Crockers rocked!

Izwan (Matt) and friends started their crocking trip for the first time in Kinarut early Nov - and saw nothing. I don't blame them because I was also in the boat and we chose the wrong time (because there was no right time). Then we did Beringgis (Kawang). Tidal chart indicates that low tide is at 0417. I foolishly planned to hit Bringgis, going upstream at 0330 (thinking at that time, most of the tide is already gone). It hadn't. In fact the water was very much going out to sea, fast and unrelentless. The 30hp outboard was screaming, belching white noxious smoke and we went up slowly. Pushpa said "All we need is one eye... only one, and that will be enough, and we'll go home".

Fair Dinkum. There not one, but two eyes! Apparently the other eye of the baby croc was still very much intact! Pak Jurin struggled to get his boat close to the mudflat. Between his excellent manuever and the pushing water, croc was gone. But we were all happy, the happiest was Matt - now that his burning question (for the thesis) is answered! Yene silently clocked her data, parasiting on the locations baby crocs.

We didn't go home, though and kept seeing eyes, there were 6 of them all hatchlings. Sorry guys, no picture of croc babies yet.

Feeza crocked Serudong in the wee hours of Dec 10th - departing from Pulau Sebatik and reported to Wallace Bay Police Station and Sebatik PGA post near the Indonesiaon border, she sat mid-boat with Yene, Matt, Azniza and me. Jang Asoi was skipper and just shot a buck two days earlier. I must tell you guys, we had the best crocking condition and the river had compeletely released the tide off into Cowie Bay. We saw 9 crocs.

But, as if that was not enough, Yene, Feeza and Matt joined me crocking Tenegang at Kinabatangan. Bad time - flood! But we saw 3 crocs.

I'll have some of pics during the three trips soon. I'm happy. Matt is planning to hit Klias after Eid - I'm already jealous of what he'll find!

tiga snakers reply

ok dr, i see you tomorow..i try to bring aiman too..

Such a rainy day

Today is the 4th day in Danum V. and its raining all day long (since the day i arrived!). Can't do much, even Kalsum get stucked on the ground (so windy..who dares to climb the trees). My plan to do stick insecting is perished. Maybe next month(s) after the monsoon season is over and i've got a clear instruction from DNM. Going to KL next week for Natural History Museum Workshop.

Bats group (and many other things)

Dear Dr. Hamid,

Last week, Agos, Ehsan, Nurul and myself went to Gomantong..doing some site survey and arranging a few things with SWD people there. Everything goes well..except on the way back, our transport (a rented Rusa) had "tabrak" a lori, which front of it. None of us was injured, but Agos is not in good shape..(he's the driver during the incident), and i had to pay for ketuk balik keta..

and this week, i'm in Danum, to get ideas on how to do my work in Sukau and Gomantong. If you remembered, Dato Noramly n i was granted a permit to conduct a research on Orthoptera in Canopy in Danum V...

Apart of this things, hope u had received my email. C U soon.

Tiga Snakers

Dr Puspa, Cindy, Haifz and Aiman.

Cindy came to see me and we discussed about several things. One of them is the scale - I dug up my old stuff and found a spring scale of 3kg but with smaller grades, 10g I think. So that's great and we're OK now.

We agreed for 5-7 December.

Hamid.

trip to kalampunian damit

Dear Dr Hamid,

how are you? Dr pushpa have gave me and you the copy of the permit. I would like to ask if you are free on 26hb-30hb nov for the 4days trip to Kalampunian Damit. when can i meet you to discuss about the tools we gonna use during the trip?

thank you.
cindy

Field trip to Kalampunian Damit

Hi there,

I have just received a fax from Sabah Parks giving us permission to conduct Cindy's work on Pulau Kalampunian Damit. Please let me know when we can schedule the trip - the sooner, the better. We have been given 4 days in November 2007 and an exemption on the camping fees. We also need to discuss details of the trip with the 'Pegawai Penguasa Taman Pulau Tiga'.

Thanks!

Regards,
Pushpa

Brief report

Dear Dr,

First of all I would like to apologise for not making any report about my (Christopher’s as well) final year project progression. The following are some brief report on what we have done for our field sampling so far.

In our first trip to Paitan (09 Aug until 13 Aug), we manage to interview with 23 local people from 6 different villages (Pengkalan Kanibungan, Sinukap, Pias, Masin Besar, Sulit Bina Baru and Batangan Darat) who are still hunting. We also asked help from a Ketua Kampung from Kampung Masin Besar and some local people to be our guide to enter the Paitan Forest Reserve (PFR).

During our second trip to Paitan (27 Sept until 01 Oct), we could only manage to interview with 7 local people who are currently still hunting. This situation occurred because most of the villagers we met are rubber taper and they have their own small plantation land. More over, there are “out siders” who will sell meat (RM6 per kg for pork and RM10 for deer meat) to them which means they can obtain their protein source easily. We have entered the PFR with the help of one villager from Kampung Masin Besar. From his experience, he showed the marking that left out by deer and pig.

Our next trip will be on 11 Oct until 16 Oct. We are going to establish and walk our line transects. Hope we are lucky enough to see some.

That’s all.

Wish you all Selamat Hari Raya.

REMINDER FOR PROJECT I

Guys,
Please be reminded that the dates for Project I has been announced. I will be on leave until from today until 21 October. There will be only a small window on 22 October that I will be here, after which I will leave for tasks out of the campus until 29 October. That will be the only window that i will be able to see your work.

Hamid.

