Two talks about our shores!

What a delight to share about our shores with this exuberant bunch!

They are the student councillors at Dunman High School!

It was a joy to speak to such an enthusiastic and attentive crowd! They are very kind to laugh at my lame jokes. They also asked many important and interesting questions which made me think more deeply about what we do.

Photo by Loh Kok Sheng.

Thanks to Mr Loh Kok Sheng for inviting me to give the talk to his students, and for giving earlier preparatory talks to them. He will also be following up with more talks and sessions with the students.

This is part of Mr Loh Kok Sheng's effort to introduce his students to nature and nature guiding under a very apt name of EXCEL. This programme hopes to expose students to real issues, and real efforts to address them by real people. The plan is for them to join in the Naked Hermit Crab's regular free guided walks on the Chek Jawa boardwalk. I'm delighted to be a part of this, and look forward to meeting these joyful students outdoors!

Earlier in the day, I gave a talk to another enthusiastic group at the University Scholars' Club Orientation Week Tea Seminar at the National University of Singapore. They too were a very kind and encouraging audience. Thanks to David Tan who not only introduced me to the organisers but also helped set up my talk on a Mac - wah! And also to Samantha Lee for organising us.

After my little talk, Dr Tan Swee Hee gave an inspiring talk about how he got started working for biodiversity in Singapore and beyond. It was fun doing 'tag talk' with Dr Tan!

Dr Tan shared stories of how his childhood dreams were realised through his work at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, and the many adventures he had since then. From the vasty deeps of Vanuatu to mud baths in Singapore.

And experiencing a real dinosaur dig in the wild! Wow!

He also shared how there is so much more to discover about Singapore's biodiversity!

Dr Tan's major challenge now is to start up the new Natural History Museum of Singapore! Now with the possibility of dinosaurs!

I'll be going for Prof Peter Ng's talk later this evening to learn even more about our new museum!