Raffles Museum Toddycats at Festival of Biodiversity (26 & 27 May 2012)

A cornucopia of pleasures awaits nature lovers this May, as the inaugural Festival of Biodiversity is expected to take place at Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens on 26 & 27 May 2012. The theme of this event, organized by NParks in collaboration with the Biodiversity Roundtable, is to create awareness and share each other’s efforts in conserving and enhancing biodiversity.

Raffles Museum Toddycats! will be having an exhibition booth at the event to showcase our rich natural heritage to the public. We will be bringing down a wide variety of specimens that can be found in different habitats ranging from terrestrial, mangroves, freshwater and marine environments. Besides our usual specimens such as the baby dugong, otter and crabs, many other specimens such as the pangolin, and a pair of taxidermized leopard cats will be brought out to the public for the first time. We will also share our insights on the annual ICCS (International Coastal Cleanup Singapore) with the public through informative posters. In addition, we plan to engage the masses with some activities, such as a self-made magnetic board game (matching diet/habitat to animal) and wildlife 3D paper crafts (http://xinheritage.blogspot.com). For those of you who enjoy promoting, we welcome you to help the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research to sell merchandise.

One of the new specimens to be displayed

We will be expecting a huge crowd, akin to that of the Envirofest which was held in 2009 at HDB Hub at Toa Payoh. The massive turnout was a great encouragement that spurred us to continue our outreach programmes even up till today.

Massive crowd at Envirofest 2009

This year’s Festival of Biodiversity will undoubtedly be the biggest event to look forward to, and with the various aforementioned volunteer roles available, we will appreciate the various contributions from you!

The festival will be held from 9am to 6pm on both days, with 3 shifts available for sign up:

0800 – 1130 Shift 1 (including booth set up)
1130 – 1500 Shift 2
1500 – 1900 Shift 3 (including booth pack up)

In preparation for this event, there will also be a briefing and training
session on Wednesday, 23 May 2012: 6.30pm @ DBS Lab 7 [Block S2, Level 3].
During the session, we will bring volunteers greater insights into the specimens, papercrafts and activities, as well as share stories on the animals with each other!

Sharing session by our volunteers

If you are able to commit and would like to be a part of this exciting festival, please sign up at http://tinyurl.com/toddycats-fob26-27may2012 !
For undergraduates who have signed up to present your Honours Poster,
please also indicate the shifts you will be available.

For more information about the event please visit:
http://festivalofbiodiversitysingapore.wordpress.com/ or
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/festivalofbiodiversity/

We look forward to contributing to the biodiversity conservation cause with everyone!