Salam Aidilfitri~

Wishing all Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri!Have a wonderful celebration and happy holidays!

A better way of studying frogs

I was reading Daily Express posted on Oct 1st, when one of this article title 'No need for dissection as see-through frogs jump in' caught my attention. It was about Japanese researchers at Tokyo that produced see-through frogs letting them observe organs, blood vessels and eggs under the skin without preforming dissection. Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog (Rena japonica, rare mutant of Japanese brown frog) to pale. Two frogs with the recessive genes were crossed which produced offspring that looked normal. Crossing the offspring led to a frog whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage. The researchers can see changes of organs when tadpoles mutate into frogs. Transparent frog can also reproduce, but their grandchildren die shortly after birth.

It's amazing as a new way to be able to observe the development of the internal body through time. Researchers also can see at what stage the cancer starts. However, its unrealistic to apply same method to mammals as their skin structure is different.

Eid Mubaarak!

Dear all,

This should be my last day in office before a long raya break and may well be my last posting to this blog before I come back to office in two weeks time.

On behalf of myself and my small family, I wish all of you here Eid Mubaarak - minal eidin wal faaizin, kullu aam, aantum bikhair - amin. I pray that you have a prosperous, rewarding and a healthy life for the year to come. For those who fast, may the sunrise of the eid brings you the joy and the moment to strengthen brotherhood and friendships. May this teach all of us that once we fall, we need to get up and keep on going because such is life. For my dear students, I believe that all of you can do it and you will do it beautifully.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA IDILFITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN.

Hamid

Lili

Marwan @ Ultraman Tiga

Secondary Data

Dear dr,

(Marlina, norafiza, yene, and izwan) said.......

about the secondary data that u asked us to get from Sabah Wildlife Department. last tuesday, we made an appoinment with Puan Jumrafiah, and she agreed to meet us at 11.00a.m. However, when we get there, she already left to Lok Kawi due to the unexpected business. we also tried to meet with En. Karim but still, he was not there. Somewhere in Sandakan if i'm not mistaken.
the another day, we went again to the library. try to look for the data about illegal harvestment but they were not there. Puan Azren whose incharged there said, we still need to meet Pn. Jumrafiah because she is the one whose exactly knows about those things.

about the sea tide table, we already have it...the data is based on k.kinabalu and Tawau area year 2007.

those we want to seek for your advice regarding this situation,....

thanks

gastrolith

dear dr,

i have read a book about gastrolith component in the crocodile's stomatch, here i put the contents about. i hope that u can give an opinion about that.....

thanks

Terdapat banyak artikel yang menceritakan tentang objek-objek keras yang di jumpai di dalam perut buaya seperti batu misalnya. Kepentingan objek keras ini, sangatlah jelas sehinggakan perut buaya yang hidup di kawasan yang berlumpur juga turut mngandungi objek tersebut. Dalam sesetengah kes, batu-batuan yang di jumpai di dalam perut buaya berasal dari kawasan yang beberapa batu jauhnya. Terdapat juga direkodkan objek-objek seperti botol air, termos, dan plastik juga dijumpai di dalam perut buaya tersebut. Pada mulanya objek-objek ini dianggap bertindak sebagai pemberat, untuk memberikan lebih keseimbangan ketika berada di dalam air. Namun begitu, sesudah diperiksa berat objek-objek tersebut hanya memberikan satu peratus daripada berat keseluruhan buaya tersebut. Maka, satu eksperimen telah dijalankan terhadap tubuh caiman dengan menggunakan sinar-x. Setelah 36 jam apabila caiman tersebut diberi makan tikus yang telah mati, mereka mendapati bahawa objek-objek keras tersebut berputar sehingga tikus tersebut tercerai menjadi serpihan kecil. Berdasarkan eksperimen ini, objek-objek keras yang terdapat dalam tubuh buaya membantu dalam proses pencernaan makanan ( Penny, 1991). Ini jelas sekali kerana buaya hanya menelan mangsa tanpa mengunyah, di mana proses menelan banyak dibantu oleh daya graviti (Ahmad, 1998).

Fighting Fish (Betta spp)

Hi! I've collected some fighting fish since early this year and some were kept alive at home. These two have been in tanks for many months now and I don't think I can breed them - for lacks of concentration and time constraint. So I decided to turn them into specimens instead.

The one on top is Betta chini, a recently described species from Klias swamp. The one below is B. unimaculata from Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

The are problems with describing bettas because the characteristics of all of them are conservative and almost similar. For exsample, they might have almost similar number of rays in their fins. S

So, you would stand up and say "Itu sinang maa, diolang punia kaler lain maa..". Yes! I thought so, but no, that is not the case. Colors depend a lot on the water quality, food, temperature, physical condition and also the psychological condition of the bloody fish.

If you looked closely, the shape of the mouth may give a clue. You can also see a black streak along the side of the head of B. chini. However, the size of B. unimaculata is almost twice as big!

Harnitta, a student from Nat uni of Singapore did the taxonomy of bettas from Peninsula, Sarawak, Kalimatnan and Brunei. I think he has finished under the supervision of Dr Peter Ng, NUS. There are 5 recognised species from Sabah - I wonder what they are.

Hamid.

The Tiga Snakes (yello lipped sea krait projects)

Cindy and Aiman,
I receive a cc of Cindy's proposal to be sent to Sabah Parks by Dr Pushpa (Wow, Pushpa! You di this for real? - I thought Cindy should do that)

Hey, Cindy!!!! You are harassing my friend there. don't you know how to write a letter?

aiman, I've not seen yours and I don't know if you are going to send one for the permit.

