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Pulau Hantu
Pulau Hantu is located to the south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. Pulau Hantu is actually made up of two islets: ''Pulau Hantu Besar'' (Big Ghost Island) and ''Pulau Hantu Kechil'' (Little Ghost Island), with a total area of 12.6 hectares. At low tide, it is possible to wade across the shallow lagoon between the two islands, but not at high tide. Etymology The name of Pulau Hantu literally means "Ghost Island" in Malay. It may refer to the "disappearing" moment of the middle part of the island during the high tide. During the low tide, Pulau Hantu can be seen as one island with two large bays on its northern and southern sides. However, during the high tide, the water level in both bays would rise and the middle section of the island (which is geographically lower than the other areas) would disappear under the rising tide and thus result in two separate and smaller islands. Legend Pulau Hantu was where ancient Malay warriors once had fierce d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Language
Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic languages, Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a Language family, family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin with 66%, or around 800&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulau Bukom
Pulau Bukom, also known as Pulau Bukum ( zh, 毛广岛; ), is a small restricted-access island belonging to Singapore that is located about five kilometres to the south of Mainland Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. The size of Pulau Bukom is about . Pulau Bukom is also known as ''Pulau Bukom Besar'', which has a small companion islet to its south called ''Pulau Bukom Kechil''. This companion islet is currently connected to Pulau Ular and Pulau Busing by reclaimed land, making the three of them appear as one large island on satellite imagery. History The island was home to the native Malay islanders before government efforts to relocate them back to mainland Singapore for redevelopment. Access Access to the island is restricted. Security passes are issued only to personnel working on the island. A ferry (from the Pasir Panjang ferry terminal) serves the island. The ferry operator is Tian San Shipping. The security checks are very tight, and no unauthorized perso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planner, route planning for traveling by foot, car, bike, air (in Software release life cycle#Beta, beta) and public transportation. , Google Maps was being used by over one billion people every month around the world. Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program developed by brothers Lars Rasmussen (software developer), Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen, Jens Rasmussen, Stephen Ma and Noel Gordon in Australia at Where 2 Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a real-time traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005. The service's Front and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Biodiversity Centre (Singapore)
The National Biodiversity Centre (: NBC; Chinese: 国家生物多样性中心; ; ) is a branch of the National Parks Board and serves as Singapore's one-stop centre for biodiversity-related information and activities. It manages all available information and data on biodiversity in Singapore. Diverse biodiversity-related information and data are currently generated, stored and updated by different organisations and individuals. The National Biodiversity Centre will maximize the usefulness of such information and data by linking them in a single meta-database. Having complete and up-to-date information is crucial for many decision-making processes involving biodiversity. This hub of biodiversity information and data at the National Biodiversity Centre will also allow knowledge gaps to be better identified and addressed. The National Biodiversity Centre takes responsibility for the conservation of both terrestrial and marine flora and fauna in Singapore and represents the National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Parks Board
The National Parks Board (NParks) is a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. History In November 1989, Minister of National Development, S. Dhanabalan, presented the National Parks Bill in Parliament to form a body to manage the three parks, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Fort Canning Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, in Singapore. In March 1990, Minister of State for National Development, Lee Boon Yang introduced the National Parks Bill in Parliament to form the National Parks Board as a statutory board. On 6 June 1990, the National Parks Board was formed to manage the three parks. On 1 July 1996, the Parks and Recreation Department was merged with the National Parks Board. Since 1 April 2019, all non-food plant and animal-related functions originally under the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore were transferred to NParks under Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) as part of a reorganisation. In March 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservationists
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Conservationists are concerned with leaving the environment in a better state than the condition they found it in. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective. The early conservation movement evolved out of necessity to maintain natural resources such as fisheries, wildlife management, water, soil, as well as conservation and sustainable forestry. The contemporary conservation movement has broadened from the early movement's emphasis on use of sustainable yield of natural resources and preservation of wilderness areas to include preservation of biodiversity. Some say the conservation movement is part of the broader and more far-reaching environmental moveme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Sanctuary
