Brown Praying Mantis of Borneo

Photo of brown praying mantis. Common praying mantis that I came across are usually green mantis. The mantis below is probably the Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis). Mantodea or mantises is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in 9 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term "mantid" was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only one family was recognized within the order; technically, however, the term only refers to this one family, meaning the species in the other eight recently-established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term "mantises" should be used when referring to the entire order. A colloquial name for the order is "praying mantises", because of the typical "prayer-like" stance, although the term is often misspelled as "preying mantis" since mantises are predatory. In Europe, the name "praying mantis" refers to Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches), and these three groups together are sometimes ranked as an order rather than a superorder. They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets. Brown Praying Mantis video clip

Giant Caterpillar - Series #19

A close up photo of a giant tropical caterpillar. I short of calling it fat caterpillar. Look at those spikes. Photo shot at Jalan Stakan, Kuching. Related posts: * Furry caterpillar - Series #18 * Two caterpillars - Series #17 * Furry caterpillar - Series #16

Furry caterpillar - Series #18

This photo is the 18th series on caterpillar. This subject is furry with lumps of yellow brushes (yellow markers) on its body. This could be the Tussock Moth larvae. Related posts: * Two caterpillars - Series #17 * Furry caterpillar - Series #16 * Black caterpillar with white stripes and blue spikes - Series #15 SEO: Tussock Moth caterpillar | Tussock Moth larvae

Bintulu Port Quay Crane Accident

Photo of a newly acquired Quay Crane buckled under its own weight in an accident at Bintulu Port. The RM21 million quay crane was supplied by peninsular based company IMPSA (M) Sdn. Bhd and about to be transported from a barge to Berth No.4 when it suddenly collapsed around 10.30a.m on Thursday. The lower part of the crane structure was badly damaged in the incident. No injuries were reported in the mishap and operation on Berth No.4 will be temporarily closed according to the port authority in a statement on Thursday. Photo source: UDN / Voon Siang Pin More photos of Bintulu Port

Anacondas in Asia

Baby Anacondas spotted in Asia, Melaka Zoo that is. I wonder how Melaka Zoo will handled the Anacondas when they matured into a giant snake. About Anacondas Anacondas are large, non-venomous boas found in tropical South America. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world, and (together with the reticulated python of southeast Asia) arguably the longest. Related posts: * Fake photo of Legendary Nabau, Borneo giant snake

Light Brown Moth

Close-up photo of a Light Brown Moth. Look like a light brown apple moth. Moth photo taken in the street of Melaka town before my camera's batteries drain out. Related posts: * Moth on a tropical red ginger plant * Trapped moth * Moth on a rambutan fruit, Series #6 * Wild sex - Mating moths photo

Black Crow

Photo of a black crow with red eyes perched on a papaya tree. Look like the crow is possessed but it's not. The bird could also be a Common Raven aiming for the ripen papaya fruit. Above: cropped photo of a black crow. Above: Photo taken at house's back yard with 12x digital zoom. The true crows are large passerine birds that form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-sized jackdaws (Eurasian and Daurian) to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents (except South America) and several offshore and oceanic islands (including Hawaii). In the United States, the word "crow" is used to refer to the American Crow. The crow genus makes up a third of the species in the Corvidae family. Other corvids include rooks and jays. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australia. A group of crows is called a "murder," though this term usually appears in poetry or similar literature rather than ordinary usage. Related posts: * Borneo Frogmouth Owll * Freak papaya from Borneo

Two caterpillars - Series #17

Photo of two tropical caterpillars on a leaves. Left: Yellowish spiky caterpillar. Right: Gray furry caterpillar. Please help to identify the species. Thanks in advance. Related posts: * Furry caterpillar - Series #16 * Black caterpillar with white stripes and blue spikes - Series #15 * Black Yellow Spiky Caterpillar - Series #14 * Green caterpillar with fake eyes - Series #3