But please note that the new Assistant Director (Research) at Sabah Park is Mr. Maklarin Hj, Lakim.

Hamid.

WELCOME, LEHA AND FARINA!

Dear all,
our new contributors are Nurzhafarina Othman (now in Cardiff - being grilled up her throat with lectures and lab work on Bornean elephant) and Nor Shalihah Sidek (now a research officer attached with WWF Malaysia - P Malaysia). Both are ex-Consrv Biol students.

Guys, welcome and please contribute when you feel like doing so. I can entertain questions and share ideas whenever i think is appropriate and I am able to do so - this is what this blog's all about.

In a few days another space tourist will depart the earth and go up space - he 's from Malaysia and in Malaysia he is called an "astronout". For you guys who are scientist, you can see now how easy a correct definition can be sprawled and diverted into one that is completely useless. It takes a lot to be an astronout - that's for sure. Malaysian style astronout is as easy as entering and competing for Akademi Fantasia. Let's be proud of our RM 95M because with that money we send a Malaysian to space. That's it.

p/s guess what? I have taken a lot of CB students' marks because they gave wrong definitions for many terms in biology - and that is wahy I cannot tolerate the astronout thing.

Hamid.

Thanks For Inviting Me

Thanks Dr Hamid,

It is a pleasure to read your interesting and great blog. Reporting your days and experience like a journalist in enviro magazine!Good to know what you get and lots of things can be share here, dont u?

Hi to all bloggers, nice to be here.

On being stylish and brand-concious

Even if you're a coconut crab!

After walking around Sipadan looking for nesting turtles (didn't see any that night), we decided to go into the forest. Sipadan is a small island, 600m long, 400m wide and has a forest. Just we were about to leave the police quarters (a part of the previous resort from where Malaysians and tourists were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyef some years ago) we met this guy - clad in blue 20th century plastic garment. You see, a coconut crab is a hermit crab, period. In it's early life, this naked-born crab has to find something to cover his private parts - which is the abdomen (This is Malaysia, you can be charged for being naked in the open!). So, yes, he tried on many shells and other things - finally he thought this blue bottle cap is the best.

I showed this picture to Datin Glenda Noramly the next day - and she said "I like this guy - he's got style". Sure, I thought. And branded too - the brand is Dynamo. Here goes:

This guy has got to grow with style and will not settle on one brand - obviously the washing liquid bottle cap is standard-issue and will never grow. So a large coconut crab, like what I posted earlier, is entitled to be naked in the open.

n/b - at night, and if you see a clumsy coconut crab go down to the shore, you can be sure that it is a female wanting to disperse her eggs into the water. The larvae spend life in the water as planktons before coming up ashore and fitting its abdomen into any empty shell.

Would you eat a coconut crab? I don't think I would but it is on sale in KK - OCEAN seafood restaurant to be exact - because I saw one there.

Hamid.

The coconut that love the crab!

Hi all!

It shouldabeen the crab that love the coconut - have you seen a coconut crab before? Here's one, we captured in Sipadan and let go - Birgus latro the largest land athropod in the world, grows up to 5kgs. The one we got might have been around 3 kgs. There are two forms - blue and orange with the blue form being more common. This one is blue.

We purposely went after this crab at night and found two, this was the second one that we actually captured, well, I lied - didn't actually captured it. We used a pvc pipe that the guy grabbed with his pinchers and that was how I brought it to our place. He hanged there for about 10 minutes.

He became a model first thing the next morning and gave posts no human model can do.

We had a great time in Sipadan and many things happened for first time for me - including he mite-bites, still scratching here.

Hamid.

Koprey and banteng

Dear all,

The debate on the purity of the kouprey (Bos sauveli) being a good natural species went on for several years and recently a bold statement was made that based on analysis on the microsat cytrochrome b sequence - that the kouprey is a hybrid between the banteng (B. javanicus) and the local zebu (B. indicus), and that the kouprey is not worth conserving. Pls note that the number of kouprey is so low that it is difficult to see them in the wild and the forest of Cambodia is not that large either.

However, read Nature 449:124 (based on Hassanin & Ropiquet's 2007 work: see Proc. R. Soc. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0830) - that the kouprey is a distinct species. How easy can we go wrong between conserving and not conserving a species?

I explained in my lecture just now that the Borenan banteng might be the only population that can stand proud of being a purebreed when many other populations in the species range has had contacts with domestic cattle.

Problem is, there may be people who are planning hunting one tonight!

Picture is taken from Hassanin & Ropiquet (2007).

Hamid.

The encounter (Sea Gypsy of Semporna)

Hi all.

I heard many stories about this group of people and I think at one point some academicians at UMS set out to study them, too. The Sea Gypsy refers to a group of people that live at sea more than 60% of the time, nomads and usually have no official identification and no country that they belong to. They, otherwise, live prefectly well. They can be found in the tropics from Andaman, Myanmar, Thailand, Some parts of Indochina, eastern Sabah, the Philippines and Indonesia. I think many other countries have them, too. I met them recently - not on purpose but two small canoes were taken in and booked for tresspassing the Marine Park. They are known here as the Pala'o - from the word "perahu" - people who live in boats.

Three boys, the smallest said that he was 9 - He looks more like 12 to me. But it is obvious that they do not have a dimension of numbers and time (a study by an expert in Andaman). They are free people and age does not mean anything.

