Pasir Ris mangroves briefly with Naked Hermit Crabs

In mid-December, I was out with the Naked Hermit Crabs and my two student councillors, Clarabelle and Kai Sing, from Dunman High School to guide at Pasir Ris Mangrove boardwalk.

It's always amazing to show participants what one can find in close proximity to the housing estate at Pasir Ris. The mangroves here are alive! Here is Alyce sharing some of the nature facts and stories with the rest.

I'm glad to guide enthusiastic families, in particular one with many boys who are keen and interested in nature! How awesome to have their parents expose them to the various nature areas in Singapore.

Pasir Ris mangroves is a hot bed for these Tree-climbing crab (Episesarma sp.). These crabs eat mainly leaves, gathering these at night from the ground or by climbing up trees. These crabs have been observed as high as 6m up in trees. There were so many of these crabs that we lost count! Haha.

One of the boys pointed out to this distinctive crab that he found which has purplish claws. I'm not too sure what is the identity of this crab though. Is it also a tree-climbing crab?

In Pasir Ris mangroves, one can also find many of these humongous Giant mudskippers (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) and they never fail to excite the kids!

On this trip, I took a closer look at the snails and one of the snails that you can find in the mangroves would be the Rodong or Telescopium snails (Telescopium telescopium).

And many of these snails left trails on the mud as they move from point to point, thus creating an interesting telescopium trail so to say. Haha!

There was a pair of Belongkeng snails (Ellobium sp.) with one on top of another though it is not obvious from this photo. Could this be part of mating?

This bundle of leaves stuck together is actually the nest of the Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina). The ants choose living leaves to build nests as these provide well camouflaged protection from predators and the elements.

As we were sharing about mangroves, I saw this propagule seedling growing into a young plant and thus showed to the rest.

It was great sharing Pasir Ris mangroves with everyone and we (including my two students) had a good time though the walk was cut short due to incoming rain.

More photos of the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koksheng/archives/date-taken/2013/12/14/