Sunshine and smiles at the Eco Kids Junior Day Camp

It had rained all week, but the sun had been kind to us on Saturday, December 5, the morning of the Eco Kids Junior Day Camp at our Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Urban Nature Centre in Jalan Kelantan.



Fair weather greeted us when we arrived at our Urban Nature Centre.

Sometime in October, I had proposed the idea of a free-of-charge Eco Kids Day Camp for children aged 4 - 8, as they are often inadvertently excluded from MNS' more challenging activities. I worked out the preparations and requested the assistance of trustworthy volunteers in coordinating the Camp.



Volunteers John and Brian spruce up Heritage Trail a day before the Camp. "Anything for the little dears", teases Nature Guide Ashleigh.

(Photo credits: Ashleigh)

We were able to keep the project zero-cost and zero-waste by requesting that participants bring their own lunch, drinks, mosquito repellent, and basic art equipment such as palettes and brushes. There was no necessity for packed lunches, goodie bags and disposable packaging. Nature isn't supposed to be a Happy Meal With A Free Toy Inside! It was also a good way of leading by example, and teaching the children that when we put the Planet first, everyone wins! 31 children registered for the Camp and turned up at our gates bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with parents in tow.



Children can be makeshift tables when there are indemnity forms to be signed! Judging by the way Tobey Isaac is giggling, the pen must have tickled!
(Photo credits: Cindy Chen)



Hadif leaned away as his mother, Tiara, applied mosquito repellent on his arms prior to the Nature Walk. I first met Tiara during an island holiday in Pulau Tinggi in 2001 and we have kept in touch since. I was delighted when Tiara decided to sign up for a Malaysian Nature Society membership and enroll Hadif in our Camp.
(Photo credits: Cindy Chen)




Pasupathy Jayaraj, more fondly known as Pasu, our engaging Nature Guide, explains jungle ecology to the children during their guided walk through Heritage Trail, which forms part of Federal Hill. Green lungs such as Federal Hill form buffer zones that encourage urban biodiversity, create opportunities for nature recreation and provide ecological services such as improving air, water and soil quality.
(Photo credits: Cindy Chen)



Nature Guide Ashleigh looks every part the Mountain Man as he explains wilderness survival techniques to the fascinated children and parents.



Cerys can't wait to begin her trail walk.



The Green Living Guessing Game piqued the children's curiosity, sharpened their sense of smell, touch and hearing and created opportunity for discussion on the environmental implications of each object.

Where does this object come from? Is it man-made? Can it be easily recycled or composted? What can you reuse it for? What is it a good alternative for?

(Photo credits: Cindy Chen)



"You said I can't say it out loud, but I sure can act it out!"
(Photo credits: Cindy Chen)



The children took only minutes to warm up to each other and became friends with each other by the end of the first game.



Aloysius tries spinning a top made of a 'kas' seed and bamboo skewer. The toys made out of natural materials fascinated the children the most.



Lara complains, "I can't see!", while Matthew responds: "That's the whole point!"

Tiara helped me out with blindfolding the children. As is appropriate with International Volunteer Day, the parents provided valuable help.



Lillian whips out a piece of iguana skin for the children to feel, and to provide an interactive lesson on why reptiles like snakes and lizards shed their skin.



The art project proved a little too challenging for the children. For that, I apologise. I should have chosen an easier project. I guess we all learn through trial and error.



The children created 'spray paint art' using unwanted plastic combs and old toothbrushes dipped in poster paints.



Time for an active game! The children hunt for paper caterpillars in a game that teaches them about insect camouflage and protective colouration. Some of the children took my advice to ‘pretend you are a bird’ literally and actually chirped and flapped their arms as they went about in search of prey.



The children were supposed to bring their caterpillars back to me for comparison, but two little girls decided to make a 'nest' out of pebbles to keep their caterpillars safe in.



Volunteering is a rewarding pastime, as Pasu will no doubt tell you! Pasu is the recipient of the 2007 MNS Branch Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions as a volunteer and is an extraordinary trainer of nature guides. I guess you can retire a teacher from active service, but you can never truly take the teacher out of them! Pasu was a former school headmistress but now devotes her time mostly to nature guiding and Malaysian Nature Society activities.

I had initially started the Eco Kids programme for the MNS Selangor Branch as a value-added programme in 2006 to keep the Society relevant for families, but it has since evolved into a programme encompassing the following beliefs:
i. That nature is for everyone, not just the physically fit among us;
ii. That nobody is too young to learn about and practice environmental conservation;
iii. That a love for our natural environment requires more than just exposure to flora and fauna,
and children should be equipped with basic knowledge about conservation practices such as the 3Rs (reducing, reusing and recycling) and water and energy conservation; and
iv. That young voices should be heard.