That is not the traditinal boat that they used to have. Traditional gypsy in Semporna used the lepa-lepa, a long wooden sail boat with a lot of carvings and colors. They do away with lepa-lepa now and use boats made/bought in Semporna. Funnily, the Regatta Lepa Lepa, held annually in Semporna is not about the Palao - it is about the boat thet they have now abandoned. Is their culture being erased?

The bamboo poles seen on the port and starboard of the boat are actually wrapped with rain-tarp for shelter and they sometimes even sleep on this tiny boat at sea. Of course they have bigger ones. Space is made on deck by having bamboo flooring between the outriggers. In the trunk are some polysterine boxes for fish and other sea catch.

They even cook on the boat. Seen here is their stove - fire is made on sand and stones. In the wok is tapioca "putu" a popular food at sea not only amongst this people but for fishermen in general. Slightly to the lower left of the wok is a smoked fish - almost burnt. But many of their protein is not cooked and eaten raw, just like what the Japanese likes to eat. "Latok" - a seaweed that looks like a bunch of grapes, "Tayum" - the sea urchin, "ba'at" - the sea cucumber and "tehe-tehe" another sea urchin are almost always eaten raw. The words are Bajau - I'm unsure if Pala'o use the same words. The bamboo deck is clearer here.

Then the Park management recorded their details - writing their names and their island, whatever they say. Even the boy clad in blue t-shirt was unsure if what he told the guy was right or wrong. The boy in Hawaiian short appeared indifferent and wished he was at sea. The mid-age man at the back seemed to know all of them and spoke on behalf of the group - in Suluk. They have their own language. They were in two canoes - I'm switching between boat and canoe here, I feel a boat is too modern and too big. Whatever. One was a dugout canoe that was confiscated but the boat with outrigger was returned to them. As a punishment, they were asked to do community work - collecting rubbish in and around the Park complex which they did without hesitation. Then, the Park management fed them with rice and fruits, which they ate well. They they were let go. Their catch - three large octopuses were confiscated. Each was about 3kg. I asked the boy (scratching his head) what he call it in their language - he said "koheta".

On my way to Sipadan, I saw this Palao village on near the island of Omadal. The stilt huts were erected on a sand-bank mid sea, seen here at low tide. Huts were small, but one of them had a tv antennae. In there live about 5 people, usually 3 or three generations. They never had their huts destroyed by storm. Amazing. Then I passed the Kapalai island resort - also a sandbank but a resort was built on stilt - just the way the Palao built theirs. They are worth learning from!

You can read many amazing stories of the sea gypsies in this world. One was the story about the Moken people of the Andaman that saved themselves from the recent tsunami by relying on stories told to them by words of mouth. They knew the wave was coming and ran to higher land. Their village was gone but nobody died.

OK, guys. I think they are amazing people.

Hamid.

Klias Fish (Harnitta)

We know some species of fish from Klias as follows:

Betta sp (at least 2 species, B. akarensis and B. chini)
Channa sp (C. melasoma and C. striatus - but you need to do a deep taxonomic work on the striatus - learn all meristics and morphometrics of this species, this will help you)

Anabas testudineus
Ompok sp (undetermined species - I think there are more of this group)
Puntius johorensis (first record for Sabah)
Clarias sp (several species)
Nandus nebulosus (there might be another species - type was found in Sandakan)
Trichogaster sp (at least 2 species)

And several others that are all interesting.

I think, we need a strategy because some groups might need proper attention. The Clariids, Silurids and Anabantids (Bettas) are the most important groups. I suggest that night fishing using finer nets and three-pieces gill nets will produce most of the interesting fish. Also, because we will spend the night in the swamp, a frequent check at night will reduce many casualties and unnecessary damage to some fish.

It will pay to preserve them as quickly as possible - and I specifically refer to the stomach contents.

Hamid.

Goannas in the making

Hello, all.

I was in Sipadan and some other islands near Semporna recently - that was my first time in Sipadan, and believe it or not, I think it was enough. I was there 2 half days, one full day and 2 full nights. The first thing I did was trying to find the nests of the megapodes. Found three. I was joined later by friends and we hit the trails (in no time we finished the whole island - it is too small to be famous). And we found this:





Two goannas (Varanus salvator), mating (of course the maximum number must be two). As you can see, the male is the one on top looking to the left, the female is looking to the right. Both of them, I think, felt disturbed by us pointing cameras and passing obscene comments and laughed from the top of our lungs (Somehow, we thought fasting and watching mating goannas can go together, and it is scientific and educational - you may disagree, I won't mind). Male goannas have two hemipenis - literally means, they have two penises! They are located to the left and to the right of the cloaca and can be easily be seen if the tail-base is given some firm pressure (but large male goannas almost always "show" their genitals, fully erected when threatened - an ability no human being can ever perform no matter how much one would ever wanted to do it!). When mating, a male can choose to use either one. In this picture, the male is using his left penis. The sperm sacs of female goannas are also located at the same position, and they, too, have two sacs. That's as equal as the world can be. We decided to leave them alone - hey, this is Sipadan and it is the paradise. Everybody is entitled to do whatever he wants to do.

The male goanna in the picture was about 3 meters long from snout to tip of tail and may be about 8-9 kgs. The female was a little smaller. I caught one of that size in Pulau Tiga in 2000.

I personally saw many more goannas and I disturbed another one who was basking. Well, he started it first, hissing at me when I was passing. So I responded my throwing pieces of coconut skins (I did it three times, all three landed on him giving audible thuds). He lashed his tail to the coconut skins. Then I left him, still angry (didn't check his hemipenis, nevertheless). Hope I helped with his body temperature.

