Only having 2 official fieldtrips for 2 different modules this semester. Today's trip was to Underwater World. Difficult to be enthusiastic about it since I have been going down REALLY regularly the past 2 weeks, all just to look at my P. damicornis babies~~~ Anyways, the only "highlights" of the trip was the commentary by our respective TAs (funny how ours could remember all the scientific names of the fish and rays and sharks and wat-nots but have the common names slip his mind...), as well as the group competition on filling up the quiz (that turned out to be mainly weird marine biology non-related stuff....) Glad to say that Sponge Bob managed to complete it first!!! Porifera rules!!!
And since the UWS tickets also came with entrance to the Dolphin Lagoon, went over with YL to take a look at out very own Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins aka pink dolphins due to the curious coloration that occurs in only the adults. The juveniles are still normal dolphin grey. Compared to the image projected by many other aquariums/marine theme parks, the dolphins here are in a sandy lagoon (as natural as any other lagoon in Sentosa that are more-or-less manmade) instead of in some pseudo-tank. It's still an enclosure, just a more "natural" looking one (kinda like how our zoo structures their habitats). Nice to see that, and relatively encouraging. The size of the enclosure and the sandiness of it's shores. Won't mind working there short-term or on a temp basis. Work there for long, sure heart break one. (Please excuse my Singlish~~) The dolphins respond to all those cues from the trainers, and I just can't help but wonder how their feelings are actually like when signaled to do those tricks.... There's also the observation that there weren't any full adults there (at least we didn't manage to spot any), so we wonder if any of the dolphins are rehabilitated back into the wild... Seeing dolphins in the wild is so much more rewarding that seeing them do parlor tricks for the amusement of tourists.... Will just have to try my luck at dolphin spotting when we go diving tomorrow instead~~
Hmm.. Would be interesting to try and find out WHY this indo-pacific humpback dolphins are PINK!! Such a shocking coloration, especially when most uniquely colored animals have some sort of toxin or poison in them.... Usually camouflage plays a larger role in the coloration of a species... Perhaps this is due to the lack of natural predators, so they just lose their pigments and the pink is from the blood? *shrugs*
And since the UWS tickets also came with entrance to the Dolphin Lagoon, went over with YL to take a look at out very own Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins aka pink dolphins due to the curious coloration that occurs in only the adults. The juveniles are still normal dolphin grey. Compared to the image projected by many other aquariums/marine theme parks, the dolphins here are in a sandy lagoon (as natural as any other lagoon in Sentosa that are more-or-less manmade) instead of in some pseudo-tank. It's still an enclosure, just a more "natural" looking one (kinda like how our zoo structures their habitats). Nice to see that, and relatively encouraging. The size of the enclosure and the sandiness of it's shores. Won't mind working there short-term or on a temp basis. Work there for long, sure heart break one. (Please excuse my Singlish~~) The dolphins respond to all those cues from the trainers, and I just can't help but wonder how their feelings are actually like when signaled to do those tricks.... There's also the observation that there weren't any full adults there (at least we didn't manage to spot any), so we wonder if any of the dolphins are rehabilitated back into the wild... Seeing dolphins in the wild is so much more rewarding that seeing them do parlor tricks for the amusement of tourists.... Will just have to try my luck at dolphin spotting when we go diving tomorrow instead~~
Hmm.. Would be interesting to try and find out WHY this indo-pacific humpback dolphins are PINK!! Such a shocking coloration, especially when most uniquely colored animals have some sort of toxin or poison in them.... Usually camouflage plays a larger role in the coloration of a species... Perhaps this is due to the lack of natural predators, so they just lose their pigments and the pink is from the blood? *shrugs*
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