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.