But Sipadan can be nasty. Tiny creatures, may be mites have crawled up my legs and started making nasty bites in areas where my underpants grip my skin. Like this:





Almost al of us had it. As I said, once is enough. No more Sipadan for me, thank you. I never saw the mites or whatever that did the crime on me. They must have been really-really tiny and loved underpants.

I have some other things to write about the trip, but let me keep them for later.

Hamid.

field to Klias

hi dr.Fairus and dr.Hamid ..it's me,Harnitta.
im doin my thesis in Klias about fish diversity..
so, i juz want to know when we will go for our field at Klias.?
thank you..:p

inquiry

hello,
its me again.....
this time, i have another question that needs answering urgently.
can anyone, please kindly tell me when is real, exact deadline to hand up chapter 1, 2 and 3 for the dissertation.
i need an answer asap, thank you.
bye bye!!

hello!

hello,
its me again....
i have a question which i need some opinion....
have anyone heard of CTFS-AA Field Biology Course?
it was organized by Center for Tropical Forest Science – Arnold Arboretum Asia Program.
have dr. hamid heard of it?
i've heard that i was quit interesting.....
having the feeling of trying it myself.

hello again....

hello to fellow wildlifers,
i have one interesting story that i would like to share here......(hope that i wont be killed by topper)
well, we know some friends from other bio courses telling us that a slug is a leech.....
well.....what do my fellow wildlifers think?
they claim that the slug sucks blood...making that statement..means that it was a leech?
we would say that it could be a carnivorous slug...as, there are these kind of species.....
but......
a slug does not look like a leech..not even morphologically.....
so......think about it......
thanks for reading....
bye bye!!

Kinarut Girls (Mary and Susan)

Mary and Susan,

Do you guys have lectures everyday? Or is there any day of the working days of the weeks that you have a day free of lectures?

I need to know so that we can arrange the time. The place is not far from here. My strategy is not to miss my weekends (I've tried my best, none worked so far).

Hamid.

RAMADHAN TIME

For those who practice, I wish you Ramadhan Mubaarak.

Here some bizzare pseudoscience story making news last week (I think):

That a family somewhere in Malaysia had her cat gave birth to four kittens and a puppy - it was shown on tv3 prime news as "pelik tapi benar". I almost died out of anger.

How could one just honestly believe such a thing could happen? Something must be wrong with our science. TV programes (and all other media) are now promoting things that are leaning to pseudoscience. Bigfoot (my foot!) and this cat-gave-birth-to-a-rotweiller are just some of the few.

And I remember last semester, when a student whom I saw presenting was telling me that a seahorse is not a fish, but a horse!

Pay attention, you might be asked in my class!

Hamid.

Reading Assignments for thesis

Marly, Feeza, Izwan, Mary and Susan,

Guys, I need to know what you have read. No news in this blog as I requested. Does this mean you haven't read anything after your presentation?

C'mon, guys, you can do better than that!

Hamid.

CROCKING SERUDONG (OCTOBER)

Marly, Feeza, Izwan and Yene (and therefore, Aiman and Cindy)

We planned for Serudong to be in October - but my Tiga trip with Cindy and Aiman (and therefore, Pushpa and Hafiz) will be 22-25 October.

Dr Pushpa and I will have to be in Tawau 24-26 October for SnT seminar - She's presenting, I'll be chairing a session.

I want to make some changes:

We bring backward the Tiga trip and fix the Serudong trip. Since Pushpa and I will already be in Tawau, we go straight to Serudong after Tawau Seminar. Marly, Feeza, Yene and Izwan will travel from Kota Kinabalu by bus in the evening of October 25 and reach Tawau in the morning of October 26th. We meet at some place called BISMILLA, ask Feeza, she knows. Then we hop into a ferry (actualy a large fishing boat which is now fishing people) at 11 and enter the border island of Sebatik. You'll be very close to becoming an international tourist, as close as about 4 km!

Hamid.

Bonjour !!

Bonjour tout les mondes, and Hello!!

Well, as mentioned by Topper in his very first post, it is not nice to have signed in and did not ‘Report’ him or herself...

Thus, I’m writing this post to ‘report’ myself… >_<

P/s: Dr. Hamid, thank you for sending me the invitation again.

Best regards.

aloha everyone

greetings all Wildlifers,
i know its not nice to have signed in and did not even 'report' myself...
i had signing in problem after i signed in for the first time, which was like a week or so ago...
and i think i've created another user in ths blog...(*need help deleting it*)
i think Chang has already answered Dr. Hamid's question. Indeed Topper is Christopher...hehe..
hope i will not have any problem signing in again...
and
aloha to every Wildlifers...
so glad to be in the team...

Research Synopsis for SWD

Marly, Feeza, Yene and Izwan,

I received three synopsis and I have made comments especially for Feeza and Marly's synopsis, a little lighter on Izwan's.

Now, when you prepare the second version, make a heading that includes logo of UMS, your name, address, phone numbers, title and supervision.

then say briefly about the study and objectives, a brief comment on the methods and what you will achieve. Then state the product of the study i.e. a thesis. Then include the reference that use, one or two. That wil be enough. See my comments on Feeza and Marly's synopsis.

Hamid.

hello!

Dear Dr. Hamid,

hello! and good day....
I'm writing this post because my friend Huai Mei- huaimei_06@yahoo.com did not receive doctors' inviting mail. even though she signed in to this blog, her name did not appear in the contributors list.

she hopes that Dr. would send another mail to her. thank you!

p/s: yes, topper is christopher.

