces are limited)

Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Vol. 61 (1)

The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Vol. 61 (1) is now available for download.

Click here to download cover (pdf) and here to download the articles.