EARTH DAY COMMEMORATED AT JURONG BIRD PARK

Earth Day took on special meaning for some students and parents from Greenridge Primary School today.

A group of 15 students, two teachers and five parents spent the day at Jurong Bird Park assembling and painting 40 bird houses, which will be used in the Park’s African Waterfall Aviary, Jungle Jewels and Southeast Asian Birds Aviary. These nest boxes will facilitate nesting of small birds such as love birds, starlings, magpie robins, fairy blue-birds, white-rumped shamas and zebra doves at the aviaries.

They also spent some time creating awareness about Earth Day and avian conservation amongst guests who visited the Park, teaching visitors how they could, in a few easy steps, create a bird feeder out of recycled drink cartons. Visitors took home these bird feeders, which are to be placed outdoors to attract birds like the common sparrows, mynahs, and maybe even the orioles and munias.

Muhd Ariffin (left) and schoolmate Atif, both 11 years of age, screw two bird houses together at the Bird Discovery Centre.

Loh Ying Xuan (left) and Nur Syafiqah, both 11 years of age, working together to assemble a bird house at the Bird Discovery Centre.

A young guest cuts open a drink carton to make the bird feeder after receiving instructions from Madam Chai Mee Yong and her seven year old daughter, Loh Ying Jie.

Mabel Ang, 12, assists a young guest who is starting to cut open a drink carton.

Young guests enjoying the Earth Day bird feeder handicraft session.

SINGAPORE ZOO PLEDGES TO KEEP FROGS LEAPING AHEAD OF EXTINCTION

INTRODUCTION OF FROG KIT AIMED AT CELEBRATING AND RAISING AWARENESS OF FROGS AMONG LOCALS

Singapore, 28 February 2012 — This Leap Year, Singapore Zoo is jumping into action with the introduction of a Frog Kit, aimed at creating awareness and generating interest in local biodiversity, with a focus on our native amphibian friends such as the four-lined tree frog and common greenback species.

During the trial phase, the Frog Kit was distributed to several international and local schools and has received positive feedback from children as young as six. Students from the Canadian International School had a perfect score and successfully released 10 four-lined tree froglets into the pond at Singapore Zoo’s Tropical Crops plantation last March, after looking after them for about five weeks.

The Frog Kit allows its caretakers a first-hand experience of the frog’s intriguing metamorphosis – from egg to tadpole to froglet to adult frog. By being a part of its life cycle, both adults and children will hopefully develop a greater appreciation for these creatures and the wonders of nature.

They may not be the best animals to cuddle up with, but frogs do have a part to play in helping man, as pest control through their diet of insects, such as mosquitoes. Frogs can also tell us if an environment is healthy. Their permeable skin easily absorbs toxic chemicals, which means they are sensitive to very slight changes in the environment. Therefore, if anything drastic happens to frog populations around us, it is an indication that something is wrong in our biosphere as a whole.

The Frog Kit also ties in with the Primary School Science syllabus topic of animal life cycles, and Singapore Zoo hopes more local schools will embrace the kit in the coming months.

This initiative is part of a worldwide event called Leaping Ahead of Extinction: A celebration of good news for amphibians in 2012, coordinated by Amphibian Ark (AArk) to coincide with Leap Day on 29 February. The AArk is a joint effort of three principal partners: the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the IUCN/SSC* Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG).

To date, 51 institutions from 17 countries have confirmed their participation in this global event, which focuses on promoting successes in the conservation of amphibians in captivity and in the wild, especially highlighting projects that involve the release of frogs into the wild.

Last weekend, Singapore Zoo’s “Leap Here!” event which featured frog-related interactive games attracted close to 750 children between 7-12 years. If you’re visiting the Singapore Zoo on Leap Day this year, look out for additional frog information at Fragile Forest.

For more information on other Leap Year events around the world, visit www.amphibianark.org/leap-day-2012/.)

*IUCN/SSC: International Union for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission

Students from the Canadian International School wished their froglets well as they were released into the pond at Singapore Zoo’s Tropical Crops Plantation last year

Young guests guessing the number of ‘frog eggs’ in the clduring last weekend’s Leap Here! event at Singapore Zoo

WILDLIFE MEETS ELEPHANT ART AT SINGAPORE ZOO

WILDLIFE RESERVES SINGAPORE UNVEILS 25 SCULPTURES AT THE ZOO AS PART OF ELEPHANT PARADE SINGAPORE ART EXHIBITION

Singapore, 13 November 2011 – This weekend, Singaporeans everywhere will come face to face with multi-coloured, life-sized baby elephant sculptures throughout the island, with the launch of the Elephant Parade two days ago. This open-air art exhibition across the world promotes and supports the conservation of the endangered Asian elephant, and the Singapore Zoo will have a collection of 25 such sculptures grazing on its grounds for over two months.

