26 May (Sat): Talk on "Dragonflies of Singapore"

Learn all about dragonflies from Tang Hung Bun, an avid dragonfly-watcher and photographer.
Dragonflies are among the most beautiful of creatures. In life many display colours of stunning brilliance. Their skills of flight are unmatched for precision and agility. They exhibit extraordinary biology and behaviour. In Singapore, there are 129 recorded species of dragonfly. Sadly, a few of our most beautiful species have already gone extinct due to habitat destruction caused by human activities. This is an inevitable consequence of urbanisation and, as such, provides us with a valuable lesson in conservation ecology.

About the speaker: Tang Hung Bun is an avid dragonfly-watcher and photographer. In 2009, he took a break from his teaching career in order to focus his time and effort on preparing a book on the dragonflies of Singapore. The book, titled "A photographic guide to the dragonflies of Singapore" and co-authored with Wang Luan Keng and Matti Hämäläinen, was published by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in August 2010. Since 2010, he spends his time on observing and recording on video the behaviour of dragonflies and other orders of insects. He also attempts to use a high-speed camera to capture the flight behaviour of some insects such as territorial fight between rival male dragonflies, wing-opening of earwigs, etc. Some of his videos can be viewed on YouTube. Tang Hung Bun also maintains a website: Dragonflies and damselflies of Singapore 

This talk is part of the Festival of Biodiversity! The passionate nature community comes together to share the mind-boggling biodiversity from our forests to seashores, even our backyards and parks! 

Time: 2pm
Venue: Function Room, Singapore Botanic Gardens location map
Website and contact: http://festivalofbiodiversitysingapore.wordpress.com/programme/concurrent-events/talks/