Introduction to the blog

I think I don't know who Topper is - is it you Christopher?

A Friendly Welcome to New Comers!

Hi all! Welcome to all the new comers in the Wildlifers blog!Do blog and share information with us here!

Ka Han

On Tamu Gadang and Supervision

Dear all,
I was listening to Datuk VC before he launched the Academic Expo yesterday. He was saying that some supervisors thretened their students i.e. whoever involve themselves in Tamu Gadang activities, the supervisors will cease supervising them.

Now, that's a foul-smelling threat!

However, I wrote an email to my students saying that they shouldn't wait until I decide to abandon supervising them. I was referring to my students who takes my advises in emails and in this blogs lightly. This is my way of supervising them, apart from our dedicated meetings or appointments. Therefore, I still mean it. It had nothing to do with Tamu Gadang.

Things involving student's activities (under the flag of Student Affairs) takes similar conditions - and I was referring specifically to Mohd Aiman whom I know is organising an international trip to Tarakan, Indonesia. Neither me or Hafiz met with him to discuss about his proposal before he actually presented. This is a no-no. I wrote a blog post to the effect mentioning about the trip to the Snake Island in October. Because Aiman is working in a tag-team with Cindy (a matter we agreed in Tawau), the team must be in a tag to get it to work, no two way about it. And I still mean it. Frankly, Cindy will be able to execute her work even without Aiman in the field, but for an undergraduate project, this will be a waste of resource. We don't have all the money for the luxury of individual projects. Also, time is not a cheap commodity.

Guys, I need to be grumpy coz' I'm getting old - but I promise that I will not be your grandfather!

Take care now.

Hamid.

Letter to Sabah Wildlife Department

Feeza, Izwan, Marly and Yene,

I have written and signed the letter, now availale to be taken from Pn Gomera at IBTP. But I need a summary of your research - each of you will write synopsis, the length should not be more than ONE page and should not be less than 3/4 of a page. It can be written in BM. Now, I need to read them before you send that letter.

A synopsis is a short description of your project that describe the objectives, methodology, study area. All in text form of about 3-4 paragraph.

Send in your synopsis as soon as you can so that you can have the letter sent as soon as possible.

Get cracking.


Hamid.

New members - Welcome!!

Dear all,
I have invited five more students to join this blog today - All of Anna's students. So, guys, whenever you're in, I'm saying welcome and happy blogging!

Hamid.

Posting emails

Dear students,
It is incredible to see how you guys write emails. We cannot talk because there is always some distance between us. So, writing letters and now, emails replace this situation. I.e. it is like talking.

If you are writing an email, please "talk" in the email. Say what your email is about. For example, if you were sending your proposals, tell me that you are doing so and that you require my help to read them and you hope that I can make some advice to make them better. Then, say thank you. Add some politeness. Show some manners. Show people that you are friendly and worth talking to. This is the thing that is called "communication".

You don't want to be like cashier girls at supermarkets. You can do the transactions without saying a word!

Please, I'm not like that, I think I am a human being and deserves to be treated like one.

I'm sorry I have to say this. I wish I could say more. My message is, please learn that there are a lot more things in life and it can be wonderful if you can start learning to live this world. I never asked you to write me in english. But if you did, I can correct some of your mistakes.

I am not angry, I am giving advise because all of you are under my supervision. It is a part of the job!

Hamid.

Welcome to Wildlifeshadows, Dr Fairus!

Dear Dr FJ and all,

Welcome to the blog! We are among good people here, don't worry. It is, I think, at the early flying stage and sometimes later we should be able to see more contribution that can actually assist all of us who supervise or being supervised.

Enjoy Wildlifeshadows!

FROGGING IN KLIAS

Dear all,

Mr Ahmad Sudin needs 2 guys (blokes, not sheilas) to help him catching frogs in Klias swamps tomorrow night. This is voluntary, Zoo Negara needs some live specimens for SEAZA conference end of this month.

So, two blokes, please. If you are interested, Ahmad leaves tomorrow afternoon and you might be sleeping in one of the huts along the bridge - now completed through the swamp up to the village on the other side.

Hamid.

reinvitation

Guys,
I have reinvited Anna, Dr Fairus and Hafiz to this blog. If you guys know any of their students, I will be pleased to include them here, too.

Arisa, please could you send the email address of your students so that they can be here, too.

Hamid.

Azmi Abdullah & Mohd Aiman

Yes, that's the name, Azmi. I remember now and he didn't present his proposal, did he? Dr Buck comfirmed to me that he didn't. For you guys who know him, please send my msg to him that I need to know if he's dropping his Project I (and I will stop making any referral to him as a wildlifer in this group). All I need is an email to that effect. At administration level at ITBC, I can now announce officially that I have only 5 undergrads directly under my supervision.

For Mohd Aiman, what I said during your proposal was a serious one (i.e. about the Tarakan trip you are organising). Whatever happens, when the time comes when we will be out in the sea and go snaking, you'll not be anywhere else except for in the boat with us. I will equip Cindy with a small gun now, just in case you try to escape!

Hamid.

Crocking, crocs and M16!

Dear all, let's have a little story of what may happen.




On the left is the pic of two baby crocs from Serudong - this was about 18 km from the rivermouth, almost to the Tabung Haji oil palm plantation, way upstream from a military post, somewhere in the Serudong.
The larger baby was 18 inch, the other was 16, but as you can see, their size differ significantly, although may be they may have hatched at about the same time. You see, survival rates of baby crocs very much depend on what they do or capable of doing to survive, like if they can eat many crayfish (or if there are a lot of crayfish around to eat).





