Official Magazine of Nature Society (Singapore) Volume 28 No 3 Jul-Sep 2020 S$5.00 SULAWESi’S Underwater Hanging Gardens of Keppel Bay Conservation along Marine- the World’s Largest Bird Flyway Book Reviews: Puddling Stories of Singapore’s Butterflies Natural History MCI (P) 024/04/2020 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT NATURE SOCIETY (SINGAPORE) Nature and Wildlife in a Post-COVID-19 World PUB’s Watermark Charity Governance Award 2011 Award 2016 I hope that you and your loved ones have been keeping safe and in good spirits during a very difficult 2020. Charity International While homebound, many witnessed nature’s ubiquity and resilience – from bird Transparency Award Seakeepers Society 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 Asia Achievement song to butterflies and bees visiting wildflowers given a reprieve from relentless grass Award 2017 cutting. Images from across the world featured clear skies and water, and wildlife PATRON Professor Tommy Koh venturing into cities. Carbon emissions were way down. This remarkable rebounding of the natural world, however, will last only until we go back to our regular ways. PRESIDENT Dr Shawn Lum Can the global COVID calamity be the alarm we need to refine and reform the VICE-PRESIDENT way we do things? To build economic, social and ecological resilience? To show that Dr Ho Hua Chew nature and its protection needs to be central to a more stable, sustainable world, and IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT a more fulfilling and meaningful life? Dr Geh Min HONORARY SECRETARY GLOBAL NEEDS Mr Morten Strange The world cannot keep consuming without restraint. Habitat clearance and HONORARY TREASURER Mr Bhagyesh Chaubey degradation and biodiversity loss reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide the essential services and products we take for granted. Encroachment into remote HONORARY ASSISTANT SECRETARY Ms Evelyn Ng places brings wildlife into contact with humans and increases the risk of diseases HONORARY ASSISTANT TREASURER transferring from wildlife to people, as did COVID-19. For human well-being, wild Mr Veerendra Patwa places need protection and buffering, not untrammeled exploitation. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS If Singapore can mobilise its many strengths (biodiversity research, finance, Mr Albert Liu, Mr Goh Ter Yang, Mr Lester Tan technology, policy expertise, communication, urban planning and more), we can help FINANCE ADVISORY GROUP MEMBERS Mr Peter Connell, Mr Douglas Elliott, to reconfigure the current global system which presently cannot furnish the socio- Mr Yip Yew Chong economic and environmental stability and resilience we so urgently require. CO-OPTED COUNCIL MEMBERS Singapore depends upon a rules-based international system where countries Assoc Prof P.N. Avadhani, Ms Margie Hall, Mr Ben Szeto, thrive regardless of size or might. We have been influential in advancing such a Dr Liew Kai Khiun course for the international community. Singapore can be a voice for nature and the ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS environment. Our survival depends on it. Mr Warren Khoo, Prof Koh Kheng Lian, Mr Lim Jim Koon, Mr Liu Thai Ker, Prof Ng Soon Chye, Mr Sim Wong Hoo, REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS Mr Mason Tan As an affluent urban centre, Singapore’s ecological footprint can be damaging if BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL COORDINATOR Mr Lim Kim Keang what we procure – which is just about everything – is not responsibly sourced and produced. If we are as mindful of reducing our external environmental impact as we IUCN COORDINATOR Ms Ng Bee Choo are of keeping our city clean and hygienic, we will enhance regional sustainability for GREEN CORRIDOR COORDINATOR everyone’s benefit. Singapore can help ASEAN promote and secure healthier fisheries, Dr Liew Kai Khiun forests, watersheds and reefs. As an NGO, Nature Society (Singapore) should redouble COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS its efforts to work with partner conservation organisations across Asia to encourage CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Mr Leong Kwok Peng and support national and regional biodiversity initiatives and to be vigilant against wildlife poaching and trafficking. EDUCATION COMMITTEE Mr Goh Ter Yang MEMBERSHIP & FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE LOCAL AND PERSONAL Mr Albert Liu Singapore as a City in Nature is a beautiful concept. But we should not discount the SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP CHAIRPERSONS imperative of keeping wild places wild. Urban nature is wonderful, but it cannot BIRD GROUP Mr Lim Kim Chuah replicate what natural forests, mangroves, reefs and streams do. Though Singapore is BUTTERFLY & INSECT GROUP a largely urban country, the bulk of our species are not adapted to urban settings. The Dr Ngo Kang Min NSS should help people see and reinforce the links between the two and then better JALAN HIJAU GROUP protect them. Mr Tan Hang Chong Nature-going throngs during the COVID period showed how deeply people MARINE CONSERVATION GROUP crave exposure to nature. Visiting and using nature