LKCNHM Thursday Talk Shop Season 3

[Update: Our Thursday Talk Shop Season 3 series have ended. You may check out our Online Resources page to watch the recordings, along with past seasons of the series.]

We are bringing back our Thursday Talk Shop series! Over the next two months, our education officers from the Outreach and Education Unit will be hosting web-talks over Zoom, free for all to join! Listen in as our museum’s curators and researchers share more about their love for biodiversity and their research work!

Stay tuned to this page or our social media platforms to be the first to know when to register for our next few Talk Shop sessions, and share this with your friends!

Completed Sessions

Session 1: Natural History and Bug-type Pokémon

In the Pokémon game, one of the in-game goals is to fill up the Pokédex. It first started when the creator Satoshi Tajiri, who enjoyed collecting insects in his younger days, wanted to create a game for kids to experience the marvels of collecting different animals.

In the first session on 5 August 2021, our entomologist and curator Foo Maosheng shared how his fascination with bugs started, and grew with the Pokémon game. As he played on, he began to notice the many similarities between the game and his bug-related research, particularly the design inspirations that Pokémon creators drew from real-life plants and animals!

So Maosheng went on a journey to identify the parallels between insects and some of the bug-type Pokémon, and shared how he views his current work at the museum as an extension of the Pokémon game—understanding, documenting and appreciating the variety of insect species from all around Southeast Asia. We were also joined by guest speaker and an avid Pokémon player, Sean Yap, who is studying the evolution of dung beetles in Singapore.

Disclaimer: Pokémon and Pokédex are owned by The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo of America Inc.

Session 2: (Fly)ghts of Fancy

Ah, Love—the drug that drives hapless men and women to comical endeavours and extreme follies. Are humans the only species to be driven mad by Cupid? In his talk on 26 August 2021, our curator of entomology Dr Ang Yuchen looked at the world of insects (flies, in particular) to discover that the same madness abounds!

Through his research—primarily focused on the study of Diptera (Greek for two-winged; commonly known as true flies)—Dr Ang investigates the myriad morphological and behavioural adaptations for courtship and mating. From ridiculous-looking eyestalks to really big genitalia; from fake Valentine gifts to courtship moves that put Tango dancers to shame, he used these examples to explore how—as Shakespeare puts it— “Cupid is a knavish lad, thus to make females [and males too] mad!”

Session 3: Confessions of a Field Biologist

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a field biologist, what are the challenges involved and what type of research is done? Our curator of herpetology Dr Chan Kin Onn spills it all as he shares his extensive experience trekking through humid jungles and wading knee-deep through coursing rivers looking for amphibians and reptiles. His 15 years of field work has taken him across Southeast Asia and America and has led to the discovery of more than 50 new species of some these poorly understood creatures!

Session 4: An Ichthyologist’s Digest

Sparked by his interest in fishes since his youth, our ichthyologist (one who studies fishes) Dr Tan Heok Hui realised his career pathway when he entered the National University of Singapore. From then, he never looked back, pouring his years into studying the taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of Southeast Asian freshwater fishes and describing over 100 new species of these fishes.

In this session, he shared about two of his recent research papers published in September 2021. The first describes the first cave dwelling cyprinid fish from Mindanao, which is quite the sensational discovery for Philippines freshwater aquatic biodiversity as he explained with much enthusiasm.

You can’t help but be sucked into his passion as he went on to talk about his favourite subject: the Borneo sucker loaches. The other paper ties up a loose end from his doctoral project—it was only 15 years later, with sufficient, fresh material, that he could finally put out descriptions of a new genus and two new species, closing a chapter on his research journey!

Session 5: Behind the Scenes: The Specialist Associate

What goes on behind closed doors in a Natural History Museum? Our specialist associate Dzaki Safaruan demystifies the relatively unknown part of museum work as he takes you through his day-to-day activities behind the scenes at our museum!

Growing up from a little boy collecting leaves, sticks and stones at neighbourhood playgrounds, he had two things: his fascination for wildlife and art. Today, he goes on expeditions, preserves specimens, and maintains one of the largest crustacean collections in Southeast Asia. Occasionally, he finds opportunities to meld art into his work, sometimes manifesting in the form of sketches and doodles from his adventures exploring remote forests around the region as part of an expedition team.

Here is the recording for this session: