Teng-ya

To myself: I know what to do, so I won't write the same as what is written on your pages. But don't worry, I will do exactly the same as what I said.

__Overall Information __

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve opened in 6 December 1993. It is one of the four nature reserves and the other three are Bukit Timah, Central Catchment and Labrador Nature Reserves. They fall under the natural heritage in Singapore. A nature reserve is an area protected by law.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is the largest surviving primary rain forest while the Central Catchment Nature Reserve is a mature secondary rain forest and the only protected freshwater swamp. Labrador Nature Reserve is a coastal forest with rocky shores and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is made up of tropical mangroves.

A primary rain forest is a forest that has never been cleared for human use. A secondary rain forest is a forest that has been cleared for human use and has slowly restored into a true forest. A coastal forest is a forest found on cliffs and/or near beaches/shores.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is Singapore's largest mainland Mangrove Forest. Some uses of the mangrove forest are: -Provision of food and water -Protection against water disasters -Water Quality -Scientific Discoveries

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is one of the natural habitats in Singapore and it consists of animals and plants rarely seen in Singapore. The animals and plants are specially preserved and protected by law in the reserve. It also consists of tropical mangroves and the animals run free in the reserve. This is for the conservation of native/indegineious flora and fauna. They are important in the aspects of conservation, education, research and recreation.

Monitor Lizards

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Monitor lizards belong to the family //Varanidae//.Some are small reptiles of less than a foot in length, while the Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard, grows to 364 lb. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">All monitor lizards are tropical reptiles. They are active lizards, that may be very hostile, lashing out with their tails upon the slightest provocation. Even a small monitor can produce a stinging lash with its tail. The claws of monitor lizards are long and sharp. The jaws are very strong. Once they bite something it is very difficult to get them to let go. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Monitors are carnivorous and will devour anything they are capable of dismembering and gulping down. Species which live in or near water will readily eat fish. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Monitors do not divest themselves of their tails, like some other lizards. Once lost, the tail of a monitor does not grow back. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">The **Savanna monitor,** //Varanus exanthematicus,// is also known as the Cape monitor. It grows to 5 feet. Its body is olive brown, mostly unmarked. A few have cross bands on the body; pale spots ringed in dark brown to black forming the cross bands.They are found in western and central Africa in open forest and rocky savannas, in hot, arid areas. They bask frequently and are agile both on land and in water. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">The **Nile monitor**, //Varanus niloticus,// grows to 6 feet. It is dark brown-black with pale to yellow bands and spots forming broken cross bands on the body. It is distributed in Africa except the northwest. It stays close to water, and can dive for up to one hour. It is very agile on land and in the water. It is <span class="defword" style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">__diurnal__ <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Many species hold their heads erect on their long necks, which gives them the appearance of being alert. They intimidate predators by lashing out with their tails, inflating their throats, hissing loudly, turning sideways, and compressing their bodies. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">They are mostly terrestrial, but many are agile climbers and good swimmers. The tail is somewhat compressed in tree dwellers, very compressed in semiaquatic monitors. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Monitor lizards threaten by opening the mouth, inflating the neck and hissing. The ribs may spread, flattening the top of the body, or the body may just expand slightly. This makes the monitor look larger than it actually is. It often raises up on its hind legs just before attacking. The tail delivers a well-aimed blow.
 * <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">BEHAVIOUR: **

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">DIET:
<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Monitors tend to swallow their prey whole, like snakes. Monitor lizards are daytime lizards and most species actively search for food. Some species eat carrion, giant land snails, grasshoppers, beetles, whip scorpions, crocodile and birds; eggs, crabs, fish, other lizards, snakes, nestling birds, shrews and squirrels.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:
<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Combat between males is frequently observed during the breeding season in some species. Monitor lizards lay 7 to 35 soft-shelled eggs, usually deposited in holes in riverbanks or in trees along water courses. The Nile monitor often lays its eggs in termite nests. There is little or no sexual dimorphism (difference in appearance). <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Eggs are 2 inches long with leathery shells. Incubation is 8 to 10 weeks. The young use an egg tooth to emerge.

