For the past few days, there’s an awful smell at a particular spot in the garden. Smelling it will make you imagine a dead fish at the beach shore surrounded by excited flies. Who would have guessed the odour comes from this beautiful thing:

Meet the  Bulbophyllum beccarii, a rainforest orchid, apparently found in South East Asia. Wikipedia reported that it grows in Borneo. What makes this stinky fellow special, is that it blooms only once a year, or even as rare as once in 2-3 years. The stench is said to attract flies. However, i spotted a lacewing butterfly coming to it.. hehe.

Their huge leaves positioned themselves in such a way  that it forms a ‘bowls’ that will trap falling debris as  nutrients.

Well, take a good look at while it’s still blooming. You won’t see (and smell) it till next year!

不知你有否察觉到每逢雨后， 总听到 “呱呱～呱呱呱” 之声此起彼伏？

这时的你是抱着怎样心态来看待这些 “噪音” 呢？ 是感到烦躁吗？ 是感到愉悦吗？ 会引发你诗性大发吗？有勾起你一些小时候的记忆吗？或是你一直都是城市小孩， 不曾听闻过这种音乐？  不管你是属于哪种心态， 我也想把我知道关于青蛙小子的一段故事与你分享：

我们华人结婚， 喜欢挑选黄道吉日才进行婚礼， 但是蛙蛙家族却喜欢选择在下雨天来进行婚礼。 这是因为蛙蛙们的皮肤最喜欢潮湿了， 且在潮湿的环境下能呼吸得更顺畅， 心情也更显欢愉。 也因如此， 青蛙小子会在凉夏雨后更卖力起劲的扯开咽喉大声歌唱：“呱呱呱。。呱呱呱。。呱呱呱呱呱呱呱。。” 。  通常鸣声开始不久后， 陆续会有另外几个蛙小子也加入了雨后合唱团， 不一会 “呱呱” 之声仿有节奏的充斥着整个夜晚。 仔细聆听， 你会发觉蛙鸣的旋律并不单调， 时而洪亮如钟， 时而温语绵绵， 时而声沉如鼓， 时而婉转悠扬，时而浑厚绵延， 虽然鸣声节奏不一，但却都很巧妙的融合为一，奏演成凉夏最棒得交响曲。

如果我对你说， 这种种歌声都有着不同的诠释意思， 你相信吗？ 是真的！ 每只青蛙小子都拥有不同的歌声， 但内容大致是向青蛙小妹告白求爱；而青蛙小妹喜欢哪一种告白情歌， 就会凭歌挑选自己中意的蛙小子来结婚。不相信吧， 其实青蛙们很早就崇尚自由恋爱的啦！

在这则短文里， 我们能得到什么启发呢？  我本人觉得大自然的声音其实是充满着智慧的；就以听似吵躁不堪的呱呱声， 原来是青蛙们必须履行的任务， 蛙儿不呱叫， 又哪娶到美人归呢？  青蛙小子特意选择在宁静的夜里鸣叫， 因为这样才能使自己的叫声传的更远， 让更多的青蛙小妹听到自己的求爱召唤。 所以， 同为地球上一份子的我们， 是否也应该为青蛙家族的这桩喜事而感到高兴， 并献上祝福给这些新人， 而不是把它们标签为唯恐天下不乱的不良分子，一味毛躁地认为青蛙总是喜欢损人利己的制造噪音、扰人清梦?

雨夜合唱团 😉

In conjunction with World Snake Day that falls on the 16th of July every year, Penang Butterfly Farm would like to celebrate the occurrence of this day by creating awareness and highlighting the importance of snakes.

Due to urbanization hitting up in Penang and the generally bad impression the public has of snakes, snakes have been dying off at alarming numbers. Snakes losing their habitat often find new snake dens in gardens, chicken pens or basements. This puts snakes in danger of coming into contact with humans as almost all such encounters will result in the snakes being killed on sight. There have been instances where snakes “trespass” on human habitations causing some destruction and having their heads smashed off as a result. Vigilante such as this can be avoided if people are more aware of snake behaviours. The general consensus is fear, people kill to protect themselves from what they see as threats.

Despite appearances, snakes are quite harmless. Most snakes are not venomous and would escape rather than attack when confronted with humans. Let us in this day look at our slithery friends in a different glance as Penang Butterfly Farm celebrates World Snake Day with our gliding pals in enclosure!

Mangrove Snake

Also known as Cat-eyed snakes, they are generally thin, long bodied with large heads and large eyes. They vary greatly in pattern and color. Many species have banding, but some are spotted and some are solid coloured. Colours are normally black, brown, or green with white or yellow accents.
They are primarily arboreal, nocturnal snakes that prey on various species of lizards, birds, and rodents. Their venom toxicity differs from species to species, but it is not considered life threatening to humans.

