Monkey faces

A continuation from my previous post, which was overloaded with plants, this entry will feature some of my observations and pictures of long-tailed macaques in MacRitchie Reservoir, Prunus Trail.

 
I was stopped from my path when a whole troop of monkeys came in the opposite direction. Pretty scary especially with the big alpha male snarling along the way.

They seemed not perturbed by my presence (luckily), and I was able to get some pictures of them in close proximity. Here is one eating on what I think is a rubber seed.

And a young one eating on the same thing.

Special grooming services were provided for some, ass cleaning is even available.

Plucking white hair? Don’t flinch! lol, I find that expression was rather funny.

 
They even let me go this close for a shot.

 
They also have an appetite for eating young shoots. Not good for reforestation I guess.

A walk at Prunus trail

Book out from army for the first weekend of my 3 weeks in camp. Since I didn’t get to go into the forest when I am serving reservist (and probably won’t have the luxury of looking at plants if I am out), decided to take a walk at Prunus trail of MacRitchie Reservoir by myself.

The new visitor centre is very spacious, especially the toilets! There are open air shower heads for a quick sprinkle.

And now, are the plants~ I must admit that I do not recognise most of the plants so any help is appreciated!

Champereia manillana.

Syzygium borneense

 
Litsea elliptica.

Parkia speciosa or otherwise knwon as Petai, which yield the edible smelly beans.

 
Only know this from the ID tag on the tree. Xanthophyllum vitellinum.

This small tree look like a Dipterocarp.

An unknown sapling.

A very distinctively hairy plant.

With two protruding structures at the petiole.

Cool reddish ends of Elaeocarpus petiolatus.

Another Elaeocarpus which VB suggested to be mastersii.

?

Never really notice small plants like this climber till now. Update: Psychotria sp.

Here are some climbers which looked vaguely familiar but still have no idea what they are.

?

Willughbeia sp.

 
An opposite arranged climber.

This nasty looking caterpillar was on the climber featured above.

Another familiar hairy plant with huge leaves.

I spotted this pandan look-alike climber on this palm tree. WF said that this is Freycinetia sp., and it is really a climbing species of pandan! Update: Freycinetia sumatrana.

Here is another view of it.

Another familiar climber.

 
And also a familiar looking sapling.

Gah… All my current knowledge of plants are confined to mangroves and degraded forests. Looks like I have enter to another totally different world in a more mature secondary forest! But it is always great to learn new stuff~

Thanks to WF and VB for their help in IDs.

Walk in Sengkang forest

There are lots of forest fragments in Singapore and it is always interesting to bash in to see what is inside. Today, me, together with PY, H, WQ, G and J went into such a forest which used to be a plantation, evident from the lots of Durian, Rambutan, Starfruits and Rambi inside.

I reached earlier than the rest so had a head start to scout the area. Managed to grab a shot of two woodpeckers on a sea almond.

Finally got a chance to get a photo of the flower of this bitter-gourd, Momordica charantia.

Another morning glory which I am not sure of the ID.

My itching mouth finally can’t stand it and I decided to taste this jelly-like fruits of this exotic plant, Pipturus argenteus. No taste at all…

It is pretty amazing to see that someone actually maintains the trail! Look all the leaf litter neatly gathered.

Whats this? Some Costus or ginger? Update: Costus lucanusianus

 
A slug which WQ found.

This figging Malayan Banyan, Ficus microcarpa attracted lots of hungry birds.

Here are the figs.

A plant growing everywhere here which I have no idea what it is again. Help?

Took me awhile to figure out what this climber is. But now, it suddenly occurred to me that it should be Gynochthodes sublanceolata.

Taking a break.

 
Am surprised to see this Hoya sp. here. Probably verticillata?

There was a patch filled with the climber Gymnopetalum sp. Was again itching to taste the fruit but decided not after opening it. The fleshy parts covering the seeds looks like bird shit man… =.=”

And so, end of another fun trip. But should plan trips that I can see more new plants though. Will have to be 3 weeks later… high key army from next week onwards… Sian-ness!

Thanks WF for the ID.