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/monitor_lizards.htm (it is the website i got it from.)

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">Mudskipper

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">Mudskippers are any of about six species of small tropical gobies of the family Gobiidae (order Perciformes). Mudskippers are found in the Indo-Pacific, from Africa to Polynesia and Australia. They live in swamps and estuaries and on mud flats and are noted for their ability to climb, walk, and skip about out of water. Elongated fishes, they range up to about <span class="IL_AD" style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">__30 cm__ <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;"> (12 inches) long. They have two dorsal fins, and their pelvic fins are placed forward under the body, either partly or completely fused. Their blunt heads are topped by large, movable, close-set, and protuberant eyes, and their strong pectoral fins aid them in movements on land. Out of water, they breathe with air trapped in their gill chambers as well as through the <span class="IL_AD" style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">__skin__ <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">. They prey on crustaceans and other small <span class="IL_AD" style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">__animals__ <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px;">.

[] (thats the website I got it from)

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Prop Roots

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The roots of a plant function in many different ways, including absorbing nutrients and water, providing anchorage, and acting as a food storage site. A special type of root called a prop root also plays a substantial role in endowing certain plants with extra structural support. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Prop roots do not grow from the embryo of a plant, but are rather secondary roots that develop from the tissues of other structures. These and other roots that are produced by stems or leaves are termed adventitious. Plants with prop roots often have very tall or branching stems that could be easily blown over by strong winds if not adequately propped up or are native to areas where the ground is particularly soft and unstable. Overall they are more common in tropical habitats than in temperate zones. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The corn plant, Zea mays, is a cereal grass native to the Americas that has been cultivated for thousands of years. The stem of the plant is very tall and is usually supported by numerous prop roots that can be seen extending out from the stem’s base. Similar to other monocots, the primary root system of the corn plant is poorly developed and is inadequate to serve as a sufficient foundation for its growth. As a result, adventitious roots arise early in the plant’s development and branch into a relatively shallow, fibrous root system in the areas they come into contact with the soil. The extensive secondary system buttresses the plant stem and obtains all of the water and nutrients necessary for plant growth.

http://www.olympusfluoview.com/gallery/plants/cornproproot.html (that is where i got the info from)

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Nipah Palm

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Scientific name : Nypa fruticans

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Local name : Atap, nipah <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Height : Up to 5 meter.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Distinguish Feature﻿s : Leaves resemble coconut palm.Nipah palms lack trunks which distinguish them from the swaying coconut palms.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Found : Commonly grow wild along muddy coasts and rivers in tropical countries.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Uses : In villages, leaves used as roof and wrapping tobacco. Inflorescence being cut to tap sweet sap and to make fermented drink or cook into palm sugar.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Important : Since the disasterous tsunami, nipah palms have been appreciated. They play the role of protector of lives by softening the impact of tsunami and preventing erosion.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">As Survival Food <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">There are two important parts of nipah palm which can be used as survival food. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">First, the young shoot found in the middle can be eaten. Find the young shoot and cut into the middle of the trunk. The soft yellowish stem is eatable. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Second, the fruits can be eaten. When ripe they will float. Like coconut palm, you only eat the sweet seed. Unripe fruit has soft white translucent seed while ripen fruit has hard seed. Immature young fruit contains fresh water needed for survival. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">There are no known side effect.

http://survival.forestexplorers.com/nipah.shtml (thats where i took it from)

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Great Egret

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">This long-legged, S-necked white bird is found throughout the Americas and around much of the world. It is typically the largest white egret occurring anywhere in its range (only the white-colored form of the great blue heron is larger).

