Enjoyed listening to kancil stories by @marcuschua.bsky.social #SAGE2026

Hear hear: From snapshots to solutions: making camera-trap monitoring matter for conservation "We must distinguish between monitoring intended to trigger immediate action and monitoring intended to serve as a biodiversity inventory or a baseline for future generations." doi.org/10.1093/bios...

From snapshots to solutions: making camera-trap monitoring matter for conservation

Monitoring is fundamental to conservation, providing the vital data required to track progress against national and international biodiversity targets (Ben

doi.org

Opening of @theATBC 62th annual meeting at Xishuangbanna, China. Some 1,000 participants from all over the world focused on tropical biology and conservation. I like that there’s no plastic casing for the tag. Instead it’s a pulp card that can sprout flowers. #ATBC2026

Still reeling from the wonderful trip back to Washington DC, hanging out with mammalogists and friends and all the noshes I’ve missed. And a week later it’s time to go to Yunnan, China for a meeting of tropical biologists. Can’t wait.

Late start for the @mammalogists.bsky.social #ASM2026 meeting this morning. Went out for a walk by the waterfront and saw some marine mammals and an enormous carrier. Prepping my talk for the community structure, niche overlap & coexistence session at 1:45 pm!

Day 1 @Mammalogists #ASM2026 went by in a blink of an eye. Most striking slide by Daniel Chavez: the twisted impact of colonization on Latin American fauna, increasing effective pop. size! Also hands on with the incredibly well-made @wildlifeacoustics.com SM5BAT (a cool $1,049 RRP!).

The mercury hit a sweltering 36°C (97°F) at Norfolk, Virginia where Mammalogists are having their annual #ASM2026 meeting. It’s so bad that even the resident grey squirrel is splooting to thermoregulate.

Back in the DC area for the American Society of Mammalogists meeting #ASM2026. This past week has been a hectic non-stop cycle of otters, civets, and otter civets at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Some kind of grand irony that a dugong stranded in Singapore a day after the marine mammal stranding workshop. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

Dead dugong found at Bedok Jetty

Discover the first recorded sighting of a dead dugong at Bedok Jetty since 2021, highlighting the vulnerability of this marine mammal. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

straitstimes.com

Marcus Chua@marcuschua.bsky.social · 2mo ago

At the Asian Marine Mammal Stranding Network symposium and workshop. Keynote by Lemnuel Aragones highlighted the increasing trend of marine mammal stranding in Asia. A high proportion (vs. world average; 5–15%) are live stranding—80% in 🇵🇭.

At the Asian Marine Mammal Stranding Network symposium and workshop. Keynote by Lemnuel Aragones highlighted the increasing trend of marine mammal stranding in Asia. A high proportion (vs. world average; 5–15%) are live stranding—80% in 🇵🇭.

[New paper] A whale carcass found off Tanjong Pagar in September 2025 has been identified as an Omura’s whale—one of the world’s least-known baleen whales. This is Singapore’s first recorded stranding of the species. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Biodiversity Record: Omura's whale carcass off Tanjong Pagar

PDF | The floating carcass of a rorqual whale was seen stranded along the pilings of a wharf at Tanjong Pagar Terminal. Six days later, on 12 September... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

researchgate.net

How did I miss this: Camera-trap survey confirms the melanistic leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve by Jakher et al. (2025). What a pretty black and gold speckle! doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Sadly, this Javan pipistrelle found with a huge distended abdomen did not survive even after veterinary care. She was initially thought to be pregnant, but necropsy showed her abdomen was filled with fluid. Honored her life by preparing her as a dry specimen. RIP little bat.

First camera trap distance sampling study from Indonesia. Beno et al. estimated densities of tiger prey, and also compared species detections between random (for CTDS) and systematic grid camera trap placements. Random placement missed most carnivorans! doi.org/10.1002/wlb3...

Attended an exhibition by Drama Box: There is No Tiger in the Mountain. It’s about human-macaque interaction and co-existence on Pulau Ubin and uses the island as a canvas, with a mobile exhibit (Ubin taxi) and soft sculptures around a village house. www.dramabox.org/eng/events-t...