This is a close up of the head. Looking at Dr Anuar's hand, he didn't seem to squeeze the croc - and that's what you're going to do. Almost all baby crocs we caught were docile and never attempted to bite (and if they did, they cannot eat you either). Well, I lied. Some bit us but I have thrown away that scare into the Klias river a long time ago.




And then we got back to the old jetty at Kg. Wallace Bay (Feeza, you remember this one?). Behind us are parts of the mangrove forests of Tawau, the city is on the extreme right, somewhere. The two policemen escorted us with bloody M16! - I don't know what they were intended for - the crocs or the indonesians (similarly, I didn't know whether to feel secure or scared). Mr Azman, second from right is my coleague at uni, now a PhD student at IBTP doing cicadas. Then AP Dr Shahrul Anuar of USM, my junior at uni, he studied the Klias croc in 1991.

You know what, Feeza? A breakfast of nasi kuning after a crocking trip will make all the difference!

Hamid.

Submitting Research Proposal

Dear all,

I am (as all of you are) told that now research students will have to submit their research proposal. (Dr, PP, this has never happened before). Not that I didn't like it, but it seems lecturers/supervisors now have more load than before - which in a way is also better for two reasons:

a) We will be able to see if comments given by examiners during their presentation were taken into account and appear in the final version of the proposal. This, I see, as an obvious trap for those who did not take notes of the comments given in the presentation. So, now, please start to remember what really happened in the torture chamber.

b) Having the proposal at hand, there will always be something that students and supervisors can fall back to. When I looked back, I sometimes (and this can be many) did not remember the title of the project, let alone the details like the objectives ets - which consequently resulted in "new versions" of advise everytime students come to seek further advise.

Well, I think we should be thankful to that decision.

OK, guys, prepare your proposal - and this should not take too much of your time. You need to keep on reading.

Hamid.

dear dr,

im sorry. I will submit my proposal by email this week.

regards,
Cindy

Hi.
Dear Dr,
Its me Marlina.. not Mariana. It’s been quite a long time since we (me, fiza and also izwan) all want to meet you. It’s just we don’t have free time, quite busy with our assignment and also midterm. Last week we went to ITBC to see the specimen of crocodile but unfortunately the woman in charge there said that she’s not sure whether there is crocodile specimen in borneensis.
Last Saturday we went to the Tuaran Crocodile Park just to see the real crocodile. It is exciting but also scaring. Right now i’m only using string to train myself (cant find stick) We will keep on training to estimate the length of croc. About the Bayliss’s paper, we just got it (is it the paper? Estimating the abundance of saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus Schneider, in tidal wetlands of the northern territory: a mark-recapture to correct spotlight counts to absolute numbers, and the calibration of helicopter and spotlight counts) from our friend that also doing the crocodile under supervision of Dr. Pushpa.
We will go to see you sooner, when are you free Dr.? This morning we went there but you have meeting so maybe by tomorrow or by this week we will try to reach you.
Since this is my 1st entry, sorry for my broken words. My english is quite bad. Hee~
Truly,
Mar ;)

Guys who are doing crocs

I am communicating with Mariana, Feeza, and the boy (I forgot your name, sorry. It is a disease with blokes names, quite frankly). Well, I have no news about the other bloke. Is he alive?

Please train yourselves with estimation of croc size. I have raised my concerns during your presentation. When you write back, please tell me here if you have done some kind of training. Now that you're in a group, train in a group, because you will be in the same boat in Serudong, Klias and Beringis.

Secondly, have you got Bayliss's paper yet?

I will have time until October to purchase two GPS, and that will help us a lot.

There are a lot of survey results in PDF format in the internet. Please read. When you write back, I want you to write down the references that you have read. At least that will tell me what you know.

Now, people.
We are going to do crocodiles! This is no joke. You can be as clumsy as you can with your mother's knife, but not in the boat. You are going to step into the little boat with confidence and well prepared. No trial run will be enough if you are not serious. Show me what you have!

Wildlifers are one of its kind. I hever had a chance to slip through the small window you're now about pull yourselves through. You made that choice and I am waiting on the other side.

So, please guys. Impress me a little!

Hamid.

Little details in your proposals

Dear all,

I am writing to remind you the little details about the text of the proposal and Project I. Please take note and take actions accordingly.

a) Use the correct citation technique. If you fail to do this, this will be the first bomb that smashes your marks to ashes - no matter how good you write in the rest of the text.

b) Write taxonomical text correctly: spelling must be precise, italics are done whenever is needed. Taxons above genus must be written scientifically - you need to read scientific articles and look at how these are done. e.g. :

Taylor, JA, Webb, GWJ and Magnusson, WE. 1978. Methods of Obtaining Stomach Contents from Live Crocodilians (Reptilia, Crocodilidae). J. Herpetol. 12 (3):415-417

The word "and" is usually used in the list of references, NOT "&"

See how the Class and Family is written. In this case the name of the species is not mentioned because workers were working of several species within the Family.

See how the numbers for Volume [12], Number [3] in parentheses, and pages [:415-417] are written.

c) Be consistent throughout

d) I want you guys to produce a good map of your stations/area. I don't want to see you reproduce a map from the internet or to show pictures from google earth. Those are not maps. You MUST show the map of Sabah and the detail map of your study area. Redraw the map just as what your geography teachers taught you in school. many computer programs can help on this one and you need to be creative.