I would like to thank the following volunteers for their invaluable help in making the Eco Kids Junior Day Camp a success. All shortcomings and failings remain my sole responsibility:
Ashleigh, Pasu, Brian, John, Li Li, Li-Kim, Ili Fatimah, Lillian, Maye and Hashimi.

Many Thanks and A Happy International Volunteer Day to all.

SKBD Lends Seahorses A Helping Hand

Environmentalists like me have always felt quite ambivalent towards, if not openly mistrustful of, property development and resource extraction corporations such as YTL, but I have to concede that the KL Performing Arts Centre is one of the conglomerate's finest success stories in that it manages to fuse artistic elegance with the preservation of structures with historical value.



The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPC) complex is a reclaimed and refurbished old railway building. Some of the construction materials were salvaged from railroad tracks and buildings that were to be demolished. I like the fact that the building allows for natural light and ventilation.



Visitors can stop by for a book and a cup of tea at the cosy Resource Centre within the KLPAC complex.



The abandoned old colonial railway station adds charm to Sentul Park. Trees line the roads; silent sentries of the dusk. Treading gently on the good Earth has paid off handsomely for YTL Corp where Sentul Park and KLPAC are concerned.



Nothing stirs in the abandoned railway building. There is nothing here but the trees and the secrets they keep. Taking a stroll in Sentul Park frequently feels like stepping into the past, when the backwaters of Kuala Lumpur are filled with shade trees and residential homes.

I was invited to attend a play on Tuesday, 24th November. There was to be a special offering by Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara, and one of the parents in the organising committee had very kindly given me a VIP ticket for a very minor service I had rendered on 10th July, when I had been one of the judges for a project the schoolchildren did on seahorses.

The school chooses an endangered animal as its focus animal each year, and pupils from Year 1 to 5 produce artwork, factsheets and skits on the focus animal. Funds would be raised from donations and the sale of handmade craft items for a chosen environmental charity, and this year the funds would go to Save Our Seahorses (SOS Malaysia), one of the non-profit organisations closest to my heart. Tonight, the school Drama Club would be performing a play, the proceeds of which would also be directed to SOS Malaysia.

I have always averred that I dig Harold Pinter, not Harry Potter, and have only ever been to KLPAC for serious plays and dance dramas. A school concert by children who are passionate about saving marine animals would probably be a refreshing change. I dragged my friend Lynette along, and we got ready to be entertained, fully aware that we were the only people in the audience who were not the parents, grandparents or teachers of anyone in the cast.







The play was original and quite witty, and the children even managed to incorporate facts on seahorse mating and reproductive habits in the performance. Lynette and I ended up laughing at the bits that were probably not meant to be terribly funny, because the children were so cute that they were entirely unconvincing as evil witches and greedy fishermen. There was even a singing clam, which had us in stitches. It was quite a riot. The children were earnest and enchanting, and I am glad that I had attended the play, at least as a representative of the Malaysian Nature Society, if nothing else.

On behalf of Save Our Seahorses and the Malaysian Nature Society, I would like to thank the parents, teachers and pupils of Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara for the wonderful effort they have put into raising awareness and funds for a worthy cause. Your spirit and passion are admirable!

“Late Quaternary Mammals of Borneo” at the Rimba Ilmu Auditorium

MNS Selangor Speaker Series
Title: “Late Quaternary Mammals of Borneo”
Speaker: Lord Cranbrook
Date and Time: 6th November 2009, 8.00 p.m.
Venue: Rimba Ilmu Auditorium, University of Malaya
Organised by the Malaysian Nature Society, Selangor Branch.

I was at the University of Malaya Rimba Ilmu Auditorium again recently to attend a talk on the “Late Quaternary Mammals of Borneo”.

Judging by the turnout at the first of the Malaysian Nature Society (Selangor Branch) talks for the current administrative year, it’s going to be a great year for science and conservation-based events. The audience occupied every seat in the Rimba Ilmu Auditorium and spilled out into the aisles. Who would have guessed that there would be so much interest in the Late Quaternary Mammals of Borneo? Lord Cranbrook’s lecture was both fascinating and engaging. I almost thought that I was in the presence of a rock star!



