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Night Safari Rangers' Station
Our Rangers' Station was renovated in Feb 2005. Performing duties at this station is the main aspect of our Rangers' activities in Night Safari. It is situated along the Leopard Trail, strategically located just outside the Mangrove Walk. There are 3 display cabinets and each of them showcase a unique set of animals specimens.
General Display Concepts In line with the development of the Zoo/NS, NSVRs as well as the docent group are moving into a new phase. As far as the Station is concerned, apart from providing basic information and conservation messages to guests, the way in which the entire station is planned, designed and curated hopes to engage guests better. The station displays are planned with an "island" concept instead of counters to facilitate circulation and breakdown physical barriers between NSVRs and guests. The Displays (specimens and posters) will be curated to pose questions instead of just dishing out information to guests. (Basic information will still be provided). The specimens’ displays are curated to three themes: Animals of the Leopard Trail Panel, Kids’ Panel (catered for Primary 5 – 6 kids), and Rainforest Floor Panel. This set of Station Notes is to prepare NSVRs for the new curatorial changes. Please note that this is a BASIC set of notes. NSVRs are strongly urged to read up more and above what that is given in the notes below.
Some Current Display Items At The Rangers' Station The various animal specimens are accompanied by their respective station cards to prompt visitors, especially children to interact with the Rangers.
Cabinet 1 is the largest and is placed in the centre of the Rangers' Station. It is also known as the Kid's Panel
Whose eggs are these? [ Ostrich egg, Emu egg, Flamingo egg, Chicken egg & Owl egg ]
Did You Know? Female birds cannot carry heavy eggs in their bodies, for the weight would keep the bird from flying. When she is ready to lay her eggs, she makes them very fast. Her body builds the soft parts of the egg. Her body rolls the soft parts down her reproductive tract. During the 75 minutes (approx.) where the egg remains in the isthmus (a short portion in the reproductive tract), the inner and outer shell membranes, which line the shell, are formed and calcification is initiated. The hard shell is completed (fully calcified) just as she lays the egg in the nest. The egg's shell, accounts for about 9 to l2% of its total weight depending on egg size. Made up largely of calcium carbonate (about 94%) with small amounts of magnesium carbonate, calcium phosphate and other organic matter including protein, the shell is the egg's first line of defence against bacterial contamination. The shell also allows the movement of gases (so that the embryo can breathe). Shell thickness is also related to egg size, which, in turn, is related to the layer's age. As the layer ages, egg size increases. The same amount of shell material, which covers a smaller egg, must be "stretched" to cover a larger one; hence, the shell is thinner.
Ostriches 鸵鸟 Ostrich eggs are between 150 and 200 mm long and weigh more 1 kg each. Because of the size and the thickness of their shells, these eggs can take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The ostrich egg is considered one of the hardest eggs. Carving an ostrich egg is difficult and wears out the drills rapidly. An ostrich eggshell has to be tough enough for the bird to sit on. It takes 42 days before the egg hatches. The average adult male ostrich, which is the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 160 kg. It is not unusual for a man to stand on an un-hatched egg without breaking it.
Emus 鸸鸟 Emus have nests on the ground, and after the female emu has laid up to 15 eggs, the male emu sits on them until they hatch. This takes about 52 days; during this time, he loses lots of weight. After the chicks have hatched, he looks after them, staying with them for up to 18 months. He is a classic example of a wonderful father!
Flamingos 火鸟 Flamingos live in fresh water wetlands and build volcano shaped nests on the ground. These nests are made from stones, mud and feathers and can be as high as 300 mm from the ground. Usually, only one egg is laid and both parents take turns to incubate the egg. Can you see lots of scratches on the eggshell? These are caused by constant turning over of the eggs by the parents. After an incubation period of 30 days, the eggs hatch. Both flamingo parents care for their young. Flamingos are one of the few birds that feed their young with milk. This milk is produced in the crop, or the upper digestive tract of the birds. Crop milk (highly nutritious) is produced by both parents and is fed to the young for 2 weeks. Flamingos will start breeding from the age of 6 years old.