I have not seen any of you guys (those under my supervision) that came to see me and discuss about the scientific papers that you guys have recently read. Why? Did you understand them all? Or you have not read them? Or they are not there?

These are some of the reminders that I remembr to write this time.

Hamid.

Questions during presentation

Hi, all.
OK, most of you (I mean my students) have presented and have faced questions and comments. So, That's how it feels like. Nothing much, really. But I urge all of you to take note on all of the comments. They are useful.

In doing a research, not only what you do in the field counts, the way you do it must be properly documented and explained. For you guys who are doing crocodiles, I think there were questions on how you would take samples (tissue) from the babies. I think, you must be able to explain how you would catch them babies. Either by hand, using a net or using a nose (you know what a nose is? What it is not is the thing that has two holes just above your upper lips).

Do some more reading on the things that you are going to measure.. tail, TL, SV. I still think that we have some specimens of baby crocs in Borneensis. You might want to go and see them.. look at the tail scutes, count them, and then, plan if you can do anything to mark them babies either according to sex, sex and date of capture, numerical marks... I don't know. You guys think about it. I'm sure you're more curious than I am and it should be that way! I have passed my monkey curiosity a long time ago.

Hamid.

Fighting fish from Danum

Guys,

Here's a picture of a fighting fish, Betta unimaculata from Danum Valley - captured in my recent trip to Langum River in the Conservation Area. Now, this is an air-breathing fish, as commonly being called for almost all anabantids. I actually caught them in two rivers, Langum and Purut - both in the main rivers and in smaller channels and pools. This one was caught in a rock pool ABOVE a small waterfall. Fish was photographed and released.

However, I am still confused looking at some of the specimens I have caught in Tabin and Danum, all of the fish commonly believed to be B unimaculata. The ones in Tabin, especially larger males, have coloured scales on the last third of the dorsals. This one that you see only has coloured scales on outer operculum.

Are we looking at different species?

Here goes.

Hamid.

picture of tarantula

Guys,

This is the picture of the tarantula that I stole from the wasp. I hope you guys haven't seen something like it before.

Here goes....

Hamid.

Project Discussion

Dear Dr. Hamid,

Dr, we wish to make appoinment with Dr to discuss about our project on this Friday (10th Aug). When do Dr feel free to meet with us?


Regards,
Susan

tarantula

Guys,
I was in the field last week, came back yesterday (and stopover at Sukau on my way back). So, the plan was to walk up the Purut trail and camp overnight near Purut Fall (about 5 km from DVFC). Then walk up the Raleigh trail and camp within the Sabran catchment. You guys need to look at Danum map to know these places.

You wouldn't believe what you would believe I would have found!

It's a tarantula!

talk to you later.

Hamid.

postponed presentation date

dear frens, the presentations for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd of august had been postponed to 13th, 14th, and 15th of august respectively. maybe this is a good news for some of u..hehe..frankly speaking, im grateful 4 dis..hehe..stil av sum times to finalise my proposal..thank God

feeza....

Dr., Feeza=Norhafiza(but this spel is wrong)=Norafiza(this is the right spel.)

Frog study in Iran?

Just a peek, and an interesting one, too.

There's an informal application by a PhD candidate to do biosystematic study on Bufonids in Tehran! Inasmuch as I'm interested to supervise, i will haveto admit, that this is one of the rare studies: on frogs from semi arid regions (more so, this is from the Middle East - and tehran!).

We'll see.

Hamid.

Snake pics

I was reading a "coffee table" book by Tommy Chang at VC's office this morning (while waiting to getting to see him - yes, I finally did).

There's a picture of a yellow lipped sea krait in the book, unfortunately was photographed on a rock in daylight. The shadow of the snake showed that it was in the sun!

Cindy and Aiman, you DON'T want to do this. A heated snake may either bite furiously or to your relief, die. That's why I proposed for the collection adn procesing be done at night. I did it. It was fun and you get loads of them.

Anna will scold you if she knows you catch the snake in the sun!

Hamid.

Members

Hi! :)
Feeza, Ditto (name please), Cindy and Dr Pusha. Vanakkam!

Now, Norhafiza said that feeza is NOT her! So, Feeza, may I know who you are?

Hamid.

Postings

Dear wildlifers, (aren't we?)

This is my second posting to this blog to make things running and to feel that it is running. So, our guys are going to present Project I this week. I must say sorry to all my students that I will not be able to make it. I have met with Marlina, Norhafiza, Susan, Mary and Izwan. I have not met Azmi (aku tidak kira kau hensem ka tidak - you must see me!).

So, guys, basically you need to discuss with your advisors and SHOW them your ppt presentation. If you fail to do this, you're not ready for presentation and it will reflect on you guys.

I've told some of my students that Project I are:

a) Muka depan thesis
b) Table oc contents (of three chapters)
c) Introduction (not more than 5 pages)
d) Litt Rev - must include what is known, what is not known, arguments on other people's findings and critical evaluation of these findings. It must finally end with the question of why you would want to do this study and the justifications.
e) Material method
f) References - all references that are used to make these three chapters.

So there you go, guys!

Hamid.

Welcome to wildlifers blog!

Dear friends,
I have created this blog to assist communication between us. I am inviting you to join this blog as contributors and you can post communications immidiately and answer immidiately. For students, it gives me less excuse not to be able to "talk" or "meet" with you (and you are less with excuses, too!).

Because all postings will be made available to everybody in the group, we will be sharing a lot of information and it is my sincere hope that this will enhance our friendship and professional network, now and in the future.

Happy posting!

Hamid.