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Great egrets are found near water, salt or fresh, and feed in wetlands, streams, ponds, tidal flats, and other areas. They snare prey by walking slowly or standing still for long periods, waiting for an animal to come within range of their long necks and blade-like bills. The deathblow is delivered with a quick thrust of the sharp bill, and the prey is swallowed whole. Fish are a dietary staple, but great egrets use similar techniques to eat amphibians, reptiles, mice, and other small animals.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">These birds nest in trees, near water and gather in groups called colonies, which may include other heron or egret species. They are monogamous, and both parents incubate their three to four eggs. Young egrets are aggressive towards one another in the nest, and stronger siblings often kill their weaker kin so that not all survive to fledge in two to three weeks.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The great egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society and represents a conservation success story. The snowy white bird's beautiful plumage made it far too popular in 19th-century North America. Great egrets were decimated by plume hunters who supplied purveyors of the latest ladies' fashions. Their populations plunged by some 95 percent. Today the outlook is much brighter. The birds have enjoyed legal protection over the last century, and their numbers have increased substantially.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/great-egret/ (thats where i got it from)

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Little Egret

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The Little Egret is the smallest and most common egret in Singapore.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Little Egrets eat a wide variety of prey from fish, molluscs and worms to insects and even small mammals and birds.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Little Egrets are the liveliest hunters among herons and egrets, with a wide variety of techniques. They may patiently stalk prey in shallow waters or stand on one leg and stir the mud with the other to scare up prey. Or better yet, stand on one leg and wave the other bright yellow foot over the water surface to lure aquatic prey into range. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">In peninsular Malaysia, some have been observed hunting near floating vegetation (like palm fronds), possibly looking for prey attracted to the shade. They may crouch with their wings slightly outstretched, either to reduce the sun's glare or perhaps to create shade to attract underwater prey. They may also enthusiastically rush around in shallow waters perhaps to flush out prey. Little Egrets usually hunt alone. Where they hunt in a group, they are well spaced out, each individual aggressively defending a feeding spot. However, they roost communally, often with other herons and egrets, usually in mangroves. They also roost in reedbeds or snags over open water.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">**Breeding:** Little Egrets breed in the warm-temperate areas of the Old World, as well as tropical areas like Java, Bali and Kalimantan. But they are not known to breed in Singapore. They build rough nests out of sticks. A wide variety of nesting sites are used, from trees and bushes to rocks, walls and even on the ground. Up to 5 greenish-blue eggs are laid.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">**Migration:** Little Egrets spend winter in Southeast Asia, migrating in large dispersal flocks, arriving mainly in September-October. Their preferred wintering grounds are mangroves where there are mudflats suited to their hunting style and providing preferred roosting sites. In Singapore, they are mostly found in estuaries, mudflats, ponds, mangroves and even canals. Some may stay in their wintering grounds over the summer.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">**Status and threats:** Like other egrets with beautiful breeding plumes, Little Egrets were threatened by hunting for their feathers <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">. Now, they are more threatened by habitat destruction and pollution. The overuse of pesticides have made them scarce in rice fields.

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Egretta_garzetta.htm (thats where i got my info)

<span style="background-color: initial; color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Oriole <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Taxonomy

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The family **Oriolidae** comprises the figbirds in the genus //Sphecotheres//, and the Old World orioles in the genus //Oriolus//. Several other genera have been proposed to split up the genus //Oriolus//. For example, the African black-headed species are sometimes placed in the genus //Baruffius//. The family is not related to the New World orioles, which are icterids, family Icteridae.

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Distribution and Habitat

<span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The family is distributed across Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The few temperate nesting species are migratory, and some tropical species also show seasonal movements. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Orioles are arboreal and tend to feed in the canopy.Many species are able to survive in open forests and woodlands, although a few are restricted to closed forest. They are opportunistic omnivores, with the main components of their diet being fruit, berries, and arthropods. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 45px;">Descripti﻿on and Behaviour <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">The orioles are medium sized passerines, around 20–30 cm in length, with the females only slightly smaller than the males. The beak is slightly curved and hooked, and as long as the head. The plumage of most species is bright and showy, although the females often have duller plumage than the males do. The plumage of many Australasian orioles mimics that of friarbirds (a genus of large honeyeaters), probably to reduce aggression against the smaller orioles. <span style="color: #ff008b; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Orioles are monogamous, breeding in territorial pairs. Nesting sites may be chosen near aggressive species such as drongos, shrikes or friarbirds, which confer a degree of protection. The nest is a deep woven cup suspended like a hammock from a branch. They usually lay two or three eggs, but as many as six have been recorded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriole (thats where i got it from)