Green Angle-wing Katydid

Exotic photo of green grasshopper or Angle-wing Katydid. The family Tettigoniidae, known in American English as katydids and in British English as bush-crickets, contains more than 6,400 species. It is part of the suborder Ensifera and the only family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea. They are also known as long-horned grasshoppers, although they are more closely related to crickets than to grasshoppers. Many tettigoniids exhibit mimicry and camouflage, commonly with shapes and colors similar to leaves. Tettigoniids may be distinguished from grasshoppers by the length of their filamentous antennae, which may exceed their own body length, while grasshoppers' antennae are always relatively short and thickened. The males of tettigoniids have sound-producing organs (via stridulation) located on the hind angles of their front wings. In some species females are also capable of stridulation. Related posts: * Mating Locusts, Series #4 * Tropical Giant Locust, Series #3

Tallest Bougainvillea In Miri

Photo of the tallest Bougainvillea (pokok bunga kertas) plant in full bloom. The photo was taken from a room at Park Hotel, Miri. The tall Bouganinvillea used a pine tree as a support. The pine tree could be over 100ft tall. From far, the pine tree look like it was infest with a blooming parasite plant. Above: Shot taken from underneath the plant. About Bougainvillea Bougainvillea (pronounced /ˌbuːɡɨnˈvɪliə/) is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The plant was discovered in Brazil in 1768, by Philibert Commerçon, French Botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage of circumnavigation. They are thorny, woody vines growing anywhere from 1-12 meters tall, scrambling over other plants with their hooked thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4-13 cm long and 2-6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene.

Borneo Beetle - Series #5

Photo of an unidentified beetle from Borneo crawling on a young flower pod. Related posts: * Tropical Orange Blister Beetle - Nemognatha * Black Blister Beetle | Nemognatha Photo * Tropical Luminous Bug * Wild Sex - Leave Beetle Mating

Common Huntsman Spider - Series #6

A photo of a tropical common Huntsman Spider underneath a leave mat. Related posts: * Spider with missing limbs * Common Huntsman Spider - Series #3 * Wasp spider of Borneo - Argiope bruennichi * Common Huntsman Spider - Series #2 * Tropical spider - Series #1

Coop Fest 2009 Sarawak

Photo collection of cultural dance performed during the launching of the Cooperative Fest 2009 in Kuching, Sarawak. The event was organized by Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia (SKM) Sarawak and officiated by YB Datuk Peter Nyarok Entrie, Menteri Muda Pertanian Negeri Sarawak. The Cooperative festival logo. The cultural troupe from the local performing arts school. Left: A girl in a traditional Bidayuh costume. Right: A girl in a traditional Orang Ulu costume. Her elongated ears are fake. The Ngajat dance led by the Iban warrior. Iban maiden in a graceful dance. An Indian lass. A Malay lass. Left: Orang Ulu maiden. Right: Malay maiden. Orang Ulu dance. The photos above refer to the cultural show before the event was officiate by the Minister. During this event, various activities was held near the Kuching Waterfront, which include Cooperatives exhibition, cooking competition, flowers arrangement competition, poco-poco, stage show, Traditional Ratu Kebaya pageant, etc. The Coop Fest 2009, Sarawak was held from August 07 until August 09, 2009.

Mating Locusts, Series #4

This is the 4th series on topical locusts. Shown below is a mating locust couple. Different postures, different places but the same couple. Smaller male on top. Note the tiny spike on their limbs. Mating locusts on a fern stem. Related posts: * Tropical Giant Locust, Series #3 * Tropical Giant Locust, Series #2 * Tropical locust

Borneo Frogmouth Owl

Photo of mysterious tropical Borneo Bird. The bird is probably a family of falcon, eagle or the Borneon Bristlehead. The bird for unknown reason build a nest on a jackfruit branch which is expose to the weather element .


UPDATES: * Responses from my Flickr gallery confirmed that this bird is a juvenile FrogMouth Owl (or Bornean Frogmouth - Batrachostomus mixtus).




Video clip of the mysterious bird



Lucky Bird


My mum informed me that she spotted this bird and try to explain that is look like an OWL but not exactly an owl. This mysterious bird is definitely not an owl. Anyway, after taking a few shots of the bird, I buy some 4Digit lottery on the number 0310 (imagine O=0, W=3, L=1 and a 0) and it strike first prize ! yay ! Enough prize money to buy a few units of DSLR or smartphones.

