xavvy-licious: River Safari Singapore

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

River Safari Singapore

Finally, we made a visit to the River Safari Singapore to pay the Giant Pandas, Kai Kai & Jia Jia a visit, after seeing much photos on my Facebook wall, posted by my friends.

Before daddy & Xav started their Safari tour, Daddy found a nursing room for me to nurse Vera. Not too bad ! A basic nursing room, with a changing station, seat for the nursing mother, a basin to wash your hands as well as a mounted fan to ventilate the room.

Nursing Room

Our journey began ......

Exploring through the eight great rivers to discover the freshwater species. First stop will be at the Mississippi River.

#1 Alligator Snapping Turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, with their powerful, massive jaws, one's finger can be easily snapped off ! The males can weigh over 100kg.

Alligator Snapping Turtle (Penyu Sentap)

# 2 Alligator Gar is the largest of all Gars, growing up to about 3 m and weighing over 100kg. See its alligator-like snout ? It is lined with razor sharp teeth. It is edible but not the eggs as they are toxic to humans.

Alligator Gar (Ikan Buaya Gar)

# 3 Mississippi Paddlefish has a flat snout that detects electric impulses to navigate and locate food. It's eggs are sold as cavier.

Mississippi Paddlefish (Ikan Dayung Mississippi)

# 4 African Dwarf Crocodile is the smallest of all crocodiles. An adult seldom grows more than 1.6m. It has a short and broad snout which gives it another name known as broad-fronted crocodile. It is hardly hunted for due to its armour of bony plates, as it is too rough for good quality leather.

African Dwarf Crocodile (Buaya Kerdil Afrika)

Following on, we proceed to River Nile which is the longest river on earth.

# 5 The Giraffe Catfish has spots on its body which may provides camouflage from it's enemies and its pointed snout sucks food from the river floor.

Giraffe Catfish

Other fishes like African Arowana, Tigerfish as well as Bichir can be seen too !

Ganges River's next ! Spot and see who is lurking in the water !

# 6 Indian Gahrial got its name from the Hindi word "Gharial", meaning "pot". If you see the bump on top of the snout of the male, it is believed to amplify buzzing sounds made during courtship.

Indian Gahrial (Buaya Julung-Julung)

I got a crocodile kiss !!

By then when I was at looking at the species found at Murray River, Vera woke and got cranky and there goes my chance to snap the pictures.

Next stop was the visit to the species that can be found at Mekong River - the seventh longest river in Asia.

#7 Crab-eating Macaque also known as the Long-tailed Macaque, can swim well and sometimes do hunt for crabs.

Crab-eating Macaque (Kera Makan Ketam)

#8 Spot the Mekong Giant Catfishes ! Unlike other catfish, Mekong Giant Catfish is toothless and lacks "whiskers". It is a vegetarian which feeds mainly on algae and plant matters.

Mekong Giant Catfishes (Ikan Keli Gergasi Mekong)

#9 Giant Freshwater StingRay has special sensory cells around its mouth and nose to detect electrical field generated by prey.

Giant Freshwater StingRay (Ikan Pari Air Tawar Besar)

#10 Elephant Trunk Snake lives entirely in the water and kills by constriction.

Elephant Trunk Snake

Following, we went to visit the species from Asia's longest river -Yangtze River.

#11 Yangtze Alligator, is also known as the Chinese Alligator. It can grow up to 40kg and 2 metres long. In winter, it can dig a burrow and hibernates for up to 7 months. These alligators prey on livestocks. As such, they are killed by farmers. They are also poached for their meat which is believed to have the function of curing cold and preventing cancer.