I don't usually post zoo science but here's a cool study finding long-term survival gains in big cats (lion, tiger, snow leopard, leopard, jaguar) under ex situ care since 1874. Authors looked at life expectancy, lifespan equality at birth, and 1st year survival. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

The oldest known wild Sunda clouded leopard is a 6.51-year-old female! Similar to the oldest known mainland leopard cat too. Pretty neat what long-term camera trap studies can tell us. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Estimating Sunda Clouded Leopard Lifespans From Minimum Residence Times via Long‐Term Photo‐Tracking

How long do Sunda clouded leopards live in the wild? Detectability challenges and transient behavior make this elusive species difficult to track. Based on compiled photographic records, we report th....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

How Singapore counts its population of world famous otters. Featuring Otterman @sivasothi.bsky.social and the Otter Working Group. www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ot...

'It's detective work': Finding and counting Singapore's otters

More than 20 otter watchers trawled parks and waterways over two months, photographing the animals for the third population census in Singapore.

channelnewsasia.com

Lovely creative (and conservation focused) feature of horse-y wildlife in Singapore by Letitia Chen, Ang Qing and Lim Yong of the Straits Times for the Year of the🐎. Bonus points for the pun too. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

Tribute to the largest poop I ever picked up on #NationalPoopDay It happened just this weekend, and belongs to a large wild odd-toed ungulate.

Installation art Ikan besar skali by Hu Qiren at the Esplanade until Jul 2026. It “reimagines the grandeur of historical whale displays, bridging natural history with contemporary art.” Metal-plated 3D printed resin. Neat.

NUS study calls for reduced boat speeds, limited entry near S’pore marine mammal hot spots Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and dugongs have endured in Singapore’s waters despite massive land reclamation since the 1800s and its status as a shipping hub. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

NUS study calls for reduced boat speeds, limited entry near S’pore marine mammal hot spots

The study trawled through records from 1820 to 2024. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

straitstimes.com

Lovely coverage of our research findings of mouse-deer population spike after African Swine Fever wild pig mortality in Singapore by @mongabay.com's Carolyn Cowan! news.mongabay.com/2025/12/refo...

Reforestation and wild pig decline spark surge in miniature deer in Singapore

Rabbit-sized, nocturnal and elusive, the greater mouse-deer hadn’t been seen in Singapore for more than 80 years. Researchers long presumed it was locally extinct. In 2008, however, researchers confir...

news.mongabay.com

Thanks Ang Qing for writing this news story on our research findings of mouse-deer population boom on Pulau Ubin after African Swine Fever all but wiped out wild pigs there. And kudos for getting Bill Laurance & Matt Luskin to comment on the findings. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

How a fatal virus sparked Pulau Ubin’s mouse-deer boom

The island is now the easiest place in the world to encounter the greater mouse-deer. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

straitstimes.com

[New paper] After the 2023 African Swine Fever outbreak, greater mouse-deer density on Pulau Ubin, Singapore surged to 293/km2—the highest known for the species. Likely drivers: >98% wild pig mortality, active reforestation and low predation pressure. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

RIP boots: 2015–2025 I didn’t expect we’d be such close friends again, protecting me through two big whale defleshing ops.

It’s been a month into the salvage of the roqual whale, with the days long and I’ve been onsite daily during workdays. So touched by my colleagues showing concern about my wellbeing, feeding and hydration. Still don’t know who the snacks are from but thanks!

The salvage of this dead baleen whale has been the main preoccupation of my waking hours since the start of September. www.straitstimes.com/singapore/en...

Work to preserve baleen whale that surfaced off Tanjong Pagar under way

The 6.3m-long carcass is likely to have been swept into Singapore’s waters. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

straitstimes.com

Back in Spain after two great weeks at the Lee Kong Chian and Thailand National Natural History Museums. Always a pleasure to catch up with friends, start new collabs and examine amazing specimens. Huge thanks to @marcuschua.bsky.social and the THNHM collections team for being such wonderful hosts!

The LKCNHM Public Research Symposium 2025 is underway! My colleagues and I will be sharing about specimens, science and stories from the museum with members of the public, and I will be giving a talk and moderating a panel discussion. Excited to share our science and research!