Painted by local and international artists, each ‘elephant’ is a unique piece of art, which will be auctioned off during two private events on 12 and 14 January 2012, to raise funds for the cause. Five percent of the proceeds from the auctions will be donated to Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, the conservation arm of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which was set up with the primary purpose of conserving Singapore’s endangered native wildlife, and also supports capacity building, education and awareness programmes on key species and conservation issues in the Southeast Asian region.

One of the elephants was specially designed in collaboration with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). Seven artists, four from the MINDS – Woodlands Gardens School and three from the MINDS – Woodlands Employment Development Centre, came together to paint the ‘elephant’, called Love and Protect, which depicts a boy and girl linking protective hands around the elephant, in a field of grass.

Singapore Zoo has also scheduled several activities in conjunction with the inaugural Elephant Parade. A Nikon Photography Contest will be held on Facebook to encourage people to look for quirky photo opportunities with the elephant sculptures. To participate, visitors need to take a photo with the displays at the Singapore Zoo and upload them with the completed caption: “My wish for the Asian elephant is…” Winners will walk away with Nikon Coolpix cameras and Elephant Parade replicas.

In addition, WRS will set up an educational booth, “Mad about Elephants”, at the Ele-fun play area at the Elephants of Asia exhibit for five weekends from 19 November. Visitors can view elephant artifacts and specimens at a show and tell session. This activity aims to highlight how Asian elephants are dying in the wild – from 200,000 a century ago to a fifth of that population now.

Ms Claire Chiang, WRS Chairman and Ambassador of Elephant Parade Singapore said: “We are very proud to be part of this meaningful initiative, which brings global attention to the plight of these beautiful animals in the wild. WRS runs a very successful captive breeding programme for these Asian elephants, which has recently resulted in the birth of one-year-old Nila Utama at Night Safari, the first of its kind to be born at our parks in nine years. Through partnerships with organisations like the Elephant Parade as well as tie-ups with voluntary welfare organisations such as MINDS, we hope to raise awareness and encourage the wider public to join the effort to protect these charismatic creatures for future generations.”

Ms Claire Chiang (left), Ambassador of Elephant Parade Singapore and Chairman of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and Mike Spits, Managing Director of Elephant Parade, get ready to unveil the elephant sculpture called ‘Love and Protect’ painted by seven artists from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS).

Ms Claire Chiang Ambassador of Elephant Parade Singapore and Chairman of Wildlife Reserves Singapore signing her name on the cast of the ‘We Love Mosha’ elephant. Mosha is the elephant that was the inspiration for Elephant Parade, an open-air art exhibition across the world that promotes and supports the conservation of the endangered Asian elephant.

Samba performers and real elephants in quirky finery livened up the launch of Elephant Parade Singapore at Singapore Zoo.

TAKE A PEEK-TURE OF COLOURS THROUGH YOUR LENS

BIRDS AT JURONG BIRD PARK BECOME MODELS AND SUBJECTS FOR UPCOMING PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

SINGAPORE, 29 June 2011 – Get ready for some camera action while experiencing a vivid spectrum of colours with a photography competition organised by world’s largest bird paradise. From 1 July to 30 September, Jurong Bird Park will present its colourful and fascinating avian residents as subjects in ‘Picture the Colour,’ a photography competition designed to promote and encourage avian conservation and awareness. In line with the Bird Park’s 40th anniversary, the competition underscores the importance of protecting our colourful feathered friends as they face the pressures of rapid urbanisation and the destruction of their natural habitats. Best of all, the winning prizes – Nikon cameras as well as Cathay Photo vouchers – are up for grabs for the most outstanding photo submissions. Participants can choose to compete in two of three categories: Old Skool Professional, Old Skool Amateur and Shoot From The Hip.

Old Skool Professional category caters to the avid semi-professional photographers, challenging the skills of contestants in taking birds with DSLR cameras while the Old Skool Amateur category is aimed at photography fans who use point and shoot cameras. Lomo fans fret not; Shoot From The Hip gives them a chance to capture fun and creative photos with any toy camera or mobile phone camera with the use of lomography photo applications. All photo entries are expected to be of birds in the exhibits, wild or even migratory birds at Jurong Bird Park.

The judging panel for Picture the Colour consists of professional photographers from the industry including Mr Lee Tiah Khee, Chief Photographer from Lianhe Zaobao, Mr Desmond Foo, Executive Photojournalist, from Straits Times, Mr Then Chih Wey, Photographer, Xinhua News Agency and Mr Terence Tan, Freelance Photojournalist. They will be joined by a representative from Nikon as well.

There will be three winners in each category, who will be selected by the judges based on composition, subject, technical detail, creativity, amongst others. Fans of WRS’ Facebook page will also get the opportunity to pick their favourite pictures through a public vote, and a winner will be selected in each category for the ‘most liked picture’.

Prizes for this inaugural competition include Nikon products such as the D300s DSLR camera, as well as D5000 kit and D3000 kit. Other prizes include vouchers from Cathay Photo and vouchers for toy cameras, as well as Jurong Bird Park merchandise. For more information about the ‘Picture the Colour’ photography competition, please visit: http://www.birdpark.com.sg/

Join in the fun and test your skills