Chickens 鸡 A hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. Thirty minutes later, she starts all over again. The eggshell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavours and odours. It takes 21days for the egg to hatch.
Whose hair are these? [ Lion’s Whisker's, Lion’s Mane Hair, Giraffe’s Tail Hair, Small-tooth Civet Hair ]
Whiskers 颊须 Whiskers or vibrissae are the elongated facial hairs of cats. The position of whiskers on each cat is unique, just like our fingerprints. Whiskers help cats to feel their way around the forest when it is dark. Cats will shed their whiskers occasionally, and new ones will grow to replace the old ones. These sensitive hairs can be found on other parts of the cats’ face. Look for them when you have a chance to see any cat at close range.
Leopard's Whiskers How do they help the cats get around in the dark? Tell us what you know. Just like the moustache of men, whiskers are actually the elongated facial hairs of cats. The arrangement pattern of whiskers on every cat is unique, just like our thumb prints. Whiskers are used by leopards to feel their way around the forest at night, especially when it’s really dark. Leopards will shed their whiskers occasionally, as new ones are grown to replace the old ones.
Whose tooth is it? Teeth are important to anyone who eats solid food. In mammals, teeth are highly evolved and are more complicated and efficient than in other animals. Jawbones that hold the teeth need to be very strong. Therefore, they are heavy and require lots of muscles to hold up and to work them well. This, in turn, affects the shape and size of the animals’ skulls. Mammals are heterodonts – they have differently shaped teeth in their jaws. In fishes and reptiles, the teeth are of the same shape with some bigger than others. Animals have different uses for their teeth. Therefore, their teeth have evolved into different forms. Teeth are shaped to grind, stab, cut, dig, chisel, sieve and lift (elephants’ tusks). Mammals have only two sets of teeth - Primary or ‘milk teeth’ appear soon after birth and the Permanent set that replaces them as the mammal matures. Once the permanent teeth are lost or damaged, they will not be replaced. In all other toothed animals, so far only sharks and snakes are known to have the ability to change multiple sets of teeth: teeth are replaced as soon as they are lost, regardless how many are lost they will be replaced. The rate at which teeth wear down depends on the diet of the owner. Herbivorous animals tend to wear their teeth down at a specific rate. Hence, zoologists can tell the age of an animal by looking at its teeth. Carnivorous animals like cats and wolves will be severely disadvantaged during hunting if their canine teeth are broken as these are essential in hunting.
Elephants 大象 Elephants have the largest teeth in the world. Elephants’ tusks are actually modified incisors. They grow from the upper jaw. Only 2/3 of them are visible while the rest deeply embedded in the elephant’s skull. The heaviest pair of tusks belonged to an African Elephant Loxodonta africana documented in 1897. Together they weighed 211 kg.
Giraffes 长颈鹿 Like all hoofed animals, giraffes have six molars on each side of the jaw. They have lower front teeth (incisors) but NO upper incisors. Instead, a thick tough fibrous pad replaces the upper incisors.
Gharials 长吻鳄 The Gharial is a large, slender crocodilian native to India and Nepal. The snout is very long and slender. Each side of the jaw has between 20 and 27 evenly sized, pointed teeth to catch slippery fish in the fast flowing rivers. (They have about 40 to 54 in each jaw.) Their teeth are 'rootless' and whenever they are shed, new ones will appear in their place.
Did you know? Elephants have 6 molars in each jaw, but the teeth appear one at a time. When the first molar is worn out, it moves to the front of the mouth and is shed. The second molar meanwhile appears at the back of the mouth, by the time the last molar is shed, the elephant would be between 50 to 60 years old. The elephant will eventually need to rely on a very soft diet.
Food for thought Why is chewing thought to be protective against tooth decay? The abrasive effect of chewing fibrous foods is thought to be protective against tooth decay. Teeth, which have been used to chew fibrous foods, are smooth and worn, and have fewer crevices and crannies where food can lodge. The phytate content of whole grains and legumes also helps prevent tooth erosion by making tooth calcium less soluble and less susceptible to the lactic acid damage. Chewing is also important in the health of the gums: the blood supply and strength of the gum tissue is reduced in people who cannot chew.)
