Tool use in Singaporean monkeys

18Apr09

Read an interesting paper yesterday by Chiang (1967) about macaques (Macaca fascicularis) at the Singapore Botanic Gardens using tools. He observed them using leaves to wipe food before eating it. There were also a few instances of them ‘leaf-washing a toad that exuded defensive slime, the latter of which they didn’t end up eating.

The most widely-publicised parallel is found in seaside-living Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), which taught themselves how to wash sweet potatoes before eating them. But those were provisioned by Japanese researchers; the Singapore population was observed doing so by a researcher who happened to notice them while attempting to survey their breeding behaviour on regular walks. However, it’s unclear whether or not they were provisioned by the public at the time of observation.

Tool use is a major field in primatology, not least because many such examples are confined to specific populations. Even when one takes ecological factors (i.e. a certain food that can be extracted using tools is present in only one population, but not another), one finds enough variation to reliably justify the hypothesis that non-human primates have their own, population-specific, socially transmitted ‘culture’.

Indeed, Chiang (1967) stated that, as similar leaf wiping behaviour had not been observed in other Singaporean or Malaysian populations at the time, it was possible that the ‘leaf-washing’ reflected a unique ’sub-culture’ in the Singapore Botanic Gardens macaques.

The paper was published in Nature - a major scientific journal – in 1967. Due to public complaints, the entire Singapore Botanic Gardens population was eradicated by NParks in the 1970s. It is heartbreaking how much we take our biodiversity for granted.

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Bat puppets – completed!

13Oct08

Polly, a fruit bat, pollinating a flower with her long tongue. It is thanks to bats that we can enjoy such fruits as our beloved durians.

Sometime in between the hustle and bustle of packing, I managed to finish the bat shadow puppets for Cicada Tree’s Make a Difference for wildlife lessons.

The main problems faced were that a) the original set of puppets were drawn on heat-sensitive OHP plastic, which meant that they yellowed very quickly and b) a severe limitation of permanent marker colours.

I ended up taking them to the Beauty World Centre to have a new set photocopied onto heat-resistant plactic. Also, the colours on some of the puppets were done with highlighters and non-permanent markers, and fixed (to a limited extent?) with blasts from a hair dryer after colouring.

More pictures of the finished stick puppets:

Nur, the main character. One of her arms is movable, being jointed at the shoulder. Vilma said that the style looks ‘like a cross between wayang kulit and manga’, which is encouraging, as that is the visual effect I had been trying to achieve.

Fruity the flying fox (a large fruit-eating bat), with baby.

You can see the complete set of bat and human puppets here.

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Tropical fish

17Sep08

‘I noticed toothbrushes were like tropical fish, as they come in a bewildering range of colours and shapes.’

So says this fence-building New Zealander, who seems to have quite a flair for metaphors.

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Lies, all lies

14Sep08

‘这样的垃圾狗你还要拍 [Why are you taking pictures of this pariah dog?]‘, asked a member of the staff in scorn, but this well-fed mongrel’s healthy coat and easy demeanour betrayed the ill-concealed indulgence on his owner’s face.

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Singapore Zoo

09Sep08

Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea) devouring a piece of fish. This is one of the two otter species that can be found in Singapore, the other being the Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata). A good place to look for them would be the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Caught mid-fruit: a Malayan flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus), which can be found here. Possessing a wingspan of 1.5 metres or more, this species is the largest of all the flying foxes. The fruit bats (Macrochiroptera: literally, ‘big hand-wing’) can be distinguished from their smaller insect-eating Microchiroptera cousins by the formers’ relatively large size, large eyes and small noses. The main reason for these differences is that fruit bats don’t need to echolocate to find their food. Their sense of hearing is however sharp enough for mothers to recognise their offsprings’ unique calls, preventing mix-ups in large colonies.

The utilitarian might question the purpose of bat conservation. The answer, for the skeptical Singaporean, is simple: without bats to pollinate durian trees, we would have none of this nation’s favourite fruit…

The imposing giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes), or toman as it is known in Malay, can grow up to a metre in length. Not native to Singapore, it is cultured locally for its meat. The flesh of the slightly smaller common snakehead is said to have healing properties – perhaps good news for those who must clutch at the straws of alternative medicine, having found they cannot afford more conventional healthcare.

Idea leuconoe, known also as the tree nymph and rice paper butterfly, is aptly named for the ethereal quality of its graceful flight, ‘like hell bank-notes drifting through the air’ the most evocative description I have heard.

Interestingly, the Taiwanese subspecies bred at the zoo differs subtly in appearance from that which may be found in our own mangroves.

But I think I fell in love with the mousedeer. With his funny little bow-legs and plump barrel body, it’s no wonder that sang kancil features so heavily as one of the chief animal protagonists of Malaysian folklore, even accorded a central role in a state’s founding myth. Pictured above is the russet-coated greater mousedeer (Tragulus napu). The four species of mousedeer are classified in their own family. Not true deer, they lack horns and antlers, instead possessing more recognisably pig-like features.

More diminutive, but no less charismatic: the lesser mousedeer (Tragulus kancil). This species occurs here, although it appears to be confined to the Central Nature Reserves. Adding to the difficulty of sighting this creature is its shy and retiring nature. Given the mousedeer’s popularity, one can see where the advertisers are coming from, but it’s funny how little the kancil resembles its automobile namesake.

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