A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conservation purpose, typically to protect natural or cultural resources. Such marine resources are protected by local, state, territorial, native, regional, national, or international authorities and differ substantially among and between nations. This variation includes different limitations on development, fishing practices, fishing seasons and catch limits, moorings and bans on removing or disrupting marine life. MPAs can provide economic benefits by supporting the fishing industry through the revival of fish stocks, as well as job creation and other market benefits via ecotourism. The value of MPA to mobile species is unknown. There are a number of global examples of large marine conservation areas. The Papahānaumokuākea Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Straits Times
''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and has a significant regional audience. The newspaper is published in the broadsheet format and online, the latter of which was launched in 1994. It is regarded as the newspaper of record for Singapore. Print and digital editions of ''The Straits Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' had a daily average circulation of 364,134 and 364,849 respectively in 2017, as audited by Audit Bureau of Circulations Singapore. In 2014, country-specific editions were published for residents in Brunei and Myanmar, with newsprint circulations of 2,500 and 5,000 respectively. History Early years The original conception for ''The Straits Times'' has been debated by historians of Singapore. Prior to 1845, the only English-language newspaper in Singapore was ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mangroves
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove salt, allowing them to tolerate conditions that kill most plants. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse due to convergent evolution in several plant families. They occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics and even some temperate coastal areas, mainly between latitudes 30° N and 30° S, with the greatest mangrove area within 5° of the equator. Mangrove plant families first appeared during the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene epochs and became widely distributed in part due to the movement of tectonic plates. The oldest known fossils of mangrove palm date to 75 million years ago. Mangroves are salt-tolerant ( halophytic) and are adapted to live in har ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seahorse
A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or "sea animal". Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright posture and a curled prehensile tail. Along with the pipefishes and seadragons (''Phycodurus'' and ''Phyllopteryx'') they form the family Syngnathidae. Evolution and fossil record Anatomical evidence, supported by molecular, physical, and genetic evidence, demonstrates that seahorses are highly modified pipefish. The fossil record of seahorses, however, is very sparse. The best known and best studied fossils are specimens of ''Hippocampus guttulatus'' (though literature more commonly refers to them under the synonym of ''H. ramulosus''), from the Marecchia River formation of Rimini Province, Italy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Clam
''Tridacna gigas'', the giant clam, is the best-known species of the giant clam genus ''Tridacna''. Giant clams are the largest living bivalve molluscs. Several other species of "giant clam" in the genus ''Tridacna'' are often misidentified as ''Tridacna gigas''. These clams were known to indigenous peoples of East Asia for thousands of years and the Venetian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta documented them in a journal as early as 1521. One of a number of large clam species native to the shallow coral reefs of the South Pacific and Indian oceans, they may weigh more than , measure as much as across, and have an average lifespan in the wild of more than 100 years. They also are found off the shores of the Philippines and in the South China Sea in the coral reefs of Malaysia. The giant clam lives in flat coral sand or broken coral and may be found at depths of as great as 20 m (66 ft). Its range covers the Indo-Pacific, but populations are diminishing quickly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anemonefish
Clownfishes or anemonefishes (genus ''Amphiprion'') are saltwater fishes found in the warm and tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. They inhabit mainly coral reefs and have a distinctive colouration typically consisting of white vertical bars on a red, orange, yellow, brown or black background. Clownfish developed a Mutualism (biology), mutually beneficial relationship with sea anemones, which they rely on for shelter and protection from predators. In turn, clownfish will protect the anemone from anemone-eating fish, as well as clean and fan them, and attract zooxanthellae, beneficial microorganisms with their waste. Clownfish are omnivorous and mostly feed on plankton. They live in groups consisting of a breeding female and male, along with some non-breeding individuals. Clownfish have a size-based dominance hierarchy with the female ranking at the top, followed by the male and then the largest non-breeder and so on. When the female disappears, the male sequential hermaphroditis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
