Conserving Biodiversity - Wildlife Reserves Singapore

INSPIRING AND SUPPORTING YOUNG CONSERVATIONISTS
WRS inspires youths to take positive actions in protecting biodiversity by supporting,
facilitating and supervising student projects such as:
• Breeding behaviour of the lesser bird of paradise (Paradisaea minor minor)
The lesser bird of paradise has very low breeding success in captivity.
Jeremy Koh from Temasek Polytechnic conducted a study to examine
the mating and nesting behaviour of the species with the objective of
enhancing breeding success. Factors such as availability of nest baskets
and multiple perches, variation of feeding locations and stimulation of a
communal hierarchy were investigated. Results showed that poor nesting
locations and limited male selection could be important factors affecting
breeding success
• Dietary and digestive differences in primates at the Singapore Zoo
Jeslyn Ho and Beverly Xue from Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
conducted a study of the dietary and digestive differences of 10 species
of primates at Singapore Zoo to examine their natural and adaptive
strategies in captivity. Results showed that the captive primates retain
much of their evolutionary taxonomic characteristics in relation to food
intake and digestive transit and retention times but have high adaptive
abilities to food selection to satisfy nutritional requirements.
Singapore Zoo has one of the world’s most varied and valuable collections of primates,
which are great research subjects for primatologists.
WRS will
continue to
inspire the youth
to play an active
role in nature
conservation
and provide
a platform for
them to share
their knowledge
with members of
the public.
• Habitat selection and web pattern of the spiny orb-weaver spider
Gina Goh from River Valley High School conducted a study to investigate
environmental factors influencing habitat selection of the spiny orb weaver
spider. The study confirmed that environmental factors like wind, humidity,
temperature and light intensity significantly influenced the occurrence of
spiny orb-weaver spiders.
• Providing biomaterial for external projects
In addition to supporting student research projects done inside our parks,
WRS also assists external research projects by providing biomaterial for
various studies:
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PROJECT
Survey of soil and leaf litter faunal
diversity in Singapore’s forests.
Phylogeography, population
genetics and comparative
morphological study of
raccoon dog in East Asia.
Genetic Analysis of
Asian Golden Cat Population
INSTITUTION
National University Of Singapore
Conservation Genome Resource
Bank for Korean Wildlife
Fordham University and the
American Museum of Natural
History