It has been a while since i had three inter-tidal walks in the space of a few days, yesterday (i'm blogging on the early Monday morning) was my third trip to Semakau.
Today, all the participants were from NUS High, and i was leading the group of Octopus.
Anyway, as we were waiting for the participants to view the presentation by NEA on Semakau land fill island, just outside the office building was a dragon fly who had a wing that was a bit bent (picture below), first 'discovery', let's hope it still can fly and find food...
Discovery Note:1. Dragon files are characterized by their multifaceted eyes, a twin pair of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body.
2. Their wings are often at right angles from their body when at rest.
3. Dragon flies do not normally bite or sting humans, but they might bite in order to escape, for example, if it is grasped by the abdomen).
4. Do you know that dragon flies eat mosquitoes? Yes they do. They also eat other small insects such as flies, bees, and even butterflies.
And very soon, we were out on the inter-tidal area to find our second 'discovery', a pair of common sea stars (picture below).
Discovery Note: R(A) content:1. When you see common sea stars stacked on top of one another, that means that they are about to mate.
2. The male, which is usually smaller, lies on top of the female, his arms alternating with hers.
3. This unique behaviour is thought to increase the chance of fertilization as their sexual organs do not actually meet. Fertilization takes place externally as they release their sperms and eggs simultaneously.
We were also quite lucky to get a chance to have a meet ourselves session. Octopuses, meet octopus (picture below). Third 'discovery'!
Discovery Note:1. Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms (not tentacles), usually bearing suction cups.
2. They have a relative short life span, and some specials live for as little as six months.
3. They have three hears! Two pump blood through each of their two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body.
4. They are also highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates (any animal without a spinal column).
And of course we had to take a group photo with the iconic star of the walk, the knobbly sea star (picture below).
Quite a short posting as i had to catch enough sleep for a test in the morning later...Meanwhile, thanks to all octopuses, you guys have been great!
Sidenote:
- Take a look also at Siyang's entry on his first time to guiding on Semakau here. There's also a record of how attractive i am to female mosquitoes. =P
- Juan Hui's entry on her first time guiding on Semakau @ here.
- Tidechaser Ron's entry with loads of photos and great facts @ here.
- JC's double OJT's entry @ here.
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