This is a picture of the
Barringtonia Asiatic.
Putat Laut is the Malay name for this plant.
It is a small to large sea-shore tree reaching up to 15 meters with a greyish and smoot bark. The large and thick leathery leaves are spirally arranged and shiny. The young leaves are pinkish olive with pink veins whereas the old leaves are withering yellow to pale orange. The large flowers have white stamens ending with tinged pink. They are heavily scented and open at dusk. The large and buoyant fruit is 10cm in diameter and contains a large seed. It is squarish at the base and tapering towards the tip like a pyramid.
The green fruit contains saponin which is used as fish poison. Ash from the seed mixed with other ingredients can be applied externally to treat colic. The seeds can also be consumed to expel internal worms. The heated fresh leaf can be applied to treat stomachache and rheumatism.
This is a picture of a
cicada.
The cicada is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many remain unclassified. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are among the most widely recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and remarkable acoustic talents. Cicadas are sometimes colloquially called "locusts", although they are unrelated to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper. They are also known as "jar flies". Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs. In parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States they are known as "dry flies" because of the dry shell they leave behind.
Cicadas are benign to humans and do not bite or sting, but can be pests to several cultivated crops. Many people around the world regularly eat cicadas: the female is prized as it is meatier. Cicadas have been (or are still) eaten in Ancient Greece, China, Malaysia, Burma, Latin America and the Congo. Shells of cicadas are employed in the traditional medicines of China.
The name is a direct derivation of the Latin cicada, meaning "buzzer". In classical Greek it was called a tettix, and in modern Greek tzitzikas - both names being onomatopoeic.
Excoecaria agallochaButa Buta is the Malay name for it.
It is also commonly known as Blind-your-eyes.
Buta-buta has poisonous milky sap that blinds temporarily if it gets into the eye. 'Buta' means 'blind' in Malay; the tree is also called 'Blind-your-eye'. The sap can also cause blisters and skin irritation.
Buta-buta has small pointed leaves which are pinkish when young, turning green as they mature. Old leaves turn bright red when they are about to drop off. The tree often has multiple trunks.
Each tree bears either male or female flowers. So when they are in bloom, the trees can look confusingly different! The tiny flowers are wind pollinated. The little brown fruit capsules explode when ripe to disperse the seeds by water. The seeds have an air space within the seed coat to help them float. They don't germinate on the parent tree.
The tree grows further inland usually at the high water mark. It can grow in both stony and muddy ground, and tolerates dry and salty conditions. It grows quickly in open areas, but can also survive in the shade.
Buta-buta is well used by coastal communities. Some use the sap as an ingredient in arrow poison, others to stun and catch fish. The timber is soft, white, light with a fine grain and rots quickly. Nevertheless, in some places, the tree is an important source of cheap planks, matches and matchboxes, and pulp for paper. The timber is easily transported by water as it floats. It is also used as firewood and converted into charcoal. Various parts of the tree is used in traditional medicine to treat sores and stings from marine creatures. The tree is also being tested for modern medical uses. Modern clinical trials show that the plant may have anti-HIV, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.
Buta-buta is still commonly seen in mangroves. However, mangroves as a habitat is threatened particularly on the mainland by development, reclamation and other destructive human activities.
Avicennia sp.Also known as
pencil roots/breathing routes.
As there is no oxygen in the soil, the breathing routes are implanted for exchange of gases when there is low tide. It has a pencil-like feature.
Monitor lizard.
Monitor lizards are members of the family Varanidae, a group of carnivorous lizards which includes the heaviest living lizard, the Komodo dragon, with the crocodile monitor being the longest in the world. Varanidae is monotypic, containing only the genus Varanus. Their closest living relatives are the anguid and helodermatid lizards.
Monitor lizards are generally large reptiles, although some can be as small as 12 centimetres in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semi-aquatic monitors are also known. Almost all monitor lizards are carnivorous, although Varanus prasinus and Varanus olivaceus are also known to eat fruit. They are oviparous, laying from 7 to 37 eggs, which they often cover with soil or protect in a hollow tree stump.
Horseshoe CrabThe horseshoe crab or Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is a marine chelicerate arthropod. Despite its name, it is more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs. Horseshoe crabs are most commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the northern Atlantic coast of North America. A main area of annual migration is Delaware Bay, although stray individuals are occasionally found in Europe.
The other three species in the family Limulidae are also called horseshoe crabs. The Japanese horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus) is found in the Seto Inland Sea, and is considered an endangered species because of loss of habitat. Two other species occur along the east coast of India: Tachypleus gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. All four are quite similar in form and behavior.
The extinct diminutive horseshoe crab, Lunataspis aurora, 4 centimetres from head to tail-tip, has been identified in 445-million-year-old Ordovician strata in Manitoba.
Mudskipper.
Mudskippers are usually found in mangrove swamps at the estuaries of rivers. The mud deposited by the rivers here is a suitable place for mudskippers to build their burrows. There is no shortage of food, as algae and small animals like worms, crabs and snails on which they feed are found in abundance in the waters and mudflats.
These strange creatures of the swamp are fish that do not behave like fish: they hop out of the water, "walk" across the mud and even climb trees. They are equally at home on land and in water. Come to Sungei Buloh Nature Park, and don't forget to bring your binoculars. The best places in the Park to observe mudskippers are the Mangrove Boardwalk at the Visitor Centre and the Mangrove Arboretum. You'll be fascinated when you spot mudskippers—some veritable giants among them—lazing in their private mud pools at low tide.
Using its powerful pectoral fins as legs, the mudskipper crawls around in the mud. When disturbed, it seeks the safety of water by using its tail to hop across the mud. Back in the water, it swims around like other fishes do, but keeps its head above water.
Sometimes, the fish "treads water" by flexing its tail slowly from side to side. When provoked, it flips its tail vigorously from side to side, and leaps across the water before settling back for a swim.
Can you breathe through your skin? The mudskipper can!! In water, the mudskipper breathes through gills like other fishes do. However, when on land, it carries around its own "air tanks"; a mixture of air and water in its gill chambers. The blood vessels in the gills absorb the oxygen as the water passes through the gills. When the oxygen is used up, a fresh mouthful of water is gulped in.
Collared Kingfisher.
The Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the family Halcyonidae, the tree kingfishers. It is also known as the White-collared Kingfisher or Mangrove Kingfisher.
The Collared Kingfisher is 22 to 29 cm long and weighs 51 to 90 grams. It varies from blue to green above while the underparts can be white or buff. There is a white collar around the neck, giving the birds its name. Some races have a white or buff stripe over the eye while others have a white spot between the eye and bill. There may be a black stripe through the eye. The large bill is black with a pale yellow base to the lower mandible.
Females tend to be greener than the males. Immature birds are duller than the adults with dark scaly markings on the neck and breast.
It has a variety of calls which vary geographically. The most typical call is loud, harsh and metallic and is repeated several times.