Lion's Skull vs Sambar's Skull. Why do we display them together? Our Rangers have the answer.... Lion's Skull The lion is a carnivore/predator and it posses sharp canines to grip their prey and rip flesh. The razor-sharp molars act as shears (resemble scissors) to cut up the meat before swallowing them in chunks. The lion chews with an up-down motion like humans, hence the jaws of the lion's skull open and close this way. The eye sockets of the lion face forward, allowing the lion to remain focused on its prey while pursuing it.
Sambar's Skull In contrast, the Sambar is a herbivore and prey animal. It has no need for canines but it has sharp incisors to cut the grass as it grazes. The molars are jagged and the sambar chews with a side-to-side motion to grind up the coarse and tough vegetation as much as possible before swallowing them. The
eyes of the sambar are set far apart, one on each side of the head
so that it can see danger from a wider angle without turning its
head.
Deer's Antlers vs Antelope's Horns. Are they the same or different? Check with our Rangers.... Deer's Antlers Deer's Antlers are actually made of solid bone. The antlers grow from the bony projections on top of the head called pedicels. Antlers are used by the stags to establish dominance and the right to mate during the breeding season called the rut. The antlers will shed off after the rut and the stags will grow a new and more 'complicated' set of antlers for the following year's rut. During the growing stage, the antlers are covered by a layer of velvet that contains blood vessels to nourish the growing antlers, thus giving the antlers a 'furry' look. When the antlers are fully grown for that year, the velvet dries up and peels off. Sometimes the stags will rub off the dried velvet pieces against a tree. In Chinese medicine, deer's velvet is used to enhance blood circulation and is also a prescription for rheumatism. The velvet must be harvested from the stags before they 'dry up'. The stags (in the deer farms) are caught and held tightly (sometimes sedated) while the antlers are sawn off. Cutting off the antlers at this stage will cause the stags to bleed.
Antelope's Horns Horns are actually very highly compressed keratin, the same material as human fingernails. The horns of antelopes (e.g. Scimitar-horned Oryx) and cattle (e.g. Wild Swamp Buffalo) are hollow. If you slide off one of the horns of that buffalo skull at the Rangers' Station, you will realise that the horn actually fits nicely over a bone that protrudes from the skull. After the animal died, with the flesh and connective tissues gone, the horns can be easily removed as if unsheathing a sword. Horns are generally very strong weapons used for fighting and defence but if they break off during an accident, the animal can bleed to death because the bone inside would be broken too. Learn more about the differences between antlers and horns here. Many thanks to VR Ling Hoong for locating this link!
Cabinet 2 is smallest and is situated against the corner wall of the Rangers' Station. It is also known as the Snake Display
[ On display: Python Skull, various Snake Molts, Python Skin and Puff-faced Water Snake Skin ]
Puff-Faced Water Snake (Homalopsis buccata) Mildly venomous rear fanged snake with aquatic adaptations: valved nostrils and eyes at the top of the head, flattened tail. It also has highly ridged scales. It is comfortable on land and is found near water in forests and agricultural areas, and brackish coastal waters. It eats mainly fish and is often considered a pest by fish farmers. The snake will bite severely if disturbed. It
gives birth to live young; juveniles have black and red bands which
turn into browny camouflage patches in adults. It
grows to about 1.2m. Found from Myanmar to Indochina, down the peninsula
and Borneo. Fairly common in Singapore.
Python Skin vs Python Slough. Do you know the difference? Ask our Rangers.... Python's Skin The python's skin is that piece of skin where you can seen the reticulated patterns, hence the python has to be killed before the skin is obtained. The skin of certain snake species is used in the manufacture of wallets, handbags, articles of clothing or other souvenirs. It has an attractive pattern which gives it that decorative quality. In some countries however, several species have been hunted down to the status of being endangered.