So now it's time to pamper myself. Should I treat myself with a new unit of NIKON D90, a BlackBerry or purchase another 1,000 Gaharu seedlings?
SEO: Juvenile Owl | Frogmouth Owl

Sarawak Rivers Board

Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) or locally known as Lembaga Sungai Sungai Sarawak (LSSB) the care taker of Sarawak Rivers is seriously lagging in dissemination of information to the public. Fortunately, the information I referred to is non critical but related to the recent activities held at Sarawak River, namely the Sarawak Regatta as well as the Sarawak River Night Floats. NOTES: If you have Googled for "Sarawak Rivers Board" home page and instead landed in this blog, you should be heading to their home page at http://www.srb.sarawak.gov.my/Home_page.htm. Oh yeah, forget about srb.com.my (their webmaster forgot to redirect the page to srb.sarawak.gov.my). Up until July 27, 2009, there is no information on the mentioned events which were very important considering that the events was held to mark the opening of the new Sarawak State Legislative Building (DUN) and the sitting of the Malaysian Rulers Conference. SRB (or LSSB) was the organizing body for the two big events that warrants more publicity to the local public as well as international audience. It is necessary for them to update their website with the upcoming events considering that the participants from various government bodies spent thousand of ringgit decorating their floats or training their regatta teams. See the image on the right. Their last update on the website was on March 2009. Based on Google result page, their official website is positioned on the lower part of the first page. Let's see if this post can hijacked that position. Related posts: * River of Garbage in Asia SEO: Laman web Lembaga Sungai Sungai Sarawak | Sarawak River Board website | Sarawak Rivers Board | SRB.GOV.MY |

Fireworks during Sarawak DUN Complex opening

Photo of fireworks during the opening of new Sarawak DUN Complex. The fireworks display was the finale after the end of procession by various kind of decorative boat float.


A cute float from Kuching Port Authority, which graced the front page of Borneo Post.


Sarawak DUN FireWork - Photo by smilephotowork.blogspot.com


Sarawak DUN Fireworks - Photo by smilephotowork.blogspot.com

Video clip of the fireworks display during the opening ceremony of the new Sarawak DUN.




SEO: Pertunjukan Bunga api Sarawak DUN | Firework waterfront | Firework and float

Sarawak Regatta 2009

Sarawak River Regatta 2009 will be held on Monday July 2009. On the same day, the new Sarawak DUN complex will convene it first state assembly meeting followed by the Sarawak River Float to be held in the evening.



More photos will be uploaded after the event.

This Sarawak Regatta 2009 was organized by the Sarawak Rivers Board.

SEO: gambar regatta sarawak | sarawak regatta picture | koleksi regatta | album regatta | kuching regatta | regatta sungai sarawak

Sarawak River Float 2009

Sarawak River Float 2009 will be organized on July 27, 2009 to commemorate the official opening of the new Sarawak DUN Building by the Agung and in conjunction with the sitting of Malaysia Ruler's Conference in Kuching.

The River Float will starts from the Toll Bridge (Tun Sallehuddin Bridge at Tanah Puteh) passing the new DUN Building and the Astana. The best viewing point will be from the Kuching Waterfront. Be there before 8pm on the 27th of July 2009.

Various organizations will participate in the events, including Kuching Port Authority, ASSAR, Sarawak Energy (SESCO), Samling Group. Naim Cendera.


Float from Sarawak Energy (SESCO). Their theme is of course, electricity power grid in addition to the alternative energy, i.e. wind power (turbine). On the side of the boat is an Iban motif.


Float from the ASSAR group. The float motto is "Sarawak's Premier Oil, Gas & Chemical Integrator Corporation". On their boat, you can see gas tank, laboratory tubes, and oil tanks.


Float from Kuching Port Authority. At the bow of the boat is decorative hornbill head, hornbill wings at side of the boat and at the stern, a cat (which represents Kuching).


Float from Naim Cendera promoting their housing product Naim Homes. Photo from PhotoBorneo.com

Photos to be uploaded soon.

About Sarawak

The Sarawak River or Sungai Sarawak is a river in Sarawak state of Malaysia. It is an important source of water and transportation for the inhabitants in southwestern Sarawak. It is also used in water-related sport activities such as the annual Sarawak Regatta which attract tourists from all over the world.

The Astana, the official residence of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Governor of Sarawak, is located on the north bank of the river.


SEO: bot hiasan sarawak | Perarakan Bot Berhias Sarawak