Lord Cranbrook outlined the evidence of changes in the mammalian fauna of Borneo during the Quaternary, which was a period of very variable climate dominated by cyclic Ice Ages. The main information comes from archaeological work in the caves of Sabah and Sarawak, notably the huge cave at Niah.

Lord Cranbrook's first appointment was at the Sarawak Museum in 1956. After a short period on a post-doctorate fellowship in Indonesia, he joined the Department of Zoology, University of Malaya (1961-70). He was associated with the Royal Geographical Society Expeditions to Kinabalu (1964) and Vanuatu (as Deputy Leader, 1971), and the joint expeditions to Mulu (as Deputy Leader, 1977-78) and to Belalong in Brunei (as Joint Leader 1989-94). He has published many books on Southeast Asian wildlife, including Mammals of Borneo (1965), Birds of the Malay Penninsula Vol 5 (jointly authored, 1976), Belalong: a tropical rainforest (jointly authored, 1994) and Swiftlets of Borneo (2002). In recognition of his services to the State of Sarawak, Lord Cranbrook was awarded the titles of JBS (Hon) in 1997 & PNBS (Hon) in 2005 (the latter carrying the title Datuk Seri); he was recently (May 2006) elected an Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He is an Honorary Life Member of MNS.



So what’s a Late Quaternary Mammal when it’s at home, if you please? Why, Ice Age Mammals, of course! Stegodonts such as this handsome fellow here walked the plains of Borneo in the Quaternary Period.

The talk covered topics such as:
- Mammals as environmental indicators
- Origins of mammal remains in cave sites
- The Borneo Anomaly – Quaternary Climate Change
- Past fauna and past environments

So why did the tiger (Panthera tigris) and Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus) disappear from Borneo, yet continue to exist in Peninsular Malaysia? What else is waiting to be discovered in the limestone caves of Borneo? The plot thickens!

Many thanks to Committee Members Ilyas Sapiyan and Cindy Chen for organising such a successful talk, and of course, to Lord Cranbrook, for being so obliging despite his hectic schedule!

Rimba Ilmu, which is Malay for “Forest of Knowledge”, is a tropical botanical garden within the University of Malaya, the nation’s oldest university. Rimba Ilmu was set up in 1974 by Professor W.R. Stanton to generate and promote awareness and knowledge of tropical plant life and its environment, ecology and conservation.

For a virtual tour of the Rimba Ilmu Botanical Gardens, please visit the official website.



The Rimba Ilmu main building, in which the auditorium is housed.



The water feature in front of the Rimba Ilmu Building. If you were to walk up the flight of stairs, you would arrive at the Orchids and Rare Plants Conservatory.



The Ceratopteris thalicbroides (Parkeriaceae) is regarded as a weed in the rice fields. However, its young fronds can be eaten and the leaves can be used as a poultice for skin ailments.



The Orchids and Rare Plants Conservatory.



A staff member hard at work cultivating plants in the Conservatory.



A charming little archway over the entrance to Rimba Ilmu.



Can you spot the Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia) plant in the picture?

The Malaysian Nature Society, Selangor Branch, organises monthly guided walks around Rimba Ilmu. Led by the inimitable Angela Hijjas, this walk, which takes place on the first Saturday of every month, allows visitors to view and experience the collections in the gardens while discussing environmental and ecological issues.

The next walk will be on 5th December 2009, at 9.00 a.m. The Malaysian Nature Society Rimba Ilmu Guided Walk is open to members of the public. A fee of RM4.00 for each adult and RM2.00 for each child is imposed for the joint Universiti Malaya/MNS Environmental Education Fund.

For more information on the Rimba Ilmu Botanical Gardens, please contact:

The Coordinator,
Rimba Ilmu,
Institute of Biological Sciences,
University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur.

Telephone No: +60-(3)-79674686, +60-(3)-79674690, +60-(3)-79674688 and +60-(3)-79674664

Office Hours:
Mondays to Fridays: 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays: Closed

Froggy Encounters in Gasing Hill

It was on Deepavali morning that I agreed to go frogging at Bukit Gasing with Hurnain, Lillian and gang that night.

I informed Lillian that I would be at the SPCA animal shelter in Ampang all afternoon until after 7.00 p.m., as I had volunteered to stay back to feed the animals and clean up so that the Hindu staff could knock off a little earlier. The gang agreed to wait for me.

When I first informed Raj and our other friends during the Deepavali lunch that I would be going frogging at night and invited them to come along, they were incredulous.

"Frogs? What, to eat?" they exclaimed in surprise and curiosity.

Hey, just because I am of Chinese ethnicity doesn't mean that I eat everything with four legs except a table!

