4 Feb (Sat): Celebrate World Wetlands Day at Sungei Buloh

Singapore has wonderful wetlands to celebrate on World Wetlands Day, 2 Feb! Mangroves, freshwater swamps and streams and more! In 2012, theme is wetland tourism. This cartoon charmingly illustrates some of the issues of tourism.

Click on image for larger view.
From the Ramsar website.

In Singapore, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve celebrates World Wetlands Day with special events on 4 Feb (Sat) including talks on mangroves, food tasting and displays of fishes and other mangrove creatures!

9-10 Jul (Sat & Sun): Biodiversity talks at the Botanic Gardens

More biodiversity talks this weekend! Learn about our birds and how to photograph them. Find out about our orchids and efforts to conserve them. Hear about our hornbills, dragonflies and heritage trees. Learn about the effort to survey our marine biodiversity, and about the secret shores of Singapore.

These exciting talks are part of NPark's “Forests, People, Environment” Exhibition which runs until 24 Jul at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

21 Jun (Tue): "The Sea Anemone Lecture" by Dr Daphne Fautin

Dr Daphne Fautin, world authority on sea anemones, is here to conduct a Sea Anemone Workshop (15-21 Jun) in conjunction with the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey. She will be giving a public talk at the end of the Workshop.

Dr Daphne on a field trip at Terumbu Semakau to find anemones.

Come for her talk to find out what was discovered at the Workhop! Dr Daphne will speak on the "Hidden treasures of biodiversity: flowers of the marine world (sea anemones)"

16 Apr (Sat): Talk on "Success in growing native orchids in parks and gardens of Singapore"

Did you know that of the 226 species of native orchids recorded in Singapore, 178 of these species are considered to be extinct? Only five of them are common!

Native orchids have been attached to trees in many of our parks.

Come for this talk to learn about the recent orchid conservation programme in our parks.

19 Apr (Tue): Second sea turtle forum - How are the released sea turtles doing?

In August 2010, several captive bred hawksbill turtles were released at Big Sisters Island.
This month, a follow-up forum is being conducted to share how these sea turtles are doing. All are welcome to attend!

27 Jan (Thu): Green Drinks focuses on Singapore's biodiversity

This month, Green Drinks is focusing on Singapore's rich biodiversity and conservation!They are presenting two speakers, N. Sivasothi and Nature Society (Singapore). Siva will lead a talk on the fauna in Singapore, titled 'Zoological Explorations in Singapore', and Nature Society (Singapore) will speak on the highly topical issue of saving the KTM railway, in a presentation titled 'Getting to Know Your Green Railway Corridor'.

Free entry, all are welcome.

15 Jan (Sat): Talk on "What is a ‘healthy’ Mangrove Eco-system?"

2011 is the International Year of the Forests! It is the hope of the United Nations General Assembly to raise raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

Dr John Yong (left most) at Kranji mangroves

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve celebrates this Year of the Forests with a talk about the Mangrove eco-system by Dr John Yong, a mangrove forest expert who has vast regional experience!

Keeping our monkeys wild: upcoming talk and walk

Monkeys are among the highlights of a trip to our forests and wild places!

Unfortunately, there are many challenges facing these Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Much of these issues are due to people feeding them.

This coming week, there is a talk about our monkeys and Crystal's Monkey Walk at Bukit Timah is launched! Find out more about why we should not feed our monkeys and how we can play our part to keep them wild!

16 Oct (Sat): Talk on "Butterflies of Singapore"

Fluttery beauties, with intriguing names like Studded Sergeant, Sumatran Sunbeam and Gray Tinsel. What are they and what's with all the mysterious military names? Where can we find them?
Learn more about Singapore's delightful butterflies! Come for this talk by Khew Sin Khoon, the author of the brand new "A Field Guide to Butterflies of Singapore" (to be launched on 10 Oct).

24 Aug (Tue): "Turtles Towards Extinction: How late are we? Is it too late?"

Is it enough to be breeding animals and learning about them in the zoos and aquariums? Or should future steps endeavour to not only breed them but reintroduce them into the wild?
These and other issues will be discussed at the Multidisciplinary Forum & Turtle Release@Big Sister Island: "Turtles Towards Extinction: How late are we? Is it too late?". Plus the event includes a field trip to tag and release hawksbill turtles at Big Sisters Island!

5 Aug (Thu): Talk on "The Red Jungle Fowls: here again or lost forever?"

What's the difference between a domestic chicken and the Red Jungle Fowl? How many of these special birds do we have in Singapore?
Find out in this talk by Amanda Tan in the first Toddycats Engage! event.

31 Jul (Sat): Talk on "Hornbill Nesting - The 'Intelligent' Nest"

What happens during the mysterious ‘confinement’ of the female Oriental Pied Hornbill during breeding? The breeding female is sealed up in a tree cavity to lay and raise her young, and stays sealed inside the nest 24/7 for up to 3 months!
Many observations over the last five years has revealed more about what goes on in the dark nest!

16 Jul (Fri): The Wallace Talk: "An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles" by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Charles Darwin has been lionized as one of the giants of western thought for his theory of evolution.

from "The Man who wasn't Darwin" National Geographic Jul 2010.

But what about Alfred Russel Wallace, a contemporary of Darwin’s who independently developed the theory of natural selection during his eight-year sojourn in Southeast Asia? Why did Darwin become a household name while Wallace became a historical footnote?

17 Apr (Sat): Talk on "Conservation of Native Orchids in Singapore"

Dr Yam Tim Wing will share about the orchid conservation programme that has successfully propagated and re-introduced 5 species of native orchids.
These include the spectacular Tiger orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum).
And the intriguing Bulbophyllum. These orchids are not only rare and beautiful, but some of them mass bloom providing a spectacular sight!