Wagler’s Pit Viper

One of the venomous pit viper species native to Southeast Asia, they are sometimes referred to as the temple vipers due to their abundance in the Temple of Azure Cloud in Malaysia. These tree dwellers are active at night and appear sluggish as they remain motionless for long periods of time waiting for preys to pass by. Nevertheless when preys do pass by or of disturbed, they can strike quickly. Their primary diet consists of rodents, birds, and lizards. The pits on the sides of the head are capable of detecting temperature difference of as little as 0.003 degree Celsius. Their venom is non fatal to humans.

Red – tailed Racer

Red – tailed Racers inhabit the tropical forests. These tree living snakes are active at day and spend the largest part of their life on trees. They have powerful, rough scales which are ideal for climbing and moving in trees. On their back, they have small, green smooth scales with red or brown tail and a dark line horizontal across its eyes. These types of snakes seldom descend on the ground and they feed almost exclusively on birds. When stressed, they may inflate a bag of air in its neck, making them appear larger in size.

Green Whip Snake

These snakes have enlarged teeth at the back of their jaws that can administer a rather painful bite. Lizards and birds form the mainstay of their diet. They are slender – about 2 cm thick, and have a length of about 1.5 to 2 meters. Their tails are long, used mostly to hold on to trees while reaching for preys. The green whip snakes have two larger teeth at the back of their mouth; these teeth will permit toxic saliva to penetrate wounds to immobilize prey which is then rapidly swallowed. Once the prey is completely in the snake’s body, the whip snake searches for a resting place – usually in the highest point of a tree. Their behaviour towards humans is neutral and the snake usually goes to the other end of the terrarium.

The Importance of Snakes:
Snakes are vital in controlling crops damaging preys such as rats and mice. Some, like the sea snakes and pythons, are caught extensively as food in Asia but, although most are probably edible, snakes are not widely hunted for their meat. Their skin though is used widely for belts, bags, and shoes. Venom is removed from snakes for use in treating certain diseases and to make antivenin for snakebites.

Snakes are one of the several groups of reptiles. They have long, slender bodies, no legs, no eyelids, no ears, and are covered in back-folded skin sections called scales. Like other reptiles, they use their surrounding heat to regulate their body temperature. Snakes’ flexible bodies allow them to stretch out to warm themselves, curl up to conserve body heat, or just warm a particular part of their bodies. They are found on land and in water, as well as in every habitat imaginable, except where it is very cold.

 

Do you know that some snakes can move faster than humans?
Black Mamba can travel at speeds up to 12 mph compared to the average human who can run at about 6-8 mph. However, snakes on the whole are slower than humans as they have less stamina.

Interesting Facts about Snakes:
• An angry snake often curls up in an *S’ shape
• If a cobra raises its head, it doesn’t mean it is angry, unless the angry cobra expands its head
• Snake’s eyes are covered by clear scales rather than movable eyelids; therefore, their eyes are always open
• Snakes have thermal vision, they see heat and movements
• Snakes cannot taste anything, and does not chew
• They repeatedly flick out their narrow, forked tongue to bring odours to their sense organ in the mouth
• Snakes might not eat also during shedding
• Snakes use Lateral Undulation, moving in wave like motion, in water and on land
• Viper on the other hand will side-wind or move its body segments in one direction while remaining contact with the ground

Hopefully with more awareness raised on our gliding cohabitants here, more compassion hence more lives can be spared on one of the most misunderstood creatures in our planet! HAPPY WORLD SNAKE DAY!

WWF recently highlighted 1o popular species that are most threatened in the world, to be watched in 2010. The year 2010 has been declared The Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations. Many years back, governments had pledged to effectively reduce the rate biodiversity loss by 2010, but it seems the rate of loss of nature and its biodiversity is apparently at an alarming  rate and furthermore accelerating. So dear humans, what are we going to do about it? Are we looking at emitting more carbon, claiming more natural land, harvesting more from the forests and expanding our cities this year?

Here are some numbers and facts I summarised from WWF:

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) – too close to extinction.
Tiger (Panthera tigris) – only 3200 left.
Pacific Walrus  (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) – As temperatues rise, they lose their habitat. Hundreds die each year.
Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) – Rapidly decreasing for the same reason for theWalrus.
Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) – no numbers for this, but this is your tuna sushi served at every japanese restaurant.
Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) – there are just too many insect species to list which are going into extinction.
Leatherback Turtle – only 2300 females left.
Mountain Gorilla – only 720 left.
Javan Rhinoceros – only 60 left.
Giant Panda – only 1600 left.

Planet Earth is in a phase called the The Sixth Great Extinction, where all the previous five extinctions were thought to have been caused by asteroids and the last was 65 million years ago. Unfortunately, this time’s great extinction, which is not so great to hear at all, is caused by humans.

You have in your hands the power to protect or destroy all life on Earth. I urge you to do something.

Read more and spread the awareness:
WWF
IUCN Red List
Warning to Humanity
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Sixth Great Extinction
Endangered Species Coalition