Snakes' Slough Moulting is the process of shedding old skin. In snakes, this process is known as "sloughing". Prior to this, the eyes of the snake will turn cloudy. Snakes will rub their heads against rough objects such as rocks or logs to help peel away and then crawl out of the old skin, which is called the slough. That is why the slough is always found turned inside out. The slough is the topmost layer above the skin. Humans tend to shed old skin in microscopic pieces but healthy snakes must shed the entire slough at one go. Snakes can moult several times a year, depending on the availability of food and their growth.
Cabinet 3 is placed at the inner most section of the Rangers' Station. It is also known as Animals of the Leopard Trail Panel. [ On display: Rhino Dung, Dried Rhino Skin, Cast of Rhino's Hoofprint, Porcupine Skull & Quills, Flying Fox Skull, Fishing Cat Skull, Tarsier Skull, Clouded Leopard's Jaw Casts, Leopard's Pub Mark, used Tranquilizer Darts & Saga Tree seeds. ]
Pug marks Cats have distinctive pug marks ( footprints ).They vary in size with each species of cats. The males have larger pug marks than the females. The Clouded Leopard has broad paws to allow it to run steadily on branches. The Fishing Cat has partially webbed paws to help it swim when hunting fish in the water. The Leopard's paws are cushioned with a layer of fur, which allows it to creep noiselessly towards its prey. This plaster cast shows the pug mark of one of the Leopards on this trail. This leopard's pug mark is cast in plaster of paris and was done a few years back. Like the rhino's hoof mark, plaster was poured into the mud shortly after one of the leopards stepped on it. It took many many tries before this perfect mould came about.
Clouded Leopard's Jaw Cast In the cat family, the Clouded Leopard has the longest canines in comparison to its skull size. An average lion’s canines can grow up to 6cm long. The Clouded Leopard’s can reach up to 9 cm! All cats have the same dental formula. Notice that the incisors form a straight line. They are followed by the canines and, then the carnassials. Cats have a total of 30 teeth. How did this cast of the Clouded Leopard’s jaw come about ? Ask our Rangers. Yen Bai is the female clouded who broke one of her canines last year - In the wild she would have little alternative other than suffer from the pain and possibly the infection that follows such an injury. Then she either overcomes the pain, the body curbs the infection and the result would be an abscess below the tooth OR the infection spreads into the head and body and she eventually dies from the infection or the fact that she becomes too weak to hunt. BUT this is a managed environment and so the animals get dental treatment! Now she's back in good health and with a gold crown to show off. This jaw cast was made as a practice model before the actual surgery.
Flying Fox's Skull How do you think the Flying Fox got its name? Check your answer with our Rangers. This species has a dog-like muzzle, hence its name. The orbits (eye sockets) accommodate large, conspicuous eyes used to find their way around at night. The molars are specially designed to grind fruit into a fine mulch and extract the vitamin-rich juices. They also have large canines for prying open thick-skinned fruit. The flying fox has 34 teeth, 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars and 2 molars (3 on lower jaw) on each side of the mouth. For fruit bats in general, the number of teeth varies from species to species with the flying foxes possessing the most teeth.
Porcupine Skull Porcupines
are part of the Rodent family. Unique
to all rodents is the on-growing pair of anterior teeth (incisors).
These 4 teeth have open-ended roots that allow continual growth
throughout the animal's life. This is why rodents must gnaw constantly
to keep down the length of their incisors.
Porcupines' Quills Can these quills be shot out of the rodents' bodies? Can you get poisoned by them? These are uniquely modified hairs which are heavily keratinised for self-defence against predators such as leopards, tigers. Contrary to popular belief, the quills cannot be shot out like a projectile, but are instead readily detached if the porcupine rams into another animal. The quills are not poisonous but they have been known to penetrate the paws of tigers, causing severe infections if not promptly removed. NOTE: Porcupines are not invincible. An experienced tiger or leopard who is nimble enough, can use its front paws to flip the porcupine over on its back and attack the vulnerable belly which is covered by soft normal fur.