Frogs and toads are fascinating, and are good indicators of the environmental health of an area. Since amphibians are particularly susceptible to contaminants and are very sensitive to the changes in their environment, a decline in the amphibian population is a warning to us humans that an area may not remain safe for human occupation for very long.

The MNS Herpetofauna Special Interest Group , under the leadership of Hurnain and Lillian, has been conducting nocturnal frogging excursions in Bukit Gasing, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and other secondary forests in the City for years, for the purposes of data collection and research, and to inculcate greater appreciation for nature and indigenous reptiles and amphibians among city-dwellers.

The Bukit Gasing Forest Reserve is special in that it straddles the border of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. It is a secondary forest and green lung covering over 100 hectares. It is worth noting that 36 hectares of secondary forest in the Petaling Jaya side were gazetted as a greenbelt in 1961, while the Kuala Lumpur side remains unprotected. I hope that the Ministry of Federal Territories accords this issue with the importance that it deserves and takes steps to gazette this green buffer zone in the City.

The last time I conducted a Green Living - Eco Kids Day Camp here was in 2007. The beneficiaries were the able-bodied children from the Taman Megah Home For Handicapped Children.

Happy faces after our Day Camp in 2007. The children received their certificates after making their Green Living pledges. I had initiated the Camp and was, and still am, very grateful for the support of my key volunteers: Yanty, Serina, Mariam, Hui-Min, Christine and Mohala.

Tonight, there would only be a handful of us. I pulled up at the entrance of the trail and joined Nain and Lil, pockets bulging with flashlights and mosquito repellent.

The local authorities must have thought it was a good idea to put these rock gabions here and create an embankment for our little stream. Perhaps their intention is to reduce or control soil erosion, but it has created siltation and reduction of flow in the stream and affected fauna that relies on the natural foliage growing on the riverbanks for shelter and food.

Lillian remains an active volunteer despite being in her fifth month of pregnancy. Her spirit of volunteerism is infectious!

Rana Raniceps / Hydrophylax Raniceps, commonly known as the Copper-Cheeked Frog. See how its beautiful skin glistens in the night!

Lillian showing little Cerys the proper way of holding and handling a Copper-Cheeked Frog. Nature awareness and education should begin as early as possible.

Bufo Parvus: We learned to identify it from the hourglass-like marking at the back of its head.

Hurnain and Lillian trying to locate the position of the frogs by their calls.

We heard Hurnain hissing to us from 10 metres away and squelched up the stream to see what he was so excited about. It was worth the hurry! Hurnain had spotted a Dogania Subplana! What luck! It hasn't been spotted in Bukit Gasing in ages!

Dogania Subplana: Malayan Soft-Shelled Turtle

The Dogania perceived us to be a threat and tried to get away by burrowing under the sandy stream bed. There was a plastic bag in the way and I offered to remove it. Hurnain and Teck Wyn cautioned that the Dogania would attack, and that it has a very painful bite.

I was adamant that the plastic bag be removed, and was not worried about being bitten. After all, I get bitten at the SPCA by new arrivals and nervous animals at least once every six months. I tugged gently at the plastic bag until it came loose and we collected other plastic litter from the stream.

L-R: Hurnain, me and Lillian with a message for joggers, picnickers and hashers: Please do not leave your litter behind. Littering is a poor return for the enjoyment you have derived from our natural spaces.

We saw another Dogania a little further upstream. This really is a serendipitous night for us to have spotted two in the same hour. This is a good sign that the water quality is good enough to create liveable conditions for wildlife.

While we were photographing another Bufo Parvus, I spotted another frog, sitting very still, next to it. It took a while for us to realise that it wasn't another Bufo Parvus but a frog which we have never seen before and could not identify. We proceeded to take photos of it from all angles to help in its identification.







Little Cerys was exhausted from her long day of Deepavali visiting and trekking, and so we made the decision to pack up for the night. We brought the litter we collected out with us, congratulated each other on a productive night of nature observation, and promised to come back again soon.

Our Deepavali wish would be to see green spaces given due protection against unnecessary development. There are enormous environmental and economic costs associated with the destruction of forests, such as an increase in the incidence of landslides and flash floods and the rise in tropical diseases. Similarly, there are enormous benefits to be gained from the preservation of rainforests and their ecosystem services such as carbon capture and as water catchment zones. A well-cared for green lung or forest reserve will also have great tourism potential and will be an asset to any state!

May we all tread gently upon the good Earth and show love and respect to other beings that share our Planet!