areas can, but does not Mr Kua Kay Yaw necessarily lead to nature-centric values and lifestyles. The Nature Society needs to PLANT GROUP Mr Bian Tan engage the wider public, to shift us from a community that likes going to nature to one that actively promotes and protects it. NATURE RAMBLERS GROUP Mr Pandian Parthasarathy And what does all this mean for us in the Society? I feel that our activities and VERTEBRATE STUDY GROUP advocacy have never been more important. Busy times lie ahead but we, as ever, will Mr Tony O’Dempsey draw strength from basic experiences – our thoughtful observation of nature. NSS SECRETARIAT Mr Joseph Lim (Accounts & Membership Officer) Mr Kerry Pereira Shawn Lum (Member Programme & Outreach Officer) Ms Sung Mei Yee PRESIDENT, NATURE SOCIETY (SINGAPORE) (Project Officer for the Every Singaporean JUNE 2020 A Naturalist (ESN) Programme) CONTENTS Official Magazine of Nature Society (Singapore) JULY–SeptemBER 2020 EDITOR VOL 28 NO 3 Gemma Koh ASSISTANT EDITOR Margie Hall DESIGNER 2 6 S.T. Leng CONTRIBUTORS Yong Ding Li, Choy Wai Mun, Esther Ong, Raphael Jordan, Alvin Francis Lok, Jeff Tan, Ian Chew, Tan Gim Cheong, Morten Strange, Lim Kim Seng, Lim Kim Chuah, Yi-Kai Tea, Liu Xiaodong, Alan OwYong & Chuenchom Hansasuta CONTRIBUTING TO NATURE WATCH We welcome your stories, articles, surveys, observations and photographs. Please discuss your story ideas with us by emailing a proposal to [email protected]. The Marine-Puddling Stories from Singapore’s Do include samples of your photographs (maximum 20 images per submission). Butterflies of Sulawesi Natural History We require good quality, high resolution JPEG images (ideally uncropped) in the largest size available, labelled with a descriptive file name. 10 16 MCI (P) 024/04/2020 ISSN: 0218-6853 Printing by Mainland Press Pte Ltd Copyright belongs to the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or any means without prior permission in writing from Nature Society (Singapore). The views and opinions expressed or implied in this publication are those of the authors and contributors only and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Nature Society (Singapore) or its members. Conserving the Keppel’s Underwater ADVERTISEMENTS East Asian-Australasian Flyway Hanging Gardens To advertise in Nature Watch, contact: Nature Society (Singapore) 510 Geylang Road The Sunflower #02-05 Singapore 389466 21 Tel: (65) 6741 2036 Fax: (65) 6741 0871 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nss.org.sg Advertising rates (full colour): Full page: S$2,000 1/2 Page: S$1,000 2/3 page: S$800 1/3 page: S$500 15% discount for four insertions. Nature Watch is printed on LumiArt paper from Stora Enso Europe with ISO 14001 Environmental Management ON THE COVER Certification. Mainly recycled paper is Marine-puddling Cream-banded Swallowtail (Papilio gigon) in Sulawesi. used, the rest is pulp from sustainable and controlled sources in Finland, Brazil Photo: Yi-Kai Tea and other European countries. LEPIDOPTERA The Marine-Puddling Butterflies of Sulawesi Sulawesi has long fascinated travellers with its rich biodiversity. Here Yi-Kai Tea reveals the activities of the beach-going butterflies that his group discovered imbibing sodium directly from the sea. PHOTOS Yi-Kai Tea 2 Nature Watch July–September 2020 f the 557 species of The Swift Peacock is another butterflies known from exquisite beauty, comparable to that of the Sulawesi, slightly under Giant Swordtail, but of a different measure. half are found nowhere At rest, the butterfly is unobtrusive, with else. One particular its cryptic undersides resembling those of Ospecies that explorer and naturalist Alfred dried leaves. Its presence is betrayed only Russel Wallace found fascinating was the when the butterfly takes flight. And it is Giant Swordtail (Graphium androcles), a only then that this species’ breathtaking spectacular, green and white tiger-striped beauty can be fully appreciated. The butterfly with long slender tails. dorsal surface of the Swift Peacock While not rare, the species cannot be is a rich sapphire with an iridescent considered common. And it is only within emerald gleam when struck with light. the confines of pristine rainforests that one Tiny microstructures on each scale are can encounter this magnificent species. responsible for this structural brilliance, Its flight is wafting yet erratic, imposing collectively reflecting and diffracting with its heavy sword-like tails dragging incident light to produce a spectrum of sluggishly behind. On bright days it is not blues and greens. Few things in nature unusual to find this butterfly patrolling can rival the glory of this insect in flight, rivers and streams, often in the company and on the wing, it sparkles with the same of other swallowtail species such as the brilliance as a gemstone. Monkey Swordtail (Graphium rhesus) and Although each is spectacular in their the Swift Peacock (Papilio peranthus). own right, these species are united by one The Giant Swordtail (Graphium androcles) is a large, imposing beauty endemic to the island of Sulawesi. Left: A lone Monkey Swordtail (Graphium rhesus) puddling on black sand beaches of Sulawesi’s Tangkoko Batuangus National Park.