What do rhinos use their horns for and what are they made of? Rhinos use their horns for self-defence. The males also use their horns for fighting. Rhino horns are made up of compacted keratin, the same material as human fingernails. The horns do not have a bone core and are not attached to the skull, but grow from the skin. They grow at about 10 cm a year. But cutting off the horn does not stop poaching because even small amounts of horns are valuable. It is also costly to regularly tranquillise and dehorn rhinos. Dehorning also affects the rhino’s natural self-defence against predators. The big rhino's horn on display at the Ranger Station is modeled after that of an African White Rhino. The real one weighed 2.7kg. Because of the deep rooted belief in it’s curative powers, this horn, in powdered form, is worth it’s weight in gold. To cut off the horns, poachers often shoot the rhino down. This is the main reason Rhinos are so highly endangered today. Asian Rhinos are particularly more vulnerable to poaching because of their limited numbers in existence. This results in the even higher value of their horns.
Why do people kill rhinos for their horns? Rhino's horns are highly sought after for 2 main reasons: Oriental Medicine - the horns are grounded into powder and used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat illnesses such as reducing fevers, headaches, epilepsy, preventing strokes, treating malaria, heart and liver trouble, poisoning, skin diseases and abscesses. It is processed into pills, tablets, herbal treatments and tonics. There is no scientific proof that rhino horns have such medicinal properties. There are alternatives for "cooling" medicine and it is more effective and cheaper to take panadol for that headache or fever. Jambias, or daggers - The Jambia is a special dagger where the handle and dagger sheath are made of rhino horn. It is a symbol of manhood in Yemen and is highly prized as a status symbol if rhino horns are used for the decorative handles and sheath.
Rhino's Hoofprint Cast
An average Indian Rhino can weigh from 2000-2500 kg, hence they need really huge feet with 3 widely spread out toes each to support their tremendous bulk. The plaster cast of the Indian Rhino hoof-print at the Rangers' Station was done in the field. This adult Rhino weighs at least 2,000kg. All Rhinos have 3 toes on each foot. This gives it the characteristic ‘ace-of clubs’
Rhino's Skin
FAQ #1: Is the rhino's skin really so thick? Thick, tough yet sensitive. Rhinos need to wallow in water as part of their daily routine. Wallowing keeps them cool as well as coat the skin with mud. The mud acts as a protection against the sun as well as parasites and biting insects. The actual Rhino's skin is almost 1.5 times the thickness of the piece of dried skin at the Rangers' Station. This one has shrunk during the process of drying, just like salted fish.
FAQ #2: Is the rhino's skin really so hard? This section is from the shoulder area of an Indian Rhino. Notice the knobs on the skin. This, together with the loose skin and thick folds give the Indian Rhinos an armor-clad appearance. The piece of skin at the Rangers' Station is so hard because it is very dried. The skin on a live Rhino is still rather elastic.
Herbivore Pellets Some Rhinos are browsers (they eat leaves and shoots) while others are grazers (they eat mostly grass). The Rhinos in Night Safari, being in a managed environment, are fed with these pellets to complement their diet. In fact most hoofed animals are also fed these pellets as part of their diet. Herbivore Pellets are made of Oaten Hay, Alfalfa Hay, Legumes, Barley, Pea Pollard, Almond Shell & Molasses. On an average day, a Rhino may eat up to 90kg of food. The main bulk of their daily diet is Napier Grass, also called Elephant grass, which grows rather well in the Night Safari.
Rhino's Dung
This is an Indian Rhino's rear end and not the dung, LOL !! Rhinos are mega-herbivores…they eat vast amounts of food each day. However their digestive system is rather inefficient. They excrete up to 80% of what they consume. Their dung is useful as territorial markers since Rhinos are highly territorial animals. Urine is also sprayed at various locations to denote their home-ground. Note the fibrous content of the dung. During times when grass is in shortage, other smaller herbivores like Chitals (Axis/Spotted Deer) have been known to eat rhino dung because the grass inside is still largely undigested ! In India, the dung is used as a laxative or burnt as fuel.
Acknowledgements - Rhino Facts from the research work done by the VRs and from the source websites that are linked to the above photos, Photos of rhino anatomy taken from their source websites.
Want to Learn the Japanese Names for the Various Animal Specimens at the Ranger Station? Drop by for a short and